Flaws in the Glass, a self-portrait by Patrick White: book review

The manuscript, Flaws in the Glass (1981), is Patrick Victor Martindale White’s autobiography. White, born in 1912 in England, migrated to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. For three years, at the age of 20, he studied French and German literature at King’s College at the University of Cambridge in England.

Throughout his life, he published 12 novels. In 1957 he won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award for Voss, published in 1956. In 1961, Riders in the Chariot became a best-seller, winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1973, he was the first Australian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Eye of the Storm, despite many critics describing his works as ‘un-Australian’ and himself as ‘Australia’s most unreadable novelist.’ In 1979, The Twyborn Affair was short-listed for the Booker Prize, but he withdrew it from the competition to give younger writers the opportunity to win the award.

His autobiography, Flaws in the Glass, is a quarter of the size of his typically large tomes, describing his school life, life as a pastoralist in Australia, his home in Centennial Park, and his homosexuality. Unlike most artists who refrain from disclosing their favourite works, he openly admits that “in my own opinion, my three best novels are The Solid Mandala, The Aunt’s Story, and The Twyborn Affair. All three say something more than what is sacred to Aust. Lit. For this reason some of them were ignored in the beginning, some reviled and dismissed as pornography.”

White seems ill at ease writing about himself because the writing doesn’t have the same literary style as his fictional works, often being disjointed as he responds to criticism of his works. Nevertheless, it is interesting for revealing the development of his writing abilities, his source of ideas and inspiration, his attitude towards women and religion, and his feelings about the criticisms of his personal life and his professional works.

Many of his novels were written bedridden with spasms of asthma. Patrick White died in Sydney on 30 September 1990.

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