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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'A self-portrait that is as brilliant original as White's fiction and drama.
'In this remarkable self-portrait Patrick White explains how on the very rare occasions when he re-reads a passage from one of his books, he recognises very little of the self he knows. This 'unknown' is the man interviewers and visiting students expect to find, but 'unable to produce him', he prefers to remain private, or as private as anyone who has been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature can ever be. In this book is the self Patrick White does recognise, the one he sees reflected in the glass.'
Source: Publisher's blurb (Vintage ed.).
Notes
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Dedication: To Manoly again.
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Citing a letter between White and Hu Wen-chung (19 Nov 1986), Hubber and Smith list a Russian edition, but no trace of the book has been found.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Braille.
- Sound recording.
Works about this Work
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On Reading and Re-reading Patrick White
2014
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The Cambridge Quarterly , September vol. 43 no. 3 2014; (p. 212-230) 'Few writers have received as much attention and have been so little understood as Patrick White, the only Australian to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. Critics have found his novels demanding and puzzling, and have been divided over the nature of his achievement. This essay points to the failure of critics to recognise the extent of the influence of Flaubert as well as that of the English modernists on White, and discusses the kind of attentiveness that his writing demands of the reader.' (Publication abstract) -
Geoffrey Dutton : Little Adelaide and New York Nowhere
2014
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Adelaide : A Literary City 2014; (p. 183-198) -
Flaws in the Glass : Why Australia Did Not Become a Republic … After Patrick White
2014
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Patrick White Centenary : The Legacy of a Prodigal Son 2014; (p. 470-485) 'Stephen Alomes proffers, with considerable empathy, even passion, an astute analysis of why an Australian republic could not be achieved through the last public referendum held on this issue. He goes to considerable lengths to show his awareness of the implications for Australian sovereignty; concerns which he notes were shared by White.' (Introduction, xiii) -
Looking at Patrick White Looking : Portraits in Paint and on Film
2014
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Patrick White Centenary : The Legacy of a Prodigal Son 2014; (p. 164-180) ‘In a lecture on portraiture given at Australia's National Portrait Gallery and broadcast on ABC Radio National (Maleuvre 20l0b), Didier Maleuvre offered the view that photography "cannot yield a portrait" and that "late 20th century portraiture enlisted photography in part to undermine the human face, to depersonalise it." In terms of both art history and mediated representation, Maleuvre knows whereof he speaks: he is Professor of French and Comparative Literature at the University of California Santa Barbara, and affiliated with the University's Centre for Film, Television and New Media — in which capacity we can presume that he is not broadly hostile to photography in general. He is the author of several major books and numerous journal articles on art and art history, including The Religion of Reality: Inquiry into the Self Art, and Transcendence (2006), which "deals with the two forces in modern culture that command the centrality and force of religion: the self, on the one hand, and art, on the other." (Maleuvre 2006, I) That book is underscored throughout by Maleuvre's concern that "scientific rationalisation has purged the world of mystery and ... flushed the very idea of the mysterious from knowledge and understanding." (Maleuvre 2006, 2) In respect of art at least, it seems that he would like to put some of that mystery back’ (Introduction) -
Inscribing Landscapes in Patrick White’s Novels
2014
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Patrick White Centenary : The Legacy of a Prodigal Son 2014; (p. 141-152) ‘I grew up on a property in northwest New South Wales, which was once owned by Ivy Voss of Hughenden. Ivy married Frederick George White, who was Patrick White's uncle and my great-grandfather. While Patrick was at school, he sometimes stayed with Ivy and George at Mittabah in the NSW Southern Highlands. He didn't like Ivy much, as David Marr writes: "The boy thought she was a monster. Her maiden name was Voss, and he kept the name in mind, waiting for thirty years to revenge himself' (1992, 59) with, the novel Voss. ’ (Introduction)
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[Review] Flaws in the Glass
1981
single work
review
— Appears in: Kunapipi , vol. 3 no. 2 1981; (p. 151-153)
— Review of Flaws in the Glass : A Self-Portrait 1981 single work autobiography -
A Fresh Appraisal
1981
single work
review
— Appears in: The National Times , 8-14 November 1981; (p. 54-57)
— Review of Flaws in the Glass : A Self-Portrait 1981 single work autobiography -
Autobiographers' Freak Show
1981
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 24 October 1981; (p. 23) Creme de la Phlegm : Unforgettable Australian Reviews 2006; (p. 171-174)
— Review of Flaws in the Glass : A Self-Portrait 1981 single work autobiography -
Candid Self-Appraisal by Patrick White
1981
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 2 July 1981; (p. 8)
— Review of Flaws in the Glass : A Self-Portrait 1981 single work autobiography -
Portrait of the Artist as Manic Depressive
1981
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 24 October 1981; (p. 12)
— Review of Flaws in the Glass : A Self-Portrait 1981 single work autobiography -
Communicative Clashes in Australian Culture and Autobiography
2006
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Auto/Biography , December vol. 14 no. 4 2006; (p. 285-301) 'Some life-writing critics have pointed to a paradox in Australian autobiography: that of memoir writers paying tribute to their subjects in ways which those subjects would not understand or agree with. In this article, I focus on one facet of this paradox, looking at how various styles of communication are represented in autobiographies. What happens when a highly articulate autobiographer attempts to represent the communicative style of a subject who does not share or value the autobiographer's discursive style? This article surveys a variety of strategies which autobiographers have used, some of which are open to the possibility of valuing a minimalist style of communication, while others condemn it as inarticulate and inexpressive. These varying attitudes connect to a broader cultural debate in Australia. In this debate, an older rural style of communication, which values minimal verbal communication and emotional inexpressivity, is pitted against a more recent urban-based style of communication, which values emotional expressivity and expansive commentary. Intriguingly, this rural speech style (seemingly the antithesis of the autobiographer's art) is represented and valued as an art form by some Australian autobiographers.' -- Publication abstract. -
Narratives of Resistant Marginality : Patrick White and Firdaus Kanga
2007
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literature : Identity, Representation and Belonging 2007; (p. 60-65) -
Teaching Contemporary Australian Autobiography
2007
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Teaching Life Writing Texts 2007; (p. 208-213) -
Flaws in the Glass
1991
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Patrick White : Life and Writings : Five Essays 1991; (p. 78-89) -
'Flaws in the Glass' : Patrick White's Selves
2008
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The Protean Forms of Life Writing : Auto/Biography in English, 1680-2000 2008; (p. 75-90)'Flaws in the Glass, by Australian Nobel laureate Patrick White, ostensibly an autobiography, is offered to the reading public as a self-portrait. In my paper I do not intend to go deep into the matter of technical distinctions between different forms of autobiography, but a few remarks need to be made on the subtitle of this autobiographical narrative accompanying its metaphorical title as a tell-tale definition of the author holding up the mirror to himself and to the teacher.' (p. 75)
Last amended 4 May 2021 13:45:34
Subjects:
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cEngland,ccUnited Kingdom (UK),cWestern Europe, Europe,
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cGreece,cWestern Europe, Europe,
- Sydney, New South Wales,
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