It is necessary to start with a true, although apparently rather brutal, summary about Patrick White’s status in his homeland, written (and purposely chosen for this dissertation) in the review of The Hanging Garden, by John Sutherland in The New York Times:
The most cross-grained of writers, Patrick White went out of his way to mention, in acknowledging his 1973 Nobel Prize in Literature, that a newspaper had labeled him “Australia’s most unreadable novelist.” He wore the insult with pride. It did not mean he wasn’t Australia’s greatest novelist — which he knew he was. But White was never loved by his countrymen, who found his outspoken views of them and their homeland unpalatable. Australia, White said, proved you could recycle excrement. It’s hard to forgive a remark like that. More so as White used a blunter term than “excrement”131.
The Brazilian scholar Déborah Scheidt starts the second chapter of her Master’s thesis with a question asked by her Australian friend: “Are you sure you want to do a thesis on Patrick White – a crotchety old man – but a wonderful writer?” (SCHEIDT, 1997, p. 38). Surely, he still holds that image of an old and grumpy person, who avoided smiling in pictures because he did not feel very comfortable about his dentures. White’s quite uncivilized reactions when accosted by journalists and reporters, his frequent declines to lecture and speak in public, and his strong remarks about Australian society comprise this sort of myth which becomes a barrier to explain why he should be read again nowadays. However, Alan Lawson tried to demystify this by saying that Patrick White’s work has received more “sustained and informed and consistent attention in Australia that anywhere else132”. He is quite right, but we cannot deny that Patrick White still holds a quite negative status in his homeland. Thus, it is _______________
130 NABOKOV, Vladimir. Lectures on Literature. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1980. p. 3.
131 SUTHERLAND, John. Trouble Down Under: ‘The Hanging Garden,’ by Patrick White. The New York Times, New York, 24 May 2013. Sunday Book Review. Available at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/26/books/review/the-hanging-garden-by-patrick-white.html?_r=1. Accessed on: 24 May 2015.
132 LAWSON, Alan (ed.). Patrick White: Selected Writings. St. Lucia, Qld.: University of Queensland Press, 1994, p. xii.
not so difficult to imagine the huge challenge the translation into Brazilian Portuguese of one of his titles represents, let alone the reception of such translation.
Reading is an activity which today often appears to be forgotten by the young (and by adults, as well), given the many other distractions available provided by the Internet and many other devices. In “Elogio de la lectura” (“Praise of Reading” in a free translation), Alberto Manguel says that “reading is one of the happiest, most generous and most effective ways of being conscious133”, thus, we hope to raise consciousness in this endeavour involving A sólida mandala in Brazilian Portuguese.
Since this dissertation is about the translation of The Solid Mandala, a search was performed on the AustLit database to see whether the book appears in syllabi across the country. La Trobe University (located in Melbourne) had the book listed on two subjects:
Contemporary Approaches to Fiction134 (first semester of 2015) and Contemporary Approaches to Literature135 (first semester of 2014). The University of Sydney had the book listed for the subject Revolutionary Writing? 1960s & beyond in the first semester of 2015136 and in the first semester of 2011137, and for Australian Literature 1960-1988 in the second semester of 2009138. Therefore, The Solid Mandala happily has a place in contemporary syllabi, although in few universities and subjects. Comparatively, White’s main novels tend to
_______________
133 MANGUEL, Alberto. Elogio de la lectura. El País, Madrid. 22 Apr. 2006. In the original: [...] “Quienes tenemos la fortuna de ser lectores sabemos que es así, puesto que la lectura es una de las formas más alegres, más generosas, más eficaces de ser conscientes.” Available at:
http://elpais.com/diario/2006/04/22/babelia/1145662750_850215.html. Accessed on: 10 Mar. 2015.
134 The other books on the list were: Carpentaria, by Alexis Wright Othello and Twelfth Night, by William Shakespeare, The Road, by Cormac McCarthy, Paradise Lost, by John Milton, March, by Geraldine Brooks, The Long Song, by Andrea Levy, Loaded, by Christos Tsiolkas.
135 The objective of the subject was to make students “read a body of work that traverses five centuries of literature in English, from Shakespeare to the present, and across three or more continents. The distinct approach taken in this subject brings together the close study of individual texts on one hand, and considerations of very contemporary debates, concepts and theoretical approaches on the other. It revisits the traditions that have shaped literary studies, looking at the ways literary texts arise from, depart from and return to orthodoxy; it studies different genres across time and place; it looks at 'time' and 'place' themselves; it looks at contestations over artistic “centres” and “margins”, and the effects on these of theories and politics of decolonization, sexuality and gender.
