Andrew Riemer Explained

Andrew Peter Riemer (29 February 1936 – 5 June 2020)^[1] was an Australian literary critic and author, for three decades the book reviewer of the Sydney Morning Herald.^[2]

Born in Budapest, Hungary, he moved to Sydney with his family in 1947 at the age of eleven. From 1963 he lectured in English at the University of Sydney for nearly three decades. Although he was a "fine teacher", he experienced a "sense of estrangement from academic life" due to the changes occurring on Sydney's campus and in his English department in those years.^{[3] [4] [5] [6]} He won widespread recognition for his non-fiction and literary criticism, including the Pascall Prize for critical writing in 1999.^{[7] [8]}

Books by Andrew Riemer

• Inside Outside: Life Between Two Worlds, North Ryde: Angus and Robertson, 1992 - autobiography
• The Habsburg Cafe, Pymble: Angus and Robertson, 1993 - autobiography and travel
• The Demidenko Debate, St Leonards: Allen and Unwin, 1996 - criticism
• Sandstone Gothic: Confessions of an Accidental Academic, St Leonards: Allen & Unwin, 1998 - autobiography^{[9] [10]}
• A Family History of Smoking, Carlton: Melbourne University Press, 2008 - autobiography

Notes and References

1. Web site: 2020-06-13. Andrew Peter Riemer – Death Notice. 2021-09-20. The Sydney Morning Herald.
2. News: Wyndham . Susan . Admired academic and author became Herald's chief book reviewer . 19 September 2021 . The Sydney Morning Herald . 12 June 2020 . en.
3. News: Kembrey . Melanie . 'One of the best': book reviewer, academic and author Andrew Riemer dies . 19 September 2021 . The Sydney Morning Herald . 8 June 2020 . en.
4. Alan Barcan, Student activists at Sydney University 1960-1967: a problem of interpretation, History of Education Review, thefreelibrary.com. Retrieved 17 October 2024.
5. Jane Grant, Samuel Louis (Sam) Goldberg (1926–1991), Australian Dictionary of Biography, adb.anu.edu.au. Retrieved 17 October 2024.
6. https://web.archive.org/web/20220312232801/https://www.humanities.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/WILKES-Final.pdf Gerald Wilkes FAHA, 1927-2020
7. Web site: Andrew Riemer . Melbourne University Publishing . 19 September 2021.
8. Web site: A. P. Riemer AustLit: Discover Australian Stories . www.austlit.edu.au . 19 September 2021 . en.
9. Stephen Knight, "Andrew Riemer’s Sandstone Gothic: Confessions of an Accidental Academic" (review), australianhumanitiesreview.org. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
10. John Wiltshire, "Fault Lines" (review), Eureka Street, Vol. 8, no. 10, December 1998, pages 8-41. Retrieved 13 October 2024.