{{Short description|Australian writer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2023}} '''Robert Close''' (15 July 1903 in Camberwell, Victoria – 17 July 1995 in Palma, Majorca)<ref name=independent>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-robert-close-1596451.html|title=OBITUARY: Robert Close|last=Williams|first=Jackie|date=16 August 1995|work=The Independent|accessdate=1 September 2015}}</ref><ref name=Britannica>{{Cite web|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/122099/Robert-Close|title=Robert Close (Australian writer) -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia|work=Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.|publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica|accessdate=16 June 2010}}</ref><ref name="USyd">{{Cite web|url=http://www.library.usyd.edu.au/libraries/rare/3_3_1biographies.html|title=Biographies relating to collections of personal papers, correspondence and Australian literary manuscripts. Rare Books and Special Collections, University of Sydney Library.|publisher=University of Sydney Library|accessdate=21 July 2010|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100218052316/http://www.library.usyd.edu.au/libraries/rare/3_3_1biographies.html|archivedate=18 February 2010|df=dmy-all}}</ref> was an Australian novelist.
== Early life == His early life was clouded by disappointment. He hated school, and his a passion for a life at sea was blighted when he was found to have colour blindness. Tuberculosis thwarted a possible singing career. During the 1930s Depression, he worked variously as a labourer, manager, salesman, and debt collector. He was an avid reader and won prizes as a short-story writer.<ref name=independent/>
== Writing career == In a widely publicised case, in 1946 he and "Georgian House Pty Ltd", the publisher of his 1945 novel ''Love Me Sailor'', were prosecuted in the Supreme Court of Victoria for "obscene libel".<ref name=Britannica/><ref name="USyd"/><ref name="R v Close">{{cite AustLII|VicLawRp|79|1948|litigants=R v Close |parallelcite=[1948] VLR 445 |date=29 June 1948 |courtname=Supreme Court (Full Court) (Vic)}}.</ref><ref name="UMelb">{{Cite web|url=http://www.lib.unimelb.edu.au/collections/special/exhibitions/bannedbooks/exhibition/close.html|title=Banned Books: Robert Close|publisher=University of Melbourne Library|accessdate=21 July 2010}}</ref> During the first trial, the entire 90,000-word book was read to the jury by counsel for the prosecution twice: the first jury was discharged when the court was notified that the foreman of the jury had discussed the case with one of Close's friends.<ref name="Saskatoon Star-Phoenix - 17 April 1948 - Robert Close">{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=gpNjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=T3oNAAAAIBAJ&pg=4511,1758038&dq=robert-close+obscene&hl=en|title=Author, Publisher Guilty of Libel|work=Saskatoon Star-Phoenix|accessdate=26 February 2011}}</ref> Close was sentenced to three months' imprisonment and a fine of £100.<ref name=Age>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=9KQUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=s7EDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4635,1005583&dq=robert-close+obscene&hl=en|title=Robert Close Finds Fun in Puncturing the Pompous and Prudish|work=The Age|accessdate=26 February 2011}}</ref> This was later overturned on appeal; he served 10 days in prison and was fined £150.<ref name=Age/>
Close left Australia for France in 1950.<ref name="USyd"/><ref name="UMelb"/> His later works included ''Eliza Callaghan'' (1957), loosely based on the life of Elizabeth Callaghan, the spouse of Australian pioneer and businessman John Batman, and ''The Voyage Continues'' (1969).<ref name= Britannica/>
== Later life == He returned to Australia in 1975 but after two years relocated to Majorca, where he died in 1995.<ref name="Britannica" /><ref name="USyd" /> His autobiography, ''Of Salt and Earth'', was published in 1977.<ref name="independent" />
== Oral History == Close was interviewed in 1975 by Hazel de Berg about his life and writing career. This recording can be found at the National Library of Australia.<ref>Close, Robert; de Berg, Hazel (interviewer) (1975). ''[https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/1481391 <nowiki>Robert Close interviewed by Hazel de Berg in the Hazel de Berg collection [sound recording]</nowiki>],'' National Library of Australia, Retrieved 1 April 2026.</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.naa.gov.au/about-us/research-grants/margaret-george-award/former/moore-paper-2004-old.aspx Secrets of the censors: Obscenity in the Archives] from the National Archives of Australia * [http://www.lib.unimelb.edu.au/collections/special/exhibitions/pulp/contents.pdf Robert S. Close at sections 132 and 134 of the archive] from the library of the University of Melbourne
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Close, Robert}} Category:1903 births Category:1995 deaths Category:20th-century Australian novelists Category:20th-century Australian male writers Category:Australian male novelists Category:Writers from Melbourne