Patrick White

@Writers, Family and Family ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Patrick Victor Martindale White was an Australian novelist and playwright Gays Nobel Laureates In Literature Australian Writers Novelists Playwrights Gemini Celebrities Patrick Victor Martindale White was an Australian novelist and playwright. He was the first Australian to have been awarded the Nobel Prize in literature. He is considered to be one of the most important English-language writers of the twentieth century. His oeuvre comprises twelve novels, three short-story anthologies and eight plays. Even though White dealt with everything Australian, his vision was not limited to any particular country or period. White’s works show Australia to be in an unpredictable process of growth. He explores the possibilities of violence in such a context. Novels like ‘The Tree of Man’, ‘The Solid Mandala’, ‘The Twyborn Affair’ show his ideas about his native country. He had also written plays like ‘Night on the Bald Mountain’, ‘Season at Sarsaparilla’ which reveal his allegorical and symbolical style of writing. His fiction is postmodern; it makes use of the multiple narrative points of view and the stream of consciousness technique. Patrick White was deeply concerned about man’s sense of alienation from the society and his quest for a purpose amidst meaninglessness. After receiving the Nobel Prize, the writer became a celebrity in Australia - a status that he did not enjoy at all. His last unfinished novel was ‘The Hanging Garden’—a posthumous publication.

Personal Details

Birthday: May 28, 1912 Died on: September 30, 1990 Nationality: Australian Famous: Writers, Gays, Nobel Laureates In Literature, Writers, Novelists, Playwrights Spouses: Manoly Lascaris Known as: Patrick Victor Martindale White Universities: King's College Cambridge University of Cambridge Cheltenham College Information Detail Birthday May 28, 1912 Died on September 30, 1990 Nationality Australian Famous Writers, Gays, Nobel Laureates In Literature, Writers, Novelists, Playwrights Spouses Manoly Lascaris Known as Patrick Victor Martindale White Universities King's College Cambridge University of Cambridge Cheltenham College Birth Place Knightsbridge, London, England Gender Male Father Victor Martindale White Mother Ruth White Sun Sign Gemini Born in Knightsbridge, London, England Famous as Australian Writer Died at Age 78

Knightsbridge, London, England

Patrick White born at Unsplash Birth Place

Patrick White was a homosexual. His first love affair was with a student priest in King’s College. Unsplash Personal Life

In 1936, White met Maistre, the famous Australian artist. Though they were never lovers, Maistre remained a great influence on White’s life and career. Unsplash Personal Life

While serving his term in the Middle East, White met his life partner, Manoly Lascaris, a Greek army officer. After the war, they settled down in Castle Hill, Australia, where the pair lived for eighteen years. Unsplash Personal Life

Patrick White was born in Knightsbridge, London, to Victor Martindale White and Ruth née Withycombe on 28 May 1912. His parents were both English Australians. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

When White was six months old, his family returned to Sydney, Australia. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

White had inherited a hereditary condition of asthma, at the age of four. He suffered from fragile health throughout his childhood and could not participate in many childhood activities. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

In 1917, he attended kindergarten at Sandtoft in Woollahra. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

In an effort to cure his asthma, he was enrolled at a boarding school, Tudor House School, in Southern Highlands of New South Wales, at the age of ten. He wrote his early plays there. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

In 1935, White published a collection of poetry—‘The Ploughman and Other Poems’. The same year, his first play, ‘Bread and Butter Women’ got published as well. This play was performed at Bryant’s Playhouse, Sydney. Unsplash Career

At London, he reworked on ‘Happy Valley’(1939), a novel he had written while jackarooing. He dedicated it to the painter, Roy de Maistre. Unsplash Career

In 1941, the ‘Viking Press’ published White’s ‘The Living and the Dead’. The novel was written during his stay in the United States. Unsplash Career

By 1945, he joined the British Royal Air Force as an intelligence officer in the Middle East. He subsequently served in Egypt, Palestine and Greece before the Second World War got over. Unsplash Career

In 1955, White published ‘The aunt’s Story’ in England and ‘The Tree of Man’ in the US. These novels did not find acclaim in Australia. Unsplash Career

‘Voss’ (1957), based on the life of the explorer and naturalist Ludwig Leichhardt, is considered to be the most successful novel of Patrick White. In 1986, it was turned into an opera and was shown at the Adelaide Festival of Arts. Unsplash Major Works

Information	Detail
Birthday	May 28, 1912
Died on	September 30, 1990
Nationality	Australian
Famous	Writers, Gays, Nobel Laureates In Literature, Writers, Novelists, Playwrights
Spouses	Manoly Lascaris
Known as	Patrick Victor Martindale White
Universities	King's College Cambridge University of Cambridge Cheltenham College
Birth Place	Knightsbridge, London, England
Gender	Male
Father	Victor Martindale White
Mother	Ruth White
Sun Sign	Gemini
Born in	Knightsbridge, London, England
Famous as	Australian Writer
Died at Age	78

Patrick White

Australian

May 28, 1912

Biography

Personal Details

Knightsbridge, London, England