Patrick White

Patrick White (May 28, 1912 – September 30, 1990) was an Australian author. His writings make great use of the stream of consciousness technique. His first book, "The Ploughman and Other Poems", was published in 1935, and he went on to write 27 novels and eight plays. He received the 1973 Nobel Prize for Literature - the only Australian to be so honoured.

Childhood and adolescence

Although his parents were Australian, White was born in Knightsbridge, London. The family returned to Australia when he was six months old and settled in Sydney. As a child, he lived in one flat with his sister, nanny and maid, while his parents lived in an adjoining flat. The distance between him and his parents was to remain throughout White?s life. In 1916, at the age of four, White developed asthma, a condition that had taken the life of his maternal grandfather. His health was fragile throughout his childhood, which prevented his participation in many childhood activities. It was here that his imagination began to develop. He would perform private rites in the garden, and would dance for his mother?s friends. He loved the theatre, which he first visited at an early age. At the age of ten, White was sent to boarding school in the New South Wales highlands, in an attempt to calm his asthma. It took him some time to adjust to the presence of other children. At boarding school he started to write plays. At this early age, he took to writing about noticeably adult themes. In 1924, the boarding school ran into financial trouble, and the headmaster suggested that White be sent to boarding school in England, a suggestion to which his parents acceded.

Related Topics:
Knightsbridge - London - Australia - Sydney - Asthma - New South Wales - England

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White struggled to adjust to his new surroundings at Cheltenham College, his new school. He was later to describe it as 'a four-year prison sentence'. White withdrew inside himself and had few friends there. Occasionally, he would holiday with his parents to other European locations, but their relationship remained distant. In London, he did make one close friend, Ronald Waterall, an older, effeminate boy with similar interests. White?s biographer, David Marr, wrote that they would walk arm in arm to London shows, stand around stage doors to catch a glimpse of their favourite stars and give practical demonstrations of chorus girls? high kicks, with appropriate noises. When Waterall left school, White withdrew into himself again. He asked his parents if he could leave school to become an actor, and they compromised, allowing him to finish school early on the condition that he came home to Australia first, to try life on the land.

Related Topics:
Cheltenham College - David Marr

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