DOCSLIB.ORG

Patrick White's Fiction Patrick White's Fiction

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Patrick White's Fiction Patrick White's Fiction PATRICK WHITE'S FICTION PATRICK WHITE'S FICTION The Paradox of Fortunate Failure Carolyn Bliss Palgrave Macmillan ISBN 978-1-349-18329-6 ISBN 978-1-349-18327-2 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-18327-2 © Carolyn Jane Bliss 1986 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1986 978-0-333-38869-3 All rights reserved. For information, write: St. Martin's Press, Inc., 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010 First published in the United States of America in 1986 ISBN 978-0-312-59805-1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bliss, Carolyn Jane, 1947- Patrick White's fiction: the paradox of fortunate failure. Bibliography: p. Includes index. I. White, Patrick, 1912- -Criticism and interpretation. 2. Failure (Psychology) in literature. I. Title. PR9619.3.W5Z584 1986 823 85-14608 ISBN 978-0-312-59805-1 To Jim, who understood how much it meant to me Contents Preface lX Acknowledgements Xlll List of Abbreviations XV 1 Australia: the Mystique of Failure 1 2 The Early Works: Anatomy of Failure 15 Happy Valley 15 The Living and the Dead 24 The Aunt's Story 35 TheTreeofMan 49 3 The Major Phase: the Mystery of Failure 60 Voss 61 Riders in the Chariot 82 The Solid Mandala 99 The Vivisector 115 4 The Later Works: the State of Failure 133 The Eye ofthe Storm 136 A Fringe ofLeaves 153 The TwybornAffair 168 5 Style and Technique: the Discipline of Failure 184 Stylistic preferences 187 Narrative stance 192 Imagery and structure 197 Genre and tradition 200 The shape of failure 204 Vll Vlll Contents Notes 208 Bibliography 232 Index 249 Preface The 1973 award of the Nobel Prize for literature to the Australian novelist Patrick White focused world attention on a body of fiction which many believe will one day rank with the best produced in the twentieth century. From his birth, White has been as much a citizen of that greater world which honoured him as he is of Australia. Although descended from generations of large landholders in Australia's Hunter Valley, he was born in London. His Australian parents had taken an extended honeymoon following their marriage in 1910, and their first child, Patrick Victor Martindale, was born to them on 28 May 1912. At the end of that year, they returned to Australia, where a daughter, Suzanne, was born in 1915. Patrick was first sent to Cranbrook School in Sydney, then, because of severe asthma, to Tudor House in Moss Vale. At thirteen, he was taken back to England to be enrolled at Cheltenham College near Gloucester, where he spent four appar­ ently miserable years. While there, however, he did write the poems which were later collected as Thirteen Poems. Returning to Australia in 1929, he went to work as a jackeroo, 1 first near Adaminaby in the Monaro district (roughly the setting of Happy Valley and of part of The Twyborn Affair), then on an uncle's property near Walgett. While so employed, he began writing fiction, but nothing from this period survives. In 1932, he again went to England, to read history at Cambridge, but soon changed his emphasis to modern languages. The Cambridge years, in contrast to those at Cheltenham, seem to have been happy ones, full of travel, friends and productive creative efforts. There he wrote the poems which later appeared in the privately printed collection The Ploughman and Other Poems. He also wrote plays and sketches for the theatre, some of which were later performed in Australia and London. lX X Preface Coming down from Cambridge in 1935, White took a bedsitter in Ebury Street, Pimlico, and continued writing plays, fiction and poetry. An Australian painter, Roy de Maistre, broadened his exposure to art and music, and he continued to travel extensively. For a time, he entertained hopes of a career in the theatre, but these were disappointed. With other projects he had more success, publishing a short story, 'The Twitching Colonel', in 1937; a poem, 'The House behind the Barricades', in 1938; and his first novel, Happy Valley, in 1939. That same year he took Happy Valley to America, finding a publisher for it in Viking Press, and while there began his next book, The Living and the Dead, finishing it on a later visit to New York. With the outbreak of war, he returned to England to serve in the RAF intelligence forces, mainly in the Middle East and Greece. In his autobiographical