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نيت أحداث رواية "ڨوس" على مسيرة حياة المتسكتشف البروسي لودفيج ليتشهارد الذي اختفى في القرن التاسع عشر أثناء قيادته لبعثة استكشافية في المناطق النائية الاسترالية.
و"ڨوس" هي الرواية الخامسة للكاتب الاسترالي باتريك وايت، يستخدم فيها الروائي الرمزية الدينية المكثفة، وثمة خيط ميتافيزيقي يربط أحداث الرواية ويسمح بأن يتواصل بطلها فوس مع بطلتها لورا من خلال الرواي، حيث يصبح فوس وسيلة نقل يعبر بها الكاتب باتريك وايت عن سماتنا الناقصة والمعيبة ليفهم ويتواصل مع الحقائق المستترة والعميقة، ومع المعاناة التي تلعب دوراً في ايجاد السبل التي تؤدي بدورها الى الحكمة.
يري ڨوس من خلال الرواية سوبرمان نيتشه، فهو يجسد الإرادة ويستحضرها كأنها قوة قادرة على قهر كل العقبات الإنسانية والطبيعية. كما أنه يعتبر أيضا المستقبل إرادة. فعندما يصل الى عمق الصحراء تقل قدرته الفائقة ويصبح بروميثيوس الذي لا يلين.
و"ڨوس" هي الرواية الخامسة للكاتب الاسترالي باتريك وايت، يستخدم فيها الروائي الرمزية الدينية المكثفة، وثمة خيط ميتافيزيقي يربط أحداث الرواية ويسمح بأن يتواصل بطلها فوس مع بطلتها لورا من خلال الرواي، حيث يصبح فوس وسيلة نقل يعبر بها الكاتب باتريك وايت عن سماتنا الناقصة والمعيبة ليفهم ويتواصل مع الحقائق المستترة والعميقة، