Vale Clem Christesen
[ UniNews Vol. 12, No. 14
11 - 25 August 2003 ]
Clem Christesen AO OBE died on 28 June 2003, aged 92, a bare two years after his beloved wife Nina Maximov. They were both founders: she of our Russian Department; he of the seminal literary quarterly Meanjin. Their creativity did much to enhance the Universitys cultural and scholarly life and reputation.
Clem launched Meanjin, a small journal with a bias towards poetry, in the inhospitable Brisbane climate of 1940. Vice-Chancellor John Medley with characteristic foresight invited it south in 1945. By this time it was showing clearly its main thrusts the publishing and encouragement of Australian work, engagement with current affairs and ideas and a strong commitment to the democratic left of centre. Clem rejected a narrow concentration on Australian work and opened up dialogue with significant overseas writers, theories and developments ranging from existentialism to advances in the arts.
Through the ups and down of the 34 years of his turbulent editorship, and personal agonies like the Petrov Royal Commission, the University supported Clem and gave the magazine a home. It has reaped a substantial reward. Today Meanjin flourishes under its current editor, Ian Britain, as one of the longest-surviving literary quarterlies in the world.
Over the years its pages have contained first publication and significant works by a galaxy of Australian writers including Judith Wright, David Malouf, Martin Boyd, A D Hope, Peter Carey, Chris Wallace-Crabbe, Patrick White and Christina Stead.
Clems rigorous and perceptive editorship as well as his dedication and determination have given us, as a part of our cultural fabric, a literary quarterly of international standard.
The Meanjin story has been the subject of works by University authors such as Lynne Strahan and Judith Armstrong. The Baillieu Library houses the Meanjin archive, a 60-year history of Australian life and literature
Although the magazine absorbed most of his energies, Clem still published his own work, notably in the volume The Hand of Memory.
He received significant public acknowledgement with a Britannica Award, an OBE in 1964, an honorary Doctor of Letters from Monash (1975) and the AO in 2000.
For those who knew and worked with him, and happily tolerated his occasional attacks or indignant outbursts, Clem Christesen remains a unique character who leaves many affectionate memories. His immense contribution to the encouragement of Australian writers and artists, and the 60 years of Meanjin, will stand as his monument. He was and remains an ornament to this University.
Ray Marginson
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