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C. van den Driesen, Writing the Nation. Patrick White and the Indigene

C. van den Driesen, Writing the Nation. Patrick White and the Indigene

Publié le par Sophie Rabau

Cynthia van den DRIESEN, Writing theNation. PatrickWhite and the Indigene. Amsterdam/New York, NY: Rodopi, coll. "Cross/Cultures- Readings in the Post/Colonial Literatures inEnglish" n° 97, 2009, XXXVI-207 p.

  • Isbn 13 (ean):978-90-420-2516-5

The timefor new approaches to White's work is overdue. Central to the present study areEdward Said's ideas about the role of theintellectual (and the writer) – of speaking “truth to power,” and also theimportance of tracing the “affiliations” of a text and its embeddedness in theworld. This approach is not incompatible with Jung's theory of the ‘great'artist and his capacity to answer the deep-seated psychic needs of his people. White'swork has contributed in many different ways to the writing of the nation. Thespiritual needs of a young nation such as Australia must also comprehend its continualurge towards self-definition. Explored here is one important aspect of thatchallenge: white Australia's dealings with the indigenouspeople of the land, tracing the significance of the Aboriginal presence inthree texts selected from the oeuvre of Patrick White: Voss (1957), Riders inthe Chariot (1961), and A Fringe of Leaves (1976). Each of these textsinterrogates European culture's denigration of the non-European Other asembedded in the discourse of orientalism. One central merit of White'scommanding perspective is the constant close attention he pays to Europeanhubris and to the paramount autonomy of indigenous culture. There is evidenceeven of a project which can be articulated as a search for the possibility ofwhite indigeneity, the potential for the white settler's belonging within theland as does the indigene.

Table

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1. RecoveryFrom Amnesia

2. Voss

3. A Fringeof Leaves

4. Ridersin the Chariot

Conclusion

Appendix

Works Cited

Index

L'auteur

Cynthiavanden Driesen completed her undergraduate degree in Sri Lanka and postgraduate studies at the University of Western Australia. She has taught at universities in Sri Lanka, Nigeria, and Korea, and is currently a Senior Lecturerin the School of Communication and Art at Edith Cowan University. As a result of variedlife-experiences with diverse cultures. her research interests in newliteratures in English have developed beyond the colonialist bias of her earlyeducation. Her books include The Novels of R.K. Narayan (1986), An Anthology ofAustralian Literature for Korean Readers (1995), Centering the Margins:Perspectives on Literatures in English from India, Africa, the Caribbean(1995), and four co-edited volumes: Celebrations: Fifty Years of SriLanka-Australia Interaction (2000); New Directions in Australian Studies(2000); Asian–Australian Encounters (2002); and Diaspora: The AustralasianExperience (2005).