Sexuality In Patrick White's Fictions

Patrick White (1912 - 1990) is the most important Australian modernist writer in the 20th century. He is to date Australia's only laureate of the Nobel Prize for Literature (1973), and has been commended by the Swedish Academy to have "put Australian literature on the world map". With his profound and unique literary thoughts and innovative style, White founded a new "White School" for Australian fiction writing, starting a new era in the history of Australian literature.This dissertation attempts to study the impact and influence of sexuality, including sexual acts, sexual consciousness, sexual identity and sexual inclination on Patrick White and his writings.White said in one of his letters, "I feel more and more that creative activity in the arts is very closely connected with sexual activity, and that an awful lot of the insights I have had have come from that source". In another letter, White commented on the relationship between his writing and homosexuality: "If I am anything of a writer it is through my homosexuality, which has given me additional insights, and through a very strong vein of vulgarity".The so-called insights are not restricted in his understanding of sexual love. "As a homosexual I have always known what it is to be a refugee in Australia. It has given me added insight into the plight of the immigrant - the hate and contempt with which he is often received".In his 12 full-length novels, 4 collections of short stories, 4 plays and many poems and essays, conflicts and clashes resulting from sexuality and gender are often an important theme. Although White seldom made direct and explicit descriptions...