Chameleon

‘Sophisticated and funny, Chameleon is a rich and entertaining education on a man’s life; a detailed map of the literature, ideas and places that shaped him.’ * Guardian *‘Wise, witty, and sumptuously idiosyncratic, Robert Dessaix is a writer for all seasons.’ * Andrea Goldsmith *‘In this flinty yet fond conversation with his long-ago self, Robert Dessaix explores the myriad contradictions that make us fully human. His words, and his singular wisdom, shimmer.’ * Ailsa Piper *’Sweet Jesus, this is beautiful.’ * David Marr *‘A dazzlingly beautiful reading experience.’ * Guardian *‘Carefully crafted and moving.’ * The Booklist, Age *‘Reading this offering is a crash course on his style, his wit and his being…A delightful, meandering cavort from childhood till now…I gobbled this unique read all up. I basked in his humour, intellect, and sensitivity.’ * Chris Gordon, Readings Monthly *‘Dessaix writes with beauty, wit and infectious energy…Chameleon is an education on the role travel and literature can have in shaping our identities and imaginations.’ * Guardian *‘Inspiring…I cannot recommend it too highly. It is, without doubt “a must read.”’ * Good Reading *‘Rather than trying to make sense of a life as a coherent series of events, Chameleon conveys the complex formation of a human voice, a literary voice. As readers, we have the pleasure of engaging with that voice, while learning to consider the nature of our own…Dessaix’s is a life resolved in language.’ * Conversation *‘Discursive and prismatic, wise and worldly…Passionate and infectious, it crackles with acuity and well-earned insight, bursting with references from Prokofiev to George Michael, from Konstantin Paustovsky to Ryan Gosling. Throughout, we sense Dessaix over our shoulder with the wink and the nudge, sly and sardonic. It’s a game, but an endlessly entertaining one, like a chess match with one’s wittiest uncle, the one you can’t imagine living without.’ * Australian Book Review *

Robert Dessaix is a writer, translator and broadcaster whose best-known books are the autobiography A Mother’s Disgrace, the novels Night Letters and Corfu, and the travel memoirs Twilight of Love and Arabesques. From 1985 to 1995 he presented the weekly ‘Books and Writing’ program on ABC Radio National. His books have been published in a number of languages. His most recent publications are his memoirs What Days Are For (a meditation on what makes for a good life in the face of death) and The Time of Our Lives (which focuses on ageing well), along with Abracadabra, a collection of his recent writings. He lives in Hobart, Tasmania.