essay 'The Prodigal Son', White explains that at this time he reassessed his accomplishments to date, found them minimal and 'experienced those first sensations of rootlessness which Alister Kershaw has deplored and explained as the "desire to nuzzle once more at the benevolent teats of the mother country" '.2 VJ Day found him in Greece, from which he went back to London and thence to 'the mother country' for which he increasingly longed. After a preliminary visit, he decided to resume permanent residence but returned once more to London to settle his affairs. While there, he wrote The Ham Funeral, the first of his plays to survive. He also submitted for publication his third novel, The Aunfs Story, begun in London after the war and finished en route to and in Australia. Upon moving back to Australia in 1948, White took a house at Castle Hill on the outskirts of Sydney with a Greek friend, Manoly Lascaris, whom he had met during the war and whom he now describes as a man 'of immense moral strength, who became the central mandala in my life's hitherto messy design'.3 The two raised flowers, vegetables, Schnauzer dogs, and Saanen goats. Disappointed over the Australian reception of his work, he did not publish another novel until The Tree of Man in 1955. But Voss followed quickly thereafter (in 1957) and since then novels have appeared at fairly regular intervals: Riders in the Chariot in 1961, The Solid Mandala in 1966, The Vivisector in 1970, The Eye of the Storm in 1973, A Fringe of Leaves in 1976, and The T wyborn Affair in 1979. He has also written more plays, numerous short stories and novellas (two collections have appeared), a screenplay and an autobiography. Preface Xl Disturbed by the infringement of burgeoning Sydney on Castle Hill, White and Lascaris moved in 1963 to Centennial Park, which seemed to offer green space protected from urban encroachment. Subsequently, that protection was threatened by plans to turn Centennial Park into a sports arena, and White became politically active and visible as never before over this and other issues such as Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War, uranium- and sand-mining projects, the possibility of nuclear war, and the rise and fall of the Whitlam Australian Labor Party government. He also drew great attention, much of it unwelcome, when he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1973. He has used the prize money to establish a fund to honour and assist other Australian writers and has further proved his generosity by establishing scholarships for aboriginal students and donating paintings to the New South Wales Art Gallery.4 White's achievements and the world recognition accorded them are hard to reconcile with his continued obscurity among many readers of English-language fiction, particularly in the United States. This book is in part an effort to address this problem by bringing White and his work to the greater attention of scholars of English-language literature as well as the many uninitiated readers whom his fiction would delight, intrigue and deeply move. The book argues that the meaning and inevitability of failure in human experience offer an illuminating avenue of approach to White's fiction and can be seen as informing it thematically, stylistically, structurally and generically. In fact, the possibility that personal failure can promote a paradoxical success within a wider, transpersonal context is seen as a central tenet of White's philosophy of life. Attention will be centred on the novels, with references made to the short stories and novellas where these are particularly relevant. The plays and poetry will be treated only parenthetically. This choice of emphasis is dictated by the relative quality of White's work in these genres and reflects an evaluation with which he would probably concur. Except perhaps in the matter of his plays, for White seems irresistibly drawn to the theatre. He once disclaimed further interest in play-writing, because bringing a play to the stage involves 'too many difficulties and warring personalities destruc­ tive of one's own'.5 In the furor following the Adelaide Theatre Guild's 1961 production of his play The Ham Funeral, he went so far as to send a letter to the editor of Nation declaring, 'One thing Xll Preface at least The Ham Funeral has taught me, and that is: never to write another play.'6 Yet he has since seen six more plays into production, the latest as recently as 1983, and has also written the screenplay for the 1978 film The Night the Prowler, based on his short story of the same name. In a 1980 interview, he even hinted at another film script in the offing.7 Yet his work in the dramatic media is simply not as impressive as his fiction. Nor can his short stories stand up to his novels, as White himself acknowledges. In an interview published in 1969, he says of short stories, 'I don't really like writing them so much .... All my effects are cumulative, and one doesn't really have the time to get the effects you want.'8 Similarly, his poetry is comparatively constricted in scope.