The Modern Novel

Biography

Patrick White was actually born in London but was brought back to Australia at age six months. His family were well-to-do Australian farmers and left him a private income which helped him when his writing was not selling well. He grew up in Sydney and the Sydney suburbs. At thirteen, he was sent to the prestigious English school of Cheltenham College, which he later described as regimented. Returning to Australia, he worked as a jackeroo but then went back to England to study modern languages at Cambridge University. He had already started writing, producing both poetry and plays, the latter produced in Australia. After graduating from Cambridge, he lived in London where he met the Australian painter, Roy de Maistre, who was to be part of the model for Hurtle Duffield in The Vivisector (though Francis Bacon has also been said to have been an influence, while White claimed that he himself was the model).

White had started to write novels at this time but was unable to get them published till Happy Valley was published in 1939. After a visit to the United States, where he wrote The Living and the Dead, he joined the RAF and served as an intelligence officer in Africa, the Middle East and Greece. It was here he met Manoly Lascaris, a lieutenant in the Greek Army and they became lifelong companions. After the War, he remained in London for a while but, after a visit to Australia, he returned for good in 1948, spending the rest of his life there with Lascaris.

White and Lascaris settled in a semi-rural suburb of Sydney and remained relatively reclusive. White did get involved to some degree in politics, favoring liberal causes such as environmental and pro-aborigine concerns. However, most of his life was spent producing a wonderful body of work, mainly novels but also short stories, plays and poetry. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1973.

What is amazing about his work is that, unlike other great authors, who may produce one or two great works, with the rest being of lesser quality, virtually all of his novels, from The Aunt’s Story on, are superb and none stands out as being particularly superior to the others. Indeed, it would be very difficult to recommend to someone who had not read White one or two novels to start with. What he has done is to create a series of memorable characters who are isolated from their community (an isolation, White has said, which he himself feels, not least because of his homosexuality). These creations are magnificent in themselves and in their quest to determine their nature and the nature of humans in their environment. Read all of them. You won’t regret it. However, amazingly enough, a significant number of his works are out of print in the United States and, though some have been republished, it is not sure how long they will remain in print.

Books about Patrick White

Barry Argyle: Patrick White
Simon During: Patrick White (Australian Writers)
Geoffrey Dutton: Patrick White
David Marr: Patrick White A Life (standard biography)

Other links

Patrick White
Patrick White
White’s literary treasure found
Patrick White’s cruel visionaries
Homelands: Patrick White – A Personal Odyssey
Patrick White: Under the Skin