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The Triumphant Approach: Chasing the Unwritable Book Novel and Critical Exegesis Patrick Bryson BA MA (Creative Writing) A Creative Arts Thesis Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy July 2009 The University of Newcastle, Australia 1 This work contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university of other tertiary institution and, to the best of my knowledge and belief, contains no material previously published or written by another person, except where due reference has been made in the text. I give consent to this copy of my thesis, when deposited in the University Library, being made available for loan and photocopying subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. I hereby certify that the work embodied in this Thesis is the result of original research, the greater part of which was completed subsequent to admission to candidature for the degree. Signature . Date: . 2 Acknowledgments Sincerest thanks go to Dr Keri Glastonbury, my principal supervisor throughout the course of this degree. Her patience, insight and friendship have been vital in propelling me towards completion of this project; the novel, in particular, would be much poorer without her input, which was always honest and given in the pursuit of the best work possible. A lot of credit must also go to Dr Ros Smith, whose clear vision as co- supervisor really kicked the exegesis into shape and provided fresh, helpful feedback on the novel at the right time. Dr Christopher Pollnitz provided useful guidance and corrections on early chapters of the exegesis, and his influence was invaluable. My thanks to Dr Kim Cheng Boey, for his initial response to my query about entering the PhD program and for his help in introducing me back into the department after a long absence. Thank you to my peers in the postgraduate writing workshop who gave useful comments on early drafts of the novel, as well as to the School of Humanities and Social Science for its continued support. My heartfelt gratitude to Darren Mitchell and Lord Almond Cafarella: two friends who read the work in their own time and provided great feedback. I must also acknowledge (my brother from another mother) James Arthur Whiting for patiently enduring numerous rants on the Academy: the state of Australian Cricket: the South Sydney Football Club: and for teaching me my I VI II Vs in all twelve keys. His brother, Benjamin John Joseph Whiting, also needs a mention – for the coffee and for being one of the best fighters in the world (I‘m the other one). This project would not have been possible without the support of my extended family, both in Australia and India. My thanks and love to my siblings, Cherie, Quinton, Lauren and Brigette, as well as my parents John and Celeste. My in-laws in Shillong, along with my wife, have been my biggest supporters in this endeavour and particular thanks go to my kiaw and kthaw, Dr Sirolyne Dkhar and Dr Lambha Kharkongor, as well as my sister-in-law Dr Darilin Dkhar, for their love, support, prayers, and constant encouragement. Lastly, I must thank Dalanglin, my partner: meeting you changed everything. Khublei shibun, baieit. 3 CONTENTS ABSTRACT 5 THE TRIUMPHANT APPROACH 6 PART I – SLOUCHING TOWARDS PETERSHAM 9 PART II – I TELL YOU THE TRUTH 100 PART III – SYMMETRY AND REPETITION 149 PART IV – ST DYMPHNA’S SONG 199 THE UNWRITABLE BOOK: CRITICAL EXEGESIS 251 INTRODUCTION: THE CRUX OF THE PROBLEM 252 CHAPTER 1 – I’M BUKOWSKI: YOU’RE KOCAN 255 CHAPTER 2 – CHARACTER NAMES & GENRES 271 CHAPTER 3 – THE UNWRITABLE BOOK 285 CHAPTER 4 – I BELIEVE: I CAN’T BELIEVE 304 CONCLUSION – THE WRITER RECEDES 324 BIBLIOGRAPHY 326 4 Abstract Newly single and working the graveyard-shift at his local railway station, Peter Lawson is a complete failure. Yet, inexplicably, he has never felt better in his life. This confidence swells when a newsreader on morning television and an astrologer at the city‘s loudest tabloid both agree: Peter is The One... What follows next tests the limits of his mind, and his faith, as he lurches from crisis to catastrophe – being helped along in his journey by a psychiatrist, a priest, and a class full of autistic boys – before meeting Maya, the one who guides him home. Set between Sydney, London, and the foothills of the Himalayas, The Triumphant Approach is a tale about love, lunacy and the attraction of belief: a meditation on identity, and the redemptive power of losing one‘s mind, in modern day Australia. Following the novel is a critical exegesis that charts the genesis and development of The Triumphant