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • UNIVERSITÀ CA‟ FOSCARI VENEZIA Department of Linguistics and Comparative Cultural Studies Dipartimento Di Studi Linguistici E Culturali Comparati
    UNIVERSITÀ CA‟ FOSCARI VENEZIA Department of Linguistics and Comparative Cultural Studies Dipartimento di Studi Linguistici e Culturali Comparati Master‟s Degree in Language Sciences Corso di Laurea Magistrale in Scienze del Linguaggio Curriculum: Computational Linguistics Curriculum: Linguistica Computazionale Academic year | Anno accademico 2015/2016 ANNOTATING PATRICK WHITE‟S “THE SOLID MANDALA” WITH DEEP FEATURES TO UNRAVEL STYLISTIC DEVICES Candidate | Candidata Giulia MARCHESINI 855573 Supervisor: Prof. Rodolfo DELMONTE Co-supervisors: Dr. Gordon COLLIER Prof. Pia MASIERO TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 Chapter One: Patrick White and The Solid Mandala 3 1.1 Patrick White, Australian writer 3 1.2 The settings in White‟s fiction: ordinary and extraordinary 7 1.3 Characters and themes in The Solid Mandala and other novels 8 1.4 The philosophy behind the themes 17 1.5 Realism, symbolism, modernism, and existential pessimism 20 Chapter Two: A unique style 23 2.1 Introduction to a stylistic analysis 23 2.2 Looking for a definition 24 2.3 Style, characters, narrative mode 26 2.4 Aspects of the analysis 30 2.5 From style to narratology 37 2.6 Measuring a style 39 Chapter Three: Criteria of annotation 41 3.1 From the annotation to the analysis 41 3.2 An introduction to markup languages 44 3.3 Annotation of The Solid Mandala 47 3.3.1 Considerations on the text 47 3.3.2 Internal subdivision in narremes 49 3.3.3 Annotation process 61 3.3.4 Annotation system 63 Chapter Four: Final analysis 106 4.1 Data and preparation 106 4.2 Protagonists and significant traits 115 4.3 A narratological approach: traits and events 122 4.4 A narratological approach: traits and relationships 130 Conclusions 135 Bibliography INTRODUCTION Nobel Prize winner Patrick White (1912-1990) is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential writers of the 20th century, not only in Australia, his country, but in the rest of the world, as well.
    [Show full text]
  • Research Scholar an International Refereed E-Journal of Literary Explorations
    ISSN 2320 – 6101 Research Scholar www.researchscholar.co.in An International Refereed e-Journal of Literary Explorations TREATMENT OF SEX AND ECCENTRICITY IN MAN-WOMAN RELATIONSHIP IN THE SELECTED WORKS OF PATRICK WHITE Dr. P. Bagavathy Rajan Assistant Professor of English Dept. of Information Technology Dr. Mahalingam College of Engineering and Technology Pollachi 642003, India ABSTRACT Patrick Whitehas had written 12 novels, two short-story collections and eight plays. Although he was popularly known as a novelist, the theatre was his first love. He started his career with the writing of revues. An important characteristic feature in the works of Patrick White is the eccentricity in man-woman relationship and the treatment of sex. It is natural for a writer to infuse certain traits of his own, while creating a character. He had created many women characters on the model of his mother.The eccentricity and abnormality in the treatment of sex and man- woman relationship in Patrick White’s work and the main reason for that could be traced in the biography of Patrick White. Key Words: Sex, Man-woman relationship, eccentricity, biographical approach Patrick White is one of the most eminent novelists, who brought laurels to the Australian literature by winning the Nobel Prize in the year 1973. He was awarded "for an epic and psychological narrative art which has introduced a new continent into literature". Patrick Victor Martindale White was born in the year 1912. He has written 12 novels, two short-story collections and eight plays. Although he was popularly known as a novelist, the theatre was his first love.
