Dom Moraes (Dom Dominic Moraes) Biography

Indian poetand writer, born in Bombay, educated at Jesus College, Oxford; he was the son of the writer Frank Moraes. Moraes held a variety of editorial and journalist posts. His reputation as a leading Indo-Anglian poet rested largely on the enthusiastic reception of his first collection, Beginnings (1957). His work reflects Western influences and mentors in its idiom, sensibility, and subject matter. Later collections include John Nobody (1965) and Bedlam Etc. (1966), which explore universal classical and philosophical themes, usually within the context of European literature, and Absences (1983). Moraes was criticized for not encompassing the realities of his Indian surroundings in his poems but as a prolific writer of miscellaneous prose he attempted to examine various aspects of contemporary Indian life. His prose writings include Gone Away (1960), a personal travel journal; Mrs Gandhi (1980), a portrait of the controversial leader in which Moraes reports on his own difficult encounters with his subject; My Son's Father (1969), an autobiography; From East to West (1971), a collection of essays; and several volumes of travel writing and journalism.