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The time for new approaches to Whiteâs work is overdue. Central to the present study are Edward Saidâs ideas about the role of the intellectual (and the writer) â of speaking âtruth to power,â and also the importance of tracing the âaffiliationsâ of a text and its embeddedness in the world. This approach is not incompatible with Jungâs theory of the âgreatâ artist and his capacity to answer the deep-seated psychic needs of his people. Whiteâs work has contributed in many different ways to the writing of the nation. The spiritual needs of a young nation such as Australia must also comprehend its continual urge towards self-definition. Explored here is one important aspect of that challenge: white Australiaâs dealings with the indigenous people of the land, tracing the significance of the Aboriginal presence in three texts selected from the oeuvre of Patrick White: Voss (1957), Riders in the Chariot (1961), and A Fringe of Leaves (1976). Each of these texts interrogates European cultureâs denigration of the non-European Other as embedded in the discourse of orientalism. One central merit of Whiteâs commanding perspective is the constant close attention he pays to European hubris and to the paramount autonomy of indigenous culture. There is evidence even of a project which can be articulated as a search for the possibility of white indigeneity, the potential for the white settlerâs belonging within the land as does the indigene.
Cynthia vanden Driesen completed her undergraduate degree in Sri Lanka and postgraduate studies at the University of Western Australia. She has taught at universities in Sri Lanka, Nigeria, and Korea, and is currently a Senior Lecturer in the School of Communication and Art at Edith Cowan University. As a result of varied life-experiences with diverse cultures. her research interests in new literatures in English have developed beyond the colonialist bias of her early education. Her books include The Novels of R.K. Narayan (1986), An Anthology of Australian Literature for Korean Readers (1995), Centering the Margins: Perspectives on Literatures in English from India, Africa, the Caribbean (1995), and four co-edited volumes: Celebrations: Fifty Years of Sri Lanka-Australia Interaction (2000); New Directions in Australian Studies (2000); AsianâAustralian Encounters (2002); and Diaspora: The Australasian Experience (2005).
Shortlisted for the Macrae Russell Award 2011.
From the Judgesâ Report: "While this research draws on post-colonial re-readings and Saidâs well known thesis on Orientalism, the breadth, intellectual scope and understanding of political, historical and social context is not limited by the fineness of focus on only three of Patrick Whiteâs novels. In each there is an illuminating contribution to (and enhancement of) scholarship in the field of literary studies but also the cultural analysis of race relations in Australia. There are well-illustrated prior representations of relationships between settler and Indigenous peoples and the demonstration of the pioneering ways in which Patrick White has engaged with these issues is well achieved. [..] Vanden Driesenâs main concern affords a refreshing take on a writer who, in the past, has occasionally been caricatured as an misanthropic reactionary." â Anne le Guellec-Minel, University of Brest
From the Judgesâ Report: "While this research draws on post-colonial re-readings and Saidâs well known thesis on Orientalism, the breadth, intellectual scope and understanding of political, historical and social context is not limited by the fineness of focus on only three of Patrick Whiteâs novels. In each there is an illuminating contribution to (and enhancement of) scholarship in the field of literary studies but also the cultural analysis of race relations in Australia. There are well-illustrated prior representations of relationships between settler and Indigenous peoples and the demonstration of the pioneering ways in which Patrick White has engaged with these issues is well achieved. [..] Vanden Driesenâs main concern affords a refreshing take on a writer who, in the past, has occasionally been caricatured as an misanthropic reactionary." â Anne le Guellec-Minel, University of Brest
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. Recovery From Amnesia
2. Voss
3. A Fringe of Leaves
4. Riders in the Chariot
Conclusion
Appendix
Works Cited
Index
Introduction
1. Recovery From Amnesia
2. Voss
3. A Fringe of Leaves
4. Riders in the Chariot
Conclusion
Appendix
Works Cited
Index