Patrick White's Fiction: The Paradox of Fortunate Failure (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780333388693)

This study examines all eleven novels of Patrick White, the great Australian writer and Nobel Prize-winner. It begins from the observation that major characters in his novels undergo a necessary, redemptive, or facilitating failure. This failure paradoxically enables their success within the context of what White has called the 'overreaching grandeur' which circumscribes human existence. Evolution of this theme is traced through forty years of White's fiction: from his first novel, Happy Valley (1939), to his most recent work, The Twyborn Affair (1979). Comprehensive in its scope, this book is informed by a thorough knowledge of White's poetry, plays, short stories, and autobiography, as well as his novels. It is also unique in stressing that White's world view derives from a distinctly Australian experience. It thus links him to a country in which he is deeply rooted and to a heritage he continued to affirm.

Author: Carolyn Bliss
ISBN-10: 0333388690
ISBN-13: 9780333388693
Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan
Language: English
Published: 08/18/1986
Pages: 255
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.09lbs
Size: 8.50h x 5.50w x 0.75d