The best of men declines: Postnationalism in the poetry of Vincent O'Sullivan

Abstract

In this paper, Vincent O'Sullivan's engagement with literary theory and what is termed a post-national engagement with history will be examined in aspects of his poetry from the sequence of volumes beginning with the Montana winner, Seeing You Asked (1998), continued with Lucky Table (2001, a Montana runner-up), and the Montana winning, Nice Morning For It, Adam (2004). The recent poetry volume, Blame Vermeer (2007) will also considered within this rubric.