    [Show full text]
  • Viewed English Journal Vol
    Literary Horizon An International Peer-Reviewed English Journal Vol. 1, Issue 1 www.literaryhorizon.com February, 2021 Fictional Narratives on Patrick White with Special Reference to The Vivisector Miss Akanksha Tiwari Assistant Professor, Gyan Ganga Institute of Engineering and Technology, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India. Abstract: The research paper ―Fictional narratives of Patrick White‖ with special reference to The Vivisector contains a brief description of fictional and factual narratives, an introduction and analysis of some major works done by Patrick White and on the basis of that analysis his major themes were also discussed. His life and experiences and the major themes of his writings is briefly presented. The writing style, characters, plot and settings are some essential tools for every writer that is why it becomes mandatory to be discussed with reference to his major works. Special reference is given to his eighth novel The Vivisector (1970) because of many reasons and one of those reason is the protagonist of this novel ‗Hurtle Duffield‘ who is a painter but not an ordinary painter but a painter with an exceptional ability to look into the reality of a person. This character presents the conception of an artist, also he was a megalomaniac certainly and a Luciferian hero. He is a reflection of White‘s own personality and their life and experiences are so close to each other that it looks like we are reading Whites autobiography. This paper is a humble attempt to describe Whites major themes, his personality and his ideas Contact No. +91-8331807351 Page 63 Email: [email protected] Literary Horizon An International Peer-Reviewed English Journal Vol.
    [Show full text]
  • Use of Theses
    THESES SIS/LIBRARY TELEPHONE: +61 2 6125 4631 R.G. MENZIES LIBRARY BUILDING NO:2 FACSIMILE: +61 2 6125 4063 THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY EMAIL: [email protected] CANBERRA ACT 0200 AUSTRALIA USE OF THESES This copy is supplied for purposes of private study and research only. Passages from the thesis may not be copied or closely paraphrased without the written consent of the author. FINDING A PLACE: LANDSCAPE AND THE SEARCH FOR IDENTITY IN THE EARLY NOVELS OF PATRICK WHITE Y asue Arimitsu A thesis submitted for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS at the Australian National University December 1985 11 Except where acknowledgement is made, this thesis is my own work. Yasue Arimitsu Ill ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Acknowledgements are due to many people, without whose assistance this work would have proved more difficult. These include Dr Livio Dobrez and Dr Susan McKer­ nan, whose patience was unfailing; Dr Bob Brissenden, who provided initial encourage­ ment; Mr Graham Cullum, for advice and assistance; Professor Ian Donaldson, for his valuable comments; and Jean Marshall, for her kind and practical support. Special thanks must be given to the typist, Norma Chin, who has worked hard and efficiently, despite many pressures. My gratitude is also extended to my many fellow post-graduates, who over the years have sustained, helped and inspired me. These in­ clude especially Loretta Ravera Chion, Anne Hopkins, David Jans, Andrew Kulerncka, Ann McCulloch, Robert Merchant, Julia Robinson, Leonie Rutherford and Terry Wat- son. Lastly I would like to thank the Australia-Japan Foundation, whose generous financial support made this work possible and whose unending concern and warmth proved most encouraging indeed.
