Magnificent Obsessions

Book excerpt: This volume is a tribute to the life and work of Hazel Rowley, internationally acclaimed biographer who died unexpectedly in March 2011. Her passions were many and varied: biography, politics, questions of race and sexuality, the ways in which couples negotiate the dilemmas posed by the need to retain their individuality while building a life as a couple, the deleterious effects of imposing a corporate mentality on universities – all these, and more, were subjects of intense interest to her. This collection combines essays responding to many of those interests with creative writing to honour the complexity and variety of her own magnificent contribution. Hazel Rowley, whose life and work are honoured in this collection, was the author of many articles and essays and four outstanding biographies, Christina Stead: A Biography, Richard Wright: The Life and Times, Tête-à-Tête: Simone de Beauvoir and Jean Paul Sartre, and Franklin and Eleanor: An Extraordinary Marriage.