Approach by examining its various thematic elements with a focus on madness and writing, giving particular attention to the mental illness and spirituality shared by the protagonist and the author. The exegesis examines how identity is changed by mental illness and explores the inherent challenges for the writer intent on expressing that through fiction, as well as looking at the relationship between mental illness and belief – with a view to understanding the symbiotic relationship between the two. 5 The Triumphant Approach By Patrick Bryson 6 God is a circle whose centre is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere. EMPEDOCLES 7 Lying in my bed, I hear the clock tick and think of you. Caught up in circles, confusion is nothing new... CYNDI LAUPER Time After Time 8 Part I – Slouching Towards Petersham 9 1 You‘re deciding whether or not to jump on the tracks. You‘ve already had an opportunity to go, but you were worried about the other people standing nearby. So you can‘t be in too much trouble. You‘re not that desperate. Still, you‘re considering it. For your eyes remain focused on what you believe to be a gold coin – a gold coin that would sit snugly in your near-empty hip pocket. You have even made some calculations and come up with a hypothetical plan for how to spend your windfall. You will buy a can of Diet Coke. You will try and forget that this is what it has come to. Nine months after your move to Sydney, a dingy mould-ridden flat in the far inner-west later, and nothing but an Arts degree under your belt, you are now on the train to Petersham. At Petersham you will sit for a test that determines whether you get an interview with CityRail. You have scraped together a CV, plugged a couple of gaps and told a few outright lies. Along with your old school tie, you are wearing the closest thing to a business shirt that you own. The black pants that you have on, survivors from your days as a check-out operator at Woolworths, are now shiny at the knees and arse and will no doubt only last one or two more washes. You need this job – you have worried yourself sleepless about getting it – and you‘re expecting fierce competition for the vacancies. But upon your arrival in the foyer of the Australian Rail Training School, you discover that your concern was misplaced. You‘re the best dressed candidate there, and have at least some experience in wearing a tie. 10 The same cannot be said for ‗The Loud Guy‘, who is wearing a tracksuit, a baseball cap and a mobile phone. The Samsung is not distracting him from filling out his application form in the slightest, and the murmur of disapproval from some of the other applicants only makes him speak louder. This is to make sure that his listener – Rashid – can hear the conversation clearly, in far off Yagoona. ‗I fucken hate questions, Rashid. Fuck that, mate. Just give me the job Godfuckya.‘ The Loud Guy sees you chuckling and smiles at you. For the next couple of minutes, it‘s as if he plays up specifically to make you laugh. When you go to hand in your form a short while later, you don‘t expect that you will see him again. You wonder why he bothered coming at all. You surrender your paperwork to a Human Resources Executive called Brad, who has unleashed the giant within. His shirt breathes, whereas yours clings to you like melted cheese, and his leather shoes are much smarter than your own vinyl pair. The bright sheen of his bleached white teeth almost forces you to squint. He looks you over for a few seconds, with some deliberation. When it comes down to it, you‘re all in a line and people like Brad decide who moves to the left and who moves to the right. When he guides you to the left – and to the possibility of work – your hopes are dashed. Secretly, you wanted him to turn you down. Now you are sitting at a computer to do your literacy, numeracy and memory test. You get a surprise when The Loud Guy walks in and sits himself next to you. He introduces himself as ‗Ali‘. ‗I‘m Peter,‘ you say. 11 ‗Listen, Pete, we‘ll help each other out on the hard ones, okay?‘ He winks at you. You nod at him and chuckle again, thinking that he should get into comedy. Then you understand why you find Ali so funny; he is dead serious. You both pass through the test at a similar speed, until you get to the memory segment. It is here that Ali starts to falter. The test requires you to look at three pictures on the screen, in a horizontal row. Then the computer gives you six variations of that sequence and you have to select the initial one that you were shown.

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