Serendipitously, while trawling Trove for something else recently, I came across a fascinating article in the Tribune about the winners of the first two Miles Franklin Awards. The article was written by Jack Beasley in July 1959, and the two winners were Patrick White's Voss (1957), and Randolph Stow's To the islands (1958), two books … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: 1950s prose-poets criticised
Patrick White
Monday musings on Australian literature: Patrick White and those Blue Poles by Jackson Pollock
A change of pace for this week's Monday Musings to give you a bit of a rest after my few rather lengthy posts of late. Enjoy! I have already mentioned Patrick White a few times this month. One was my reference to his calling himself a "painter manque" in my review of his debut novel, … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Patrick White and those Blue Poles by Jackson Pollock
Delicious descriptions from Down under: Patrick White on men and sheep
A few months ago I wrote a Monday Musings on the representation of sheep - well, people who work with sheep anyhow - in Australian literature. I was therefore tickled when early in Patrick White's Happy Valley, which I reviewed last week, he talks of men who work with sheep, as follows: Men who work … Continue reading Delicious descriptions from Down under: Patrick White on men and sheep
Patrick White, Happy Valley (Review)
My love affair with Patrick White, figuratively speaking, began in my last year of high school when I studied Voss. Always partial to Aussie literature, I was, at 17 or 18, bowled over by White's writing, passion and vision - and by his rather acerbic, though mostly compassionate, view of the way people submerge their … Continue reading Patrick White, Happy Valley (Review)
Monday musings on Australian literature: Patrick White (would be) 100 (today)
I had planned to follow up last week's Monday musings with another post on Colin Roderick's mid-twentieth century series of books on Australian prose, but I hadn't remembered then that today is the 100th anniversary of the birth of Patrick White, Australia's only Nobel Laureate for Literature*. Colin Roderick will therefore have to wait for the man who … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Patrick White (would be) 100 (today)
Whispering Gums 