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Patrick White within the Western Literary Tradition is a collection of essays demonstrating the strong influence of European, British, and American cultures on White's work. Representing the author's interest spanning over thirty-five years, the essays expose White's evocation of dimensions other than material reality, his preoccupation with epiphanies and mythmaking, and his constant forging of a poetic style. The book also contains a series of analytical studies of the themes and characters in White's major novels (The Aunt's Story, The Tree of Man and Voss).

John Beston is an honorary research associate professor in the School of Languages and Cultures at the University of Queensland.

Foreword
David Tacey
Author’s preface

Section 1: Patrick White within the western literary tradition
Introduction: the raison d’etre of this book
1. A survey of White’s life and novels

Section 2: European and American influences on White
2. The influence of Madame Bovary on The Tree of Man
3. Patrick White and Rimbaud
4. Out of childhood: the love story in Le Grand Meaulnes and Voss
5. Three conclusions: Buddenbrooks, The Aunt’s Story and Voss
6. The influence of John Steinbeck’s The Pastures of Heaven on Patrick White
7. Willa Cather and Patrick White
8. Patrick White and Theodora Goodman in New Mexico
9. Films and Patrick White

Section 3: studies of White’s major novels
10. The several lives of Theodora Goodman: the ‘Jardin Exotique’ section of Patrick White’s The Aunt’s Story
11. The black volcanic hills of Meroe: fire imagery in Patrick White’s The Aunt’s Story
12. Love and sex in a staid spinster: The Aunt’s Story
13. Dreams and visions in The Tree of Man
14. The Tree of Man as a pioneer novel
15. Stan’s grandson, the lost boy, and White’s Ars Poetica in The Tree of Man
16. The theme of spiritual progression in Voss
17. Alienation and humanisation, damnation and salvation in Voss
18. Will Voss endure? Fifty years later
19. Voss’ proposal and Laura’s acceptance letter: the struggle for dominance in Voss

Section 4: thematic studies of White’s novels
20. Why are epiphanies so prominent in Patrick White’s novels?
21. Mythmaking in Patrick White’s novels
22. White’s style

Bibliography
Index