Shirley Hazzard (1931–2016) was an Australian-born novelist and essayist who spent much of her life in New York City, Capri, and Naples. She received the National Book Critics Circle Award for The Transit of Venus (1980), acclaimed as her masterpiece, and the National Book Award for The Great Fire (2003).Donald Keene (1922–2019) was Shincho Professor Emeritus of Japanese Literature at Columbia University, where he taught for more than fifty years. He wrote dozens of books, including the definitive multivolume history of Japanese literature. In 2011, he gave up his U.S. citizenship and became a Japanese citizen.Brigitta Olubas is professor of English at the University of New South Wales, Sydney. She is the author of Shirley Hazzard: A Writing Life (2022), as well as the editor of Hazzard’s collected stories and selected nonfiction.

• Introduction1. 1977–19862. 1987–19963. 1997–2008AcknowledgmentsNotesIndex

The extensive, decades-long correspondence between Shirley Hazzard and Donald Keene—superbly edited by Brigitta Olubas—opens many doors into the cosmopolitan life, psyche, and literary genius of Shirley Hazzard. Her letters to Donald Keene contain some of her very best prose. Keene’s letters in turn are full of erudition and insight. A treasure trove for those who love these two authors.

Shirley Hazzard (1931–2016) was an Australian-born novelist and essayist who spent much of her life in New York City, Capri, and Naples. She received the National Book Critics Circle Award for The Transit of Venus (1980), acclaimed as her masterpiece, and the National Book Award for The Great Fire (2003).Donald Keene (1922–2019) was Shincho Professor Emeritus of Japanese Literature at Columbia University, where he taught for more than fifty years. He wrote dozens of books, including the definitive multivolume history of Japanese literature. In 2011, he gave up his U.S. citizenship and became a Japanese citizen.Brigitta Olubas is professor of English at the University of New South Wales, Sydney. She is the author of Shirley Hazzard: A Writing Life (2022), as well as the editor of Hazzard’s collected stories and selected nonfiction.

• Introduction1. 1977–19862. 1987–19963. 1997–2008AcknowledgmentsNotesIndex

The extensive, decades-long correspondence between Shirley Hazzard and Donald Keene—superbly edited by Brigitta Olubas—opens many doors into the cosmopolitan life, psyche, and literary genius of Shirley Hazzard. Her letters to Donald Keene contain some of her very best prose. Keene’s letters in turn are full of erudition and insight. A treasure trove for those who love these two authors.

Shirley Hazzard (1931–2016) was an Australian-born novelist and essayist who spent much of her life in New York City, Capri, and Naples. She received the National Book Critics Circle Award for The Transit of Venus (1980), acclaimed as her masterpiece, and the National Book Award for The Great Fire (2003).Donald Keene (1922–2019) was Shincho Professor Emeritus of Japanese Literature at Columbia University, where he taught for more than fifty years. He wrote dozens of books, including the definitive multivolume history of Japanese literature. In 2011, he gave up his U.S. citizenship and became a Japanese citizen.Brigitta Olubas is professor of English at the University of New South Wales, Sydney. She is the author of Shirley Hazzard: A Writing Life (2022), as well as the editor of Hazzard’s collected stories and selected nonfiction.

• Introduction1. 1977–19862. 1987–19963. 1997–2008AcknowledgmentsNotesIndex

The extensive, decades-long correspondence between Shirley Hazzard and Donald Keene—superbly edited by Brigitta Olubas—opens many doors into the cosmopolitan life, psyche, and literary genius of Shirley Hazzard. Her letters to Donald Keene contain some of her very best prose. Keene’s letters in turn are full of erudition and insight. A treasure trove for those who love these two authors.