136 The other books enlisted were: Monkey Grip, by Helen Garner, Tirra Lirra by the River, by Jessica Anderson, The Watch Tower, by Elizabeth Harrower, Wild Cat Falling, by Colin Johnson.
137 The 1960s were a time of international cultural and social upheaval. A new range of cultural influences, drugs, pop art, sexual, women's and gay liberation, and the predominantly American counter-culture, influenced a new generation of Australian writers. Bush realism gave way to previously censored subject material - sex, drugs, anti-Vietnam War sentiment - and innovative forms of writing. This unit of study investigates these issues through the works of some of the key writers of this period.
138 This unit of study aims to introduce some of the key writers of this period. It will also encourage students to develop reading skills appropriate to different genres and to acquire an awareness of issues, movements and critical debates that have been central to the development of recent Australian literature.
appear more. For example, looking for Voss, we find 27 occurrences139. For The Aunt’s Story, we see 24 occurrences.
The lack of some of White’s novels was already a problem in 2011, when The Solid Mandala was not available in new editions in Australia (the problem persisted in 2013, as that specific title was not on the shelves). However, other titles by Patrick White deserved new editions with interesting introductory notes, such as Happy Valley, published by Vintage in 2012 (as part of the celebrations of Patrick White’s centenary).
Nevertheless, it is quite difficult to find many positive reactions, or mind-blowing comments, about Patrick White nowadays. What has happened? Why is it that the following depiction of White’s reception no longer applies?
Letters from unknown readers gave him the most straightforward pleasure, and he could boast unselfconsciously of them arriving in great bundle at Dogwoods.
The Tree of Man was a book which seemed to change many lives. White wrote to Huebsch, ‘I am having wonderful reactions here and there round the world. People are stealing copies.’ Later he was delighted to hear The Tree of Man was ‘popular with truck drivers’. When Australia seemed unbearable and he was tempted to find somewhere more congenial to live, White found a reason for staying in the letters from ‘unknown Australians for whom my writing seems to have opened a window’.
In a world White saw split into armed camps, these men and women were his foot soldiers (MARR, 1995, p. 306).
There would be five possible reasons to explain why this situation does not happen nowadays. First: Patrick White’s modernism might no longer fit in a post-modern world. So how does one explain that William Faulkner, James Joyce and Virginia Woolf remain in the spotlight, given they were all part of the same group of writers who believed that there was a distinction between literary art and popular texts, describing in their writings that the old certainties supported by religion and politics were in conflict with the experiences and feelings of the modern era. Second: Patrick White is far too pessimistic about life. Yes, he might be considered pessimistic, but he shows reality without any kind of mask (see Waldo’s part of The Solid Mandala, for instance), shocking the reader into a sort of acknowledgment, one that might not be viewed as a positive trait in his art. However, how can we explain the American playwright Eugene O’Neill’s appeal? People do not look for a little cheering-up when reading his plays, yet he is viewed as a great artist. Third: Patrick White’s homosexuality is a problem. We rarely look for the author’s sexual option when enjoying literature, thus, this would not really be an issue to account for White’s neglect. Fourth:
Patrick White was Australian, so his peripheral origin would prevent the world from reading _______________
139 As for the research carried out on 19 June 2015.
him more. This argument might be the only plausible one, as there is a sort of domination in the publishing media. One might think: why should an American or English reader look for the literature produced by a country famous for kangaroos, koalas, wildlife, beautiful beaches and an accent which is mimicked in comedy films? Fifth: that the characters devised and penned by White do not live, i. e., that they do not convince the reader to be on their side throughout the plot, although supported by elaborate linguistic finery would be a quite simplistic argument. Voss and Laura Trevelyan are icons to the ones familiar with White’s universe, and the substance used to create them came from real events. In the case of The Solid Mandala, three of the novel’s characters find their substance in real people (although it might be argued that they do not “live” as literary characters): Waldo would be White at his
“coldest and worst” (WHITE, 1983, p. 146-147); Arthur in his cousin Philip Garland; and Mrs Poulter, in his actual neighbor Mrs H., at Castle Hill.
Just to depict how literature has been treated in Australia, an experiment was carried out (possibly by the journalist Jennifer Sexton) in 2006140 (the article describing it was published in The Australian). Using the name Wraith Picket (some would even suggest the alternative Keith Crapwit), Chapter 3 from The Eye of the Storm was sent to 12 publishers and agents in the country. Obviously that the names of the characters were changed, including the title: The Eye of the Cyclone. Two of those who received the material had not replied after three months. The remaining rejected the text, with the highest compliment being “clever”.
