Thesis (M.A.) -- University of Adelaide, Dept. of English, 1971.

Th.--Etud. angl.--Reims, 1983.

This study is concerned with an evaluation of the suffering and self of the elected characters in the novels of Patrick White. The suffering these elected characters endure, apart from the uncomprehending antagonism of society, takes place mainly in the country of the mind - "that solitary land of the individual experience, in which no fellow footfall is ever heard" (Epigraph to The Aunt's Story) - and is a form of catharsis in preparatory to a reunion with God as the Source of all Being. The suffering, whether of a psychic or physical nature - or both - is complicated by the duality between the esoteric and exoteric selves of the characters involved. The nature of the suffering is always solitary. The wisdom eventually gained from the suffering cannot be shared. Contact with fellow elect is brief and without consequence except for mutual recongnition of "outsidership". It is clear that the elected character has no apparent control of what happens to him in life. The reader gains the impression that the elected characters in White's novels are the involuntary victims of some "malign" life-force that, paradoxically, brings about a state of grace. White touches on, but wisely prefers not to examine, the problems of predestination and euthanasia. The elected characters are all outsiders in the sense that they are, in some psychic or physical manner, different from the members of the society in which they find themselves. In the earlier novels the elected characters' alienism is characterised by their intuitive awareness of another, nonphysical, transcendent plane of being - "There is another world, but it is in this one" (Epigraph to The Solid Mandala) . Progressive reading of White's novels reveals that his conception of suffering, despite disavowal, is in line with the Biblical concept of suffering as described in Paul's letter to the Romans. The non-elected members of society with whom the elect come into conflict either do not understand or are unwilling to admit their intuitive awareness that there is another world within the familiar one, a concept White frequently refers to in his image of boxes and boxes within boxes. The secret knowledge the elect seem to have antagonises the other members of society because of the sense of loss they experience. White's later novels reveal a concern with sexually aberrated suffering which is closely aligned to his own unhappiness. The sexual duality that is an essential aspect of Theodora Goodman's (The Aunt's Story) dilemma gains progressively more of White's attention and is eventually exposed in his biography of Eddie Twyborn (The Twyborn Affair). White's concern with abnormal sexuality is related to his disquiet with the mystery of the soul baing "housed” in a body not only unsuitable, but also contrary to the nature of the psyche which is either predominantly male or female. White is clearly angry that this mystery should be the profound result of momentary lust. Although so many of White's elect labour under spiritually destructive burdens of guilt, the parents who are considered the root cause of all suffering in a post-lapsarian state, feel little of any compunction because they are too concerned with their own suffering, real or imagined. God as Source or God as the "One" is an all-pervading, if unacknowledged force in White's corpus and in the lives of his elect. The elect turn to God only when they have suffered and acknowledged their dependence on Him. It is sad that White should, in the end not find himself in "the boundless garden" with Stan Parker (The Tree of Man). He seems to share the fates of Theodora Goodman (The Aunt's Story) and Arthur Brown (The Solid Mandala). / Thesis (DLitt)--UOVS, 1989

This study is concerned with an evaluation of the suffering and self of the elected characters in the novels of Patrick White. The suffering these elected characters endure, apart from the uncomprehending antagonism of society, takes place mainly in the country of the mind - "that solitary land of the individual experience, in which no fellow footfall is ever heard" (Epigraph to The Aunt's Story) - and is a form of catharsis in preparatory to a reunion with God as the Source of all Being. The suffering, whether of a psychic or physical nature - or both - is complicated by the duality between the esoteric and exoteric selves of the characters involved. The nature of the suffering is always solitary. The wisdom eventually gained from the suffering cannot be shared. Contact with fellow elect is brief and without consequence except for mutual recongnition of "outsidership". It is clear that the elected character has no apparent control of what happens to him in life. The reader gains the impression that the elected characters in White's novels are the involuntary victims of some "malign" life-force that, paradoxically, brings about a state of grace. White touches on, but wisely prefers not to examine, the problems of predestination and euthanasia. The elected characters are all outsiders in the sense that they are, in some psychic or physical manner, different from the members of the society in which they find themselves. In the earlier novels the elected characters' alienism is characterised by their intuitive awareness of another, nonphysical, transcendent plane of being - "There is another world, but it is in this one" (Epigraph to The Solid Mandala) . Progressive reading of White's novels reveals that his conception of suffering, despite disavowal, is in line with the Biblical concept of suffering as described in Paul's letter to the Romans. The non-elected members of society with whom the elect come into conflict either do not understand or are unwilling to admit their intuitive awareness that there is another world within the familiar one, a concept White frequently refers to in his image of boxes and boxes within boxes. The secret knowledge the elect seem to have antagonises the other members of society because of the sense of loss they experience. White's later novels reveal a concern with sexually aberrated suffering which is closely aligned to his own unhappiness. The sexual duality that is an essential aspect of Theodora Goodman's (The Aunt's Story) dilemma gains progressively more of White's attention and is eventually exposed in his biography of Eddie Twyborn (The Twyborn Affair). White's concern with abnormal sexuality is related to his disquiet with the mystery of the soul baing "housed” in a body not only unsuitable, but also contrary to the nature of the psyche which is either predominantly male or female. White is clearly angry that this mystery should be the profound result of momentary lust. Although so many of White's elect labour under spiritually destructive burdens of guilt, the parents who are considered the root cause of all suffering in a post-lapsarian state, feel little of any compunction because they are too concerned with their own suffering, real or imagined. God as Source or God as the "One" is an all-pervading, if unacknowledged force in White's corpus and in the lives of his elect. The elect turn to God only when they have suffered and acknowledged their dependence on Him. It is sad that White should, in the end not find himself in "the boundless garden" with Stan Parker (The Tree of Man). He seems to share the fates of Theodora Goodman (The Aunt's Story) and Arthur Brown (The Solid Mandala). / Thesis (DLitt)--UOVS, 1989