    [Show full text]
  • Patrick White
    Bibliothèque Nobel 1973 Bernhard Zweifel Patrick White Year of Birth 1912 Year of Death 1990 Language Englisch Award for an epic and psychological narrative art Justification: which has introduced a new continent into literature Supplemental Information Secondary Literature • I. Björksten, Partick White: A General Introduction (1976) • Carolyn Jane Bliss, Patrick White's Fiction (1986) • David J. Tacey, Patrick White: Fiction and the Unconscious (1988) • Laurence Steven, Dissociation and Wholeness in Patrick White's Fiction (1989) • Rodney S tenning Edgecombe, Vision and Style in Patrick White (1989) • Peter Wolfe (ed.), Critical Essays on Patrick White (1990) • David Marr , Patrick White: A Life (1992) • Michael Giffin, Patrick White and the Religious Imagination (1999) • John Colmer, Patrick White (1984) • John C olmer, Patrick White's Riders in the Chariot (1978) • Simon During, Patrick White (1996) • Karin Hansson, The Warped Universe: A Study of Im agery and Structure in Seven Novels by Patrick White (1984) • Brian Kiernan, Patrick White (1980) • Patricia A.Morley, The Mystery of U nity: Theme and technique in the novels of Patrick White (1972) Works Catalogue Drama 1950 - 1959 The Tree of Man [1955] 173.1550 1930 - 1939 Voss [1957] 173.1570 The School for Friends [1935] Bread and Butter Women [1935] 1960 - 1969 Riders in the Chariot [1961] 173.1610 1940 - 1949 Being Kind to Titina [1962] 173.1640 After Alep [1945] Willy-Wagtails by Moonlight [1962] 173.1640 Return to Abyssinia [1947] The Letters [1964] 173.1640 The Ham Funeral [1947]
    [Show full text]
  • FOUR NOVELS of PATRICK WHITE By
    FOUR NOVELS OF PATRICK WHITE by -«>•/ ANTONY FRANK BELLETTE B.A.(Hons.), The University of Tasmania, 1959 ' A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS' FOR THE DEGREE OF Master of Arts in the Department of English We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA August, 1963 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that per• mission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the Head of my Department or by his representatives,. It is understood that copying or publi• cation of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department of The University of British Columbia, Vancouver 8, Canada. Date UUJUM^ , ( ^ ii ABSTRACT The intention of this thesis is to remedy the lack of serious critical attention given to the Australian novelist Patrick White. In Australia critical reaction has been tepid if not openly hostile, while in Britain and America only a small number of critics have dissociated White from his region• al background and endeavoured to place him in a wider context. It is the purpose of the thesis to define this context, and to demonstrate that White is a highly original novelist in his own right. Of White's total output to the present time of six novels, only four are discussed here—The Aunt's Story (1948), The Tree of Man (1955).,Voss (1957), and Riders in the Chariot (1961).
    [Show full text]
  • Books at 2016 05 05 for Website.Xlsx
    Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives Book Collection Author or editor last Author or editor first name(s) name(s) Title : sub-title Place of publication Publisher Date Special collection? Fallopian Tube [Antolovich] [Gaby] Fallopian tube : fallopiana Sydney, NSW Pamphlet July, 1974 December, [Antolovich] [Gaby] Fallopian tube : madness Sydney, NSW Fallopian Tube Press 1974 GLBTIQ with cancer Network, Gay Men's It's a real bugger isn't it dear? Stories of Health (AIDS Council of [Beresford (editor)] Marcus different sexuality and cancer Adelaide, SA SA) 2007 [Hutton] (editor) [Marg] Your daughter's at the door [poetry] Melbourne, VIC Panic Press, Melbourne March, 1975 Inequity and hope : a discussion of the current information needs of people living [Multicultural HIV/AIDS with HIV/AIDS from non-English speaking [Multicultural HIV/AIDS November, Service] backgrounds [NSW] Service] 1997 "There's 2 in every classroom" : Addressing the needs of gay, lesbian, bisexual and Australian Capital [2001 from 100 [no author identified] transgender (GLBT) young people Territory Family Planning, ACT yr calendar] 1995 International Year for Tolerance : gay International Year for and lesbian information kit : milestones and Tolerance Australia [no author identified] current issues Melbourne, VIC 1995 1995 [no author identified] About AIDS in the workplace Massachusetts, USA Channing L Bete Co 1988 [no author identified] Abuse in same sex relationships [Melbourne, VIC] not stated n.d. Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome : [New York State [no author identified] 100 questions & answers : AIDS New York, NY Department of Health] 1985 AIDS : a time to care, a time to act, towards Australian Government [no author identified] a strategy for Australians Canberra, ACT Publishing Service 1988 Adam Carr And God bless Uncle Harry and his roommate Jack (who we're not supposed to talk about) : cartoons from Christopher [no author identified] Street Magazine New York, NY Avon Books 1978 [no author identified] Apollo 75 : Pix & story, all male [s.l.] s.n.
