Patrick White
Awards: Miles Franklin Literary
Award, 1957 for Voss & 1961 for
Riders in the Chariot; Nobel Prize in
Literature in 1973
Born: 28/05/1912 in Knightbridge, London
Died: 30/09/1990 in Sydney, Australia
Language: English
Nationality: Australian
When Patrick was six months old, his parents came
back to Australia. His father and their ancestors were farmers and
owned large live stock. It was, therefore, quite natural for his
father to expect his son to tow the family line rather than choose
writing. But the young Patrick was drawn to poetry and drama as early
as when he was nine year old and the same would grow to be his
passion. As youngster, he visited Norway, Sweden along with his
parents and the natural beauty as well as the influence of Ibsen,
Strindberg was strongly noticeable on the boy. Patrick was in love
with the theatre.
He had his college education in King's
College, Cambrtdge. The important events during his college days was a
romantic liaison bordering on homosexuality with another student,
publication of his poetry collection The Ploughman and Other
Poems and death of his father in 1937. White inherited a
fortune upon death of his father and decided to become a whole time
writer.
White's first novel was "Happy Valley"(1939) which
was well received in London but poorly in Australia. This was followed
by "The Living and the Dead"(1941) and "The Aunt's Story"(1941). The
third novel received a poor response and very rude comment in
Australia where people found it unreadable.
In the mean time, The World War was raging
and White was inducted into the War Mobilization troop. The assignment
took him traveling in Middle East and raw, barren deserts of Egypt
that fired his imagination. The Tree of Man was a turning point
followed by Voss, Riders in the Chariot. After returning
from War, He lived in the suburb of Sydney and continued his work till
the end.
Patrick White was an active opponent of
Literary censorship and invited criticism for opposing Australia's
participation in the Vietnam war. Many colleagues found him to be very
rude without any reason. But Patrick always encouraged younger writer
class to fill the space. This is evident from the fact that his work "The
Twyborn Affair" was short listed for Booker in 1979 but he
requested for its removal to give younger writers a chance.
Ironically, the award for that year went to Penelope Fitzgerald who
was only 4 years younger to him.
This foremost English novelist of the
twentieth century died at the age of 78 in Sydney.
Major Influence: Goethe, D H Lawrence
Major Works: The Living and the Dead(1941),
The Tree of Man(1955),
Voss(1957), Riders in the Chariot(1961), The Burnt Ones(1964),
The Vivisector(1970),The Eye of the Storm(1973),
Memoirs of a Survivor(1974),
Order Patrick
White's Books below
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