Some of those who received the material even suggested that Mr Picket should look for a book by the English literary critic David Lodge on how to write fiction (probably the title was The Art of Fiction). Others, such as Pan Macmillan, recommended that he join writers’
workshops. Mark Latham’s agent, Mary Cunnane, said the author should read Penguin Book’s The Art of Writing. A form rejection letter was sent by Text Publishing, which at the time was so very proud of publishing Australian Literature. Harper Collins, according to the journalist, simply disregarded the material. Some might question the choice of what was sent;
however, five years after the experiment, in 2011, The Eye of the Storm would become the first novel by White adapted into a film (screenplay by Judy Morris and directed by Fred Schepisi). According to Kerryn Goldsworthy, writing for the Australian political website Crikey, three facts stood out in the whole process:
_______________
140 SEXTON, Jennifer. White Rejections Speak Volumes on Cultural Arbiters. The Australian, Sydney, 17 Jul.
2006.
a) the bad faith of the entrapment, the smugness of its aftermath and the shabby […] reactionary agenda behind the exercise; b) the failure of the agents and publishers’ readers who rejected the chapter to recognize either the actual novel or, at the very least, White’s unique, highly spottable style, and the incontrovertible evidence it provides that people getting jobs in Australian publishing houses have clearly not seen fit to make it their business to read a little Australian writing, or (c) the unambiguously, unashamedly and exclusively commercial agenda behind some of the rejections141.
This lack of knowledge coming from those responsible for selecting what is going to be published or not might be connected to the crisis in Australian arts in general.
The Brazilian scholar Déborah Scheidt, writing in 1997, already suggested that Patrick White, more specifically, had an aura of controversy surrounding his work, and that two opposing views needed consideration. The first one, championed by Alan Lawson, is more positive, and has as its main argument the 1973 Nobel award:
White’s texts have for some time occupied a position of canonical authority at the centre of the field of Australian literary culture. In that sense, he is modern(ist) Australian literature’s equivalent of Henry Lawson. In an important sense he cannot be displaced, just as Henry Lawson has not been displaced from his keystone position in the widely-familiar, earlier, populist, masculinist edifice of Australian literature. The example of Henry Lawson’s posthumous reception has taught us (like recent arguments over Shakespeare’s canonicity) that too much value has already been added to the figure of Lawson (or Shakespeare or White) for him to be displaceable. What does happen is that Lawson (or Shakespeare) becomes a sign of cultural value which is filled from time to time with different content; and this too will happen to the figure of White. Figures of this magnitude are not demolished or forgotten, but they do become sites of struggle which are fought over precisely because they are positions (possessions, signs, icons) of cultural value and power (LAWSON, 1994, p. viii-ix).
The second one, championed by Simon During, is that, in the future (which is our present), White’s oeuvre will be destined to oblivion. His frequent classification as a post- colonial writer derives, according to During, from White’s success in promoting himself by offering the type of literature that Australia was looking for while the country was getting over the populist myth to establish its own identity. During prophesies that White will not significantly influence or have any connotation in Australian Literature, remaining a name often cited in literary history, but not actually read.
It is with this background of crisis that we read Patrick White in Australia. The lack of interest in his reading is a result of a broader disinterest in literature and arts as a whole, which might be part of a culture that prefers to praise athletes and other important figures, and _______________
141 GOLDSWORTHY, Kerryn. Shock: Australian publishers reject Patrick White novel. Crikey, Melbourne, 17 Jul.
2006. Available at: http://www.crikey.com.au/2006/07/17/shock-australian-publishers-reject-patrick-white- novel/?wpmp_switcher=mobile#2006/07/17-1138-9739. Accessed on: 18 Jun. 2015.
not writers/intellectuals. To fight such disinterest, governmental intervention is often necessary (such as the initiatives to grant funds to boost translations of Australian novels abroad). However, the negative points have not diminished our enthusiasm and determination in the task of translating The Solid Mandala in Brazil, because, as the Australian scholar Georgina Loveridge says, we need to “continue the conversations about White’s fiction […]
that span the social, political and metaphysical, the national and international, the personal and universal142”. Together with the efforts already in action in Australia, with this dissertation featuring the translation process of one more novel by Patrick White, we intend to use translation as a means to promote Australian Literature overseas and, why not, in the country as well.