Literary farewells

In recent weeks four writers have died leaving behind a body of work encompassing a wide range of styles and subject matter.

Literary giants Gore Vidal  and Australian Robert Hughes were perhaps the most well  known so discover or re-acquaint yourself with some of their best writing with a book from Hurstville Library.

Gore Vidal  (3 October 1925- 31 July 2012) novelist, essayist, social commentator and screenwriter. His books included United States: Essays 1952-1992, Point to Point Navigation: a Memoir, 1964 to 2006 and Inventing a Nation: Washington, Adams, Jefferson with a foreword by Bob Carr who over the years gave many interviews to the ABC's Lateline program.

Robert Hughes (28 July 1938 – 6 August 2012) was one of Australia's most widely known expats, an art critic and historian perhaps best known for his groundbreaking book on modern art The Shock of the New and what is regarded as a modern classic on Australia’s convict era The Fatal Shore.  His other works include histories, Rome and Barcelona and his memoir Things I Didn’t Know. An ABC Lateline interview with Malcolm Turnbull remembering his friend was aired recently.

Maeve Binchy (28 May 1940-30 July 2012) popular novelist, columnist and commenator whose gently humorous books on small-town life in her native Ireland were loved by many readers and John Keegan (15 May 1934 - 2 August 2012) military historian and jounalist who according to the The Guardian , "possessed a rare ability to describe warfare from the standpoint of the frontline soldier",, were two very different writers who have died recently.