    [Show full text]
  • THE VISION of ALIENATION an Analytical Approach to the Works of Patrick White Through the First Four Novels by WILLIAM GERALD SC
    THE VISION OF ALIENATION An analytical approach to the works of Patrick White through the first four novels by WILLIAM GERALD SCHERMBRUCKER B.A., University of Cape Town, 1957 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF Master of Arts in the Department of English We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA May, 1966 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall, make it freely available for reference and -. study, I further agree that permission., for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the Head of my Department or by his representatives'. It is understood that copying of - publication of this thesis for. financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission', . Department of..^^ The University of British Columbia Vancouver 8, Canada 17th August, 1966. Date ii ABSTRACT This study of Patrick White's work is chiefly concerned with the first four novels, but refers also to some poetry, the short stories, the plays and the three later novels. It traces the development of themes and techniques in these four novels in terms of artistic vision and the rendering of that vision. The early, experimental works, up to The Living and the Dead are treated at considerable length, chiefly to show how the later developments are basically improve• ments and variations on the themes and techniques which have already been used. A second reason for the length of this part of the treatment is that, in the existing criticism of White, these early works are almost entirely ignored.
    [Show full text]
  • Aspects of Alterity in Three Novels by Patrick White
    DEBORAH SCHEIDT 'ALL THE DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD' Aspects of Alterity in Three Novels by Patrick White Dissertação apresentada como requisito parcial à obtenção do grau de Mestre. Curso de Pós- Graduação em Letras/Literaturas de Língua Inglesa, Setor de Ciências Humanas, Letras e Artes, Universidade Federal do Paraná. Orientadora: Prof.a Dr.a Regina Maria Przybycien CURITIBA 1 997 PARECER Defesa de dissertação da Mestranda DÉBORAH SCHEIDT para obtenção do título de Mestre em Letras. Os abaixo assinados Heloisa Toller Gomes, Thomas Bonnici e Regina Maria Przybycien, argüiram, nesta data, a candidata, a qual apresentou a dissertação: "ALL THE DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD: ASPECTS OF ALTERJTY IN THREE NOVELS BY PATRICK WHITE". Procedida a argüição segundo o protocolo aprovado pelo Colegiado do Curso, a Banca é de parecer que a candidata está apta ao título de Mestre em Letras, tendo merecido os conceitos abaixo: Banca Assinatura Conceito Heloisa Toller Gomes A Thomas Bonnici Regina Maria Przybycien Curitiba, 01 de dezembro de 1997. Prof.3 Odett n COORDENADORA To Caroline Larcombe - for her inspiring comments ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Reading - the cliché is old, but most true - involves making unforeseen voyages to places in other ways inaccessible. First of all I would like to express my gratitude to my teachers at UFPR for partaking their love of travelling and substantial knowledge, and mainly, for pointing to so many different routes. Thanks to Dr Sigrid Rénaux, for her ability to dive deeply into the text. To Dr Ana Camati, for unravelling the dazzling comings and goings in between texts. To Dr Brunilda Reichmann for flying as high as any Romantic poet.
