Faculty of Design and Creative Practice

Paul Magee is a poet and literary theorist.

His first book, From Here to Tierra del Fuego , a work of surrealist anthropology, was published by the University of Illinois Press in 2000. He has published refereed articles on Filipino liberation theology, the poetry of Octavio Paz, Marxist theory and psychoanalytic logic. He is currently working towards a monograph on the queerness of the European novelistic tradition, focusing on the theme of adultery - i.e. triangular love - that so permeates it.

Paul's creative energy is at present divided between:

1. a translation of Pushkin's The Metal Horseman , which he is setting in Canberra, with the express purpose of making Canberra more like St Petersburgh (this will involve, as in Pushkin's poem, flooding the entire city) and
2. his libretto for Melbourne composer David Chisholm's 'opera noir' chamber opera Doctor Couteau , which has to date attracted Arts Victoria, Potter and Myer Foundation funding.

Paul teaches novels, poetry and literary theory. His studies ranged from Marxist and psychoanalytic (Freud and Lacan) theory to Peircean semiotics, while at the moment he is particularly interested in the theory of genre (Bachtinian and otherwise), which he also teaches. Canberra is flooding as we speak.