Habilitationsschrift--[Englische Philologie]--Mainz--Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, 1988.

Zugleich: Diss. Würzburg, 2007. / Literaturverz.

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 regional 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). As an introduction to these four novels the first chapter attempts to define White's place in the 'Australian tradition', to give an account of his local critical reception, and to discuss in brief the nature of his central preoccupations as an artist and the forms in which they are manifested. An examination of the four novels reveals the development of White's thought from the time when his artistic maturity became fully evident. From The Aunt's Story to Riders in the Chariot White is concerned above all with the besetting problems of the present time: the dilemma of the individual when faced with the break-down of traditional modes of thought, the possibility of meaningful communication, the problem of identity in a world of inner and outer chaos, and the origin and nature of evil in the world. From a subjective view of the world seen through the isolated consciousness of Theodora Goodman in The Aunt's Story, to the massive fourfold vision of Riders in the Chariot, White has demonstrated an ever-increasing range of tone and subject matter. He records with deadly accuracy the Australian 'comedy of manners', and in this respect he can be said to be the first genuine Australian satirist. At the other extreme, White is capable of rendering the profoundest mystical experience. Whether satirist or mystic, or mere observer and recorder of the world around him, White has at his disposal a lucid and poetic style which, though often startling in its unorthodoxy, is capable of conveying and enlarging upon the subtlest nuance of thought and image. In his style, and in his broadness of vision, lie White's chief claims to excellence. This study of the four novels, in chronological order, endeavours to demonstrate that underlying them is a constantly expanding vision, and that Patrick White is a significant and powerful novelist, and worthy of the closest critical attention. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

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 improvements 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. There is need for reappraisal (over and above the original review articles which are about all that exist), and this study makes a modest attempt at this. The middle period, to which belong The Aunt’s Story and The Tree of Man (as well as one play and some stories), is presented as the high point of maturity, both of technique and of the vision which the technique embodies. The works have a high degree of structural integration and the vision is presented with great clarity and imaginative appeal. The later novels, Voss, Riders in the Chariot and The Solid Mandala, continue the use of developed techniques from the middle period. There is an imaginative boldness of design in these later novels, but the themes reveal a vision which appears to be declining into personal reverie and dream. In this period White seems to lose the ability to maintain the stance of integrity-in-isolation which he has asserted in the two preceding novels, and appears instead to seek some kind of mystic communion for his heroes. These interpretations of the later novels are suggested, but not argued in his study; they have been argued in several published articles. In part, it is this discrepancy between the mystical or basically symbolic vision of the later novels and the un-symbolic, essentially naturalistic vision of the earlier period, which has defined the limitations of the thesis presented. At the present stage of critical interpretation, the vision of the later period appears less significant than the earlier vision. In order that we may resolve the apparent differences between the two visions, it is necessary first to define the earlier vision. This study analyses the earlier works, for that purpose. In the final chapter, a suggestion is offered as to how the later novels might be approached in a way that would show the later vision to be a consistent development of the earlier vision, through a boldly symbolic technique. Above all, this study concentrates on White's vision of the alienated state of man, as the central pre-occupation of his earlier works. It analyses the techniques by which this vision is rendered, examining the tests of the four novels more closely than has been done in any criticism published to date. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

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