Patrick White (1912–90,) fully Patrick Victor Martindale White, was an Australian novelist and playwright. This winner of the 1973 Nobel Prize in Literature published 12 novels, 3 short-story collections, and 8 plays 1935–87.
Born in London while his parents were there on a visit, White was educated at Cheltenham College and then worked at his father’s sheep ranch in Australia for two years before going to King’s College, Cambridge. After serving in the RAF during World War II, he wrote Happy Valley (1939,) The Living and the Dead (1941,) and The Aunt’s Story (1946,) and then bought a farm near Sydney and settled in Australia.
White achieved international success with The Tree of Man (1955.) In this allegorical novel about a small community in the Australian bush, he attempts to portray every aspect of human life and find the secret that makes it bearable. In 1957, he published Voss, an allegorical account, in religious terms, of a grueling attempt to cross the Australian continent. This was followed by Riders in the Chariot (1961,) The Solid Mandala (1966,) The Eye of the Storm (1973,) and The Twyborn Affair (1979.)
White also published short stories, The Burnt Ones (1964) and The Cockatoos (1974,) and plays, including Four Plays (1965) and Signal Driver (1981.) In addition to his autobiographical Flaws in the Glass (1981,) he also wrote one screenplay and a book of poems.
White used the proceeds of the 1973 Nobel Prize in Literature to establish the Patrick White Literary Award, which makes an annual grant to an older Australian writer whose work has not received appropriate critical or financial recognition.
Australian journalist and social commentator David Marr wrote Patrick White: A Biography (1991.)
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Patrick White
I forget what I was taught. I only remember what I have learnt.
—Patrick White
Topics: Learning
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