Background
Eric Lambert (1918-1966) was born in London, England but raised in Sydney, Australia, He drew on his experiences in combat
during World War II to become a successful novelist. He joined the Communist Party of Australia in the late 1940s, and his
early works reflect both his Communist politics and his experiences fighting in the Middle East and Indonesia. He was active
in the Melbourne literary scene in the early 1950s, and developed a reputation for being contentious and unpredictable. Following
1955, he moved to England and, disillusioned after the Soviet invasion of Hungary, changed his politics and his works took
on a decidedly right-wing anti-Communist tone. However, as the 1960s arrived, Lambert's sympathies moved to the center and
then again sided with the left. He continued to draw upon his wartime memories in his later novels. He died of heart failure
at his home in England in the spring of 1966. Works include:The Twenty Thousand Thieves (1951)The Five Bright Stars (1954).The Veterans (1954).Watermen (1956).The Dark Backward (1958).Glory Thrown In (1959).Ballarat (1962).Kelly (1964).A Short Walk to the Stars (1964).The Long White Night (1965).MacDougal's Farm (1965).The Tender Conspiracy (1965).Hiroshima Reef (1967).Mad with Much Heart: A Life of the Parents of Oscar Wilde (1967).Further biographical details may be found in the
Australian Dictionary of Biography.
Restrictions
Copyright has not been assigned to the Department of Special Collections, UCSB. All requests for permission to publish or
quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given
on behalf of the Department of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply
permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained.