Australian Literature
Patrick Victor Martindale White
Patrick Victor Martindale White (1912-1990), Australian author and Nobel laureate, born in London
on one of his parents' periodic visits. White returned to England to attend the
University of Cambridge, and served in the Royal Air Force during World War II
(1939-1945). His first novel, Happy
Valley (1939), was set in Australia, as were such later successful works as
The Tree of Man (1955), about the
struggles of a farmer in the Australian wilderness, and Voss (1957); these are considered his outstanding works and set his
reputation. Other works include Riders in
the Chariot (1961), The Solid Mandala
(1966), and The Eye of the Storm
(1973). Rich in symbolism and allegory, they deal with the individual's search
for meaning in a harsh, potentially brutal country searching for its own
self-definition. The Twyborn Affair
(1979) explores sexual and spiritual confusion and ends in the London blitz.
White, who in 1973 became the first Australian awarded the Nobel Prize in
literature, was cited for his “epic and psychological narrative art which has
introduced a new continent into literature.” His highly original writing style
has been praised by critics for its oblique yet forceful descriptive power. His
autobiography, Flaws in the Glass,
was published in 1980.
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