    [Show full text]
  • Patrick White
    Bibliothèque Nobel 1973 Bernhard Zweifel Patrick White Geburtsjahr 1912 Todesjahr 1990 Sprache englisch Begründung: for an epic and psychological narrative art which has introduced a new continent into literature Zusatzinformationen Sekundärliteratur • I. Björksten, Partick White: A General Introduction (1976) • Carolyn Jane Bliss, Patrick White's Fiction (1986) • David J. Tacey, Patrick White: Fiction and the Unconscious (1988) • Laurence Steven, Dissociation and Wholeness in Patrick White's Fiction (1989) • Rodney S tenning Edgecombe, Vision and Style in Patrick White (1989) • Peter Wolfe (ed.), Critical Essays on Patrick White (1990) • David Marr , Patrick White: A Life (1992) • Michael Giffin, Patrick White and the Religious Imagination (1999) • John Colmer, Patrick White (1984) • John C olmer, Patrick White's Riders in the Chariot (1978) • Simon During, Patrick White (1996) • Karin Hansson, The Warped Universe: A Study of Im agery and Structure in Seven Novels by Patrick White (1984) • Brian Kiernan, Patrick White (1980) • Patricia A.Morley, The Mystery of U nity: Theme and technique in the novels of Patrick White (1972) Werkverzeichnis Belletristik 1970 - 1979 The Vivisector [1970] 1930 - 1939 The Eye of the Storm [1973] The Twitching Colonel [1937] The Night the Prowler [1974] 173.1662 Happy Valley [1939] Sicilian Vespers [1974] 173.1662 The Coctatoos [1974] 1940 - 1949 A Fringe of Leaves [1976] Cocotte [1940] Stations [1978] The Living and the Dead [1941] 173.1410 The God in the Rafters [1978] The Aunt's Story [1948] 173.1480 The
    [Show full text]
  • The Theme of Spiritual Progression in Voss JOHN and ROSE MARIE BESTON
    The Theme of Spiritual Progression in Voss JOHN AND ROSE MARIE BESTON "How important it is to understand the three stages. Oí God into man. Man. And man returning into God. Do you find, Doctor, there are certain beliefs a clergyman may explain to one from childhood onward, without one's understanding, except in theory, until suddenly, almost in spite of reason, they are made clear."1 Laura's doctrine of the Three Stages of man's spiritual progression, although somewhat cryptic, makes a statement of the central theme of Voss. The doctrine is highlighted by the intensity with which Laura utters it, and it is ele• vated to the status of visionary insight by the fact that it climaxes Laura's severe illness. Frequently in White, sev• ere illness like Laura's, or some kind of "doffing" of the body, precedes spiritual illumination.2 It is our aim in this article to clarify Laura's doctrine, and to show how central it is to the novel's theme of spiritual progression by in• dicating how it is led up to in several earlier scenes. Those scenes involve Laura's analysis of Voss in Mr. Bonner's garden (pp. 82-87), Voss's song as he rides into the Aus• tralian hinterland (p. 185), and Le Mesurier's poems (pp. 289-92). These scenes, and Laura's pronouncement from her sickbed (p. 380), are regularly spaced throughout the book and are linked with one another, indicating how steadily White had in mind the theme that Laura arti• culates and how concerned he was with stressing it.
    [Show full text]
  • A Study of Patrick White's Sylleptic Habits
    Thetripodinthedunny: a study of Patrick White's sylleptic habits David John Merrington. [S.l. : s.n., 1994?]. xii, 305 leaves; 30 em. Engeng Word processed copy. Summary in English. Thesis (M.A.(English Language and Literature))--University of University Capeof CapeTown, 1994. Town Includes bibliographies. White, Patrick, 1912- -- Criticism and interpretation. The copyright of this thesis vests in the author. No quotation from it or information derived from it is to be published without full acknowledgement of the source. The thesis is to be used for private study or non- commercial research purposes only. Published by the University of Cape Town (UCT) in terms of the non-exclusive license granted to UCT by the author. University of Cape Town Abstract This thesis is a study of relations between aspects of Patrick White's prose style and his perception of a moral equivocation that is entailed in the construction of identity and in the making of fiction. Chapter One presents examples of White's sylleptic style. The virtuosity of the figure is seen to reflect the discursive puissance of a detached and ironic narrative stance.. His habitually ironic perspective is ascribed to his apparent sense that human life is governed by fiction, and. that such governance is morally equivocal. The chapter concludes with the specification of gossip as a malicious social discourse which, for White, also reflects the prac­ tice of narrative fiction. In Chapter Two the analogy between fiction and gossip is developed. The discourse of repute is seen to exercise a perverse and vicarious dominance over its object. This governance by a morally equivocal discourse is considered to illustrate White's habitual apprehension of a universally ironic dispensation under which the human subject exists.
    [Show full text]