THE DbvELOPMENT OF THE THEME OF SUFFERING AND REDEMPTION IN THE NOVELS OF

by Ruth Bernard, B.A.(Tas.), Dip.Ed.(Syd.), Dip.Ed. Admin. (New Eng.) submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts

THE UNIVERSITY OF TASMANIA HOBART November, 1965 STATEMENT

This thesis contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university.. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no copy or paraphrase of material previously published or written by another person, except when due reference is made in the text of the thesis. ii

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I gratefully acknowledge the help given to me by my supervisor, Dr. L.T. Hergenhan, whose criticism of my work, suggestions and guidance were invaluable. /CR iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Statement Acknowledgment ii Table of Contents Summary iv Chapter I Baggy_112/12y: a Study in Futility 1 Chapter II The "Expressionless Malaise" of The Liylnz and he Dead 34 Chapter III The Agntos Story 66 Chapter IV 212.12.22_91A211: Growth and Continuity 97 Chapter V and Humility 123 Chapter VI Revelation and Redemption in AllIEJLARAMISMILLIt 177 Chapter VII Conclusion 215 Bibliography 221 iv

SUMMARY

There is a remarkable continuity and coherence of thought in the work of Patrick White. In this thesis, an attempt has been made to show the development of the underlying and recurring theme of suffering leading, ultimately, to redemption. It has been possible to trace a clear progression from the nihilism expressed in the first two books to a positive avowal of faith in the later and more mature novels. This seems to reflect a personal development in the author during the years 1939 to 1961, and, for this reason, his work has been treated chronologically.

In chapters I and II, dealing with appv Valley and ng_Living and the Deal, the suffering of the main characters is shown to reflect a sense of hopelessness and despair at the inevitable loneliness of man and at the futility of life itself. n.t.ARTALL11.92.,,1 discussed in chapter III, contains a more positive statement that truth is revealed to those who suffer; however, as revelation and peace seem attainable only in madness, the implicit hopefulness of 11.41.1mLULAtari remains questionable. There is a decisive change in the next • book and this has been noted in chapter IV. In , there is a very real attempt to see life in broader terms and to transform suffering into a beneficent experience, leading to humility and serenity. Humility is the key-word to Las. and the redemptive theme culminates in Bidgm_lpt_Itt_ghgrlat. The author's concepts of humility, of good and evil, of revelation and redemption, are examined in chapters V and VI.

Throughout, the imagery used by Patrick White, his symbolism, his mysticism, his predilection for the simple and simple-minded, even the mad, his violent reaction against the ugly manifestations of this "plastic" age and its dehumanising effect on people, his use of irony and social satire, are related to ,his central theme. The theme itself is, fundamentally, religious: Patrick White proclaims his belief that, by striving and suffering, man is redeemable. 1

CHAPTER I : A STUDY IN FUTILITY

Existentialism, in helping to form and in expressing the intellectual climate of our time, has had a marked influence on serious writers of the mid-twentieth century. In its reaction both against the complacent "bourgeois" world and mentality and against the mechanisation of life with its reduction of the individual to a cog in a social and technological machine ) in its insistence on personal liberty and responsibility and in its concentration on man as a free and rational, an ex-sistent, being, existentialism has attempted to analyse and ra