1 - Clive Kessler: Some Biographical Reflections

Summary

Clive Samuel Kessler, my brother, was born to Hannah and Albert Kessler in Sydney on 15 September 1942. Our father, Albert, had been born in Sydney in 1905 to Jewish immigrants from Poland. Hannah, also a Jew, was born in Germany in 1909. She met Albert in Antwerp during a business trip he made to Europe and they married, after a short courtship, in London in 1937. At the time of Clive's birth, World War II was raging. That dark backdrop to Clive's arrival, along with situations and events related to the conflict, was to have a profound influence on his formation as a scholar and a member of society.

It is an honour for me to have been asked by the editors of this volume to write a biographical piece about Clive. It has also been a considerable responsibility, as my wish to do him justice is greater than my capacity to do so. There are also more general issues facing the would-be biographer — issues such as scope and purpose, for example. The latter became a focal point for me in this project and provided me with an organizing principle to use. The purpose of the chapter, I concluded, is to provide biographical material and observations on Clive, in order to shed light on his work and scholarly interests, as depicted in this Festschrift. My contribution, therefore, will describe and discuss a number of major themes in his life, rather than provide a strictly chronological and exhaustive list of his achievements and experiences. By selecting what I see as formative and indelible influences and vicissitudes, I hope to give the reader some flavour of what has shaped this exceptional and inspiring person. My purpose is to provide material which will add resonance to the reader's perusal of the other chapters in this commemorative volume.