Morris West Biography and List of Works

Australian writer whose best-known works include THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE (1959) and THE SHOES OF THE FISHERMAN (1963). Although primarily a novelist, West made his reputation with CHILDREN OF THE SHADOWS (1957), a non-fiction account of the slum children of Naples. West's books have been called "religious thrillers" - they combine religion and political intrigue with an international setting and topical subjects. The author was for a number of years a member of the Christian Brothers before starting his career as a writer.

"As he drank the toast he understood with stark clarity the nature of damnation: that it was self-inflicted and irreversible. You ate the meal you had cooked though it turned to fire in your gullet. You drank the traitor's cup to the dregs, but before you set it down it was filled again with gall and wormwood. The lies you told were graven on stone and you carried them at arm's length above your head as a sign of infamy."
(from Masterclass, 1988)

Morris West was born in Melbourne the oldest of six children. He studied at St. Mary's College, St. Kilda, Victoria, and at the University of Melbourne, receiving his B.A. in 1937. West's aim was to become a Christian Brother, and he was for several years member of the Order. From 1933 he taught in New South Wales and Tasmania, but he left before taking his final vows. From 1939 to 1943 West served in the Australian Imperial Forces Corps of Signals, in the South Pacific. His first book, A MOON IN MY POCKET, was completed while he was stationed in Queens land. It is based on his experiences in the religious order, and was published in 1945 under the name of Julian Morris. West was a secretary to William Morris Hughes, former Prime Minister of Australia in 1943. "What I didn't know was that I was one of a long line of his secretaries, which at that time numbered 72. The old man would in furious anger sweep his desk clear of papers and say pick them up. I survived three months." After his discharge from the Army, West was a publicity manager at Radio Station 3 DB in Melbourne for two years, and founder, later a managing director, of Australian Radio Productions Pry Ltd (1945-54). During this period West wrote and produced soap operas. He suffered a breakdown, sold his share of the business, and settled near Sydney as a writer. In 1955 he moved to Sorrento, Italy.

In 1953 West married Joyce Lawford; they had four children. After 1954 he was a film and dramatic writer for the Shell Company and the Australian Broadcasting Network. From the 1950s West lived abroad. Between the years 1956 and 1968 he lived in England, and later in Italy, Austria, and the Unites States. In the Vatican he worked for six months as the Vatican correspondent of the London Daily Mail. West returned to Australia in 1980.

All of West's books are infused with a devout sense of Catholic principle. In his religious thrillers he argues for a Church that will place forgiveness before punishment. West also wrote a number of political thrillers, such as THE SALAMANDER (1973), a story about new Fascism in Italy, and PROTEUS (1979). In 1959 West made his international breakthrough as a novelist with The Devil's Advocate, which depicts the canonization process of Giacomo Nerone, a deserter, and the Catholic Church's investigation made by a complex English priest, the "devil's advocate." West utilised his own experiences from the period when he was working in Vatican as a correspondent for the English newspaper the Daily Mail.

The Shoes of the Fisherman started West's "Vatican trilogy". Jean Télémond, whose book is condemned in the story by the new Pope, is based on the theologian Teilhard de Chardin. The trilogy continued in THE CLOWNS OF GOD (1981) and LAZARUS (1999). It is a story about the election of a pope, and prophesises the rise of a pope from East Europe fifteen years before it occurred. The book was published just before Pope John XXIII died. In THE RINGMASTER (1991) West manages to predict the break up of the Soviet Union. THE AMBASSADOR (1965) deals with the Vietnam War, and TOWER OF BABEL (1968) is a suspense and espionage story about the Arab-Israeli conflict. THE TOWER OF BABEL (1968) is a story of intrigue and passion set in the Middle East. The main characters are a hard-bitten Israeli general, a dedicated Arab leader, an amoral international financial wizard, a cynical Jewish double agent, a lovely Israeli sculptress, and a pleasure-seeking Frenchwoman.

"What is an agent? A spider who spins a web and waits quietly at the centre of it, while unwary flies and mosquitoes are trapped in its sticky meshes. The centre of the web is always in a shadowy corner. We do not come upon it quickly or easily. We see the threads first and the trapped insects, buzzing and struggling..."
(from The Tower of Babel)

In THE WORLD IS MADE OF GLASS (1983) West draws a parallel between psychoanalysis and confession. The work explores a turbulent period in the life of the famous Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung. Dr. Magda Kardos von Gramsfeld travels to Switzerland to meet Jung, whose break with Freud started his spiritual crisis, depicted in Erinnerungen, Träumen, Gedanken. Jung also has an affair with Antonia Wolff, his former pupil. West tells the story from Magda and Jung's point of views. The novel was first adapted for the stage in New York in 1982. MASTERCLASS (1991) is a morality tale set in the world of art. West himself was a keen collector all his life and a patron of two major galleries in Australia. "West is adept at portraying the cognoscenti of the art world -- the power brokers, poseurs, pirates, experts, fakers and collectors -- and his narrative illustrates that wealth and a consistent Christian ethic are uneasy companions." (Clifford Irving in The New York Times, June 9, 1991)

West died on October 9, 1999, in Sydney. He was working on his new book, THE LAST CONFESSION. Before the release of his 24th novel THE LOVERS (1993) West said that he has now finished as a novelist. However, in 1988 he published a new thriller, EMINENCE, in which the author continues his scrutiny of the papacy and the Vatican. West's autobiography, VIEW FROM A RIDGE, appeared in 1996.

Among West's several awards are the National Conference of Christian and Jews Brotherhood award (1960), Royal Society of Literature Heineman award (1960), James Tait Black Memorial prize, and Dag Hammarskjöld prize (1978), Universe prize (1980). He was a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (1960) and World Academy of Arts and Sciences (1964). The Australian government honoured West with the Order of Australia (1985) for his services to literature and cultural life. West also received several honorary degrees from universities.

For further reading: Contemporary Popular Writers, ed. by David Mote (1997)A View from a Ridge by Morris L. West (1994)

MOON IN MY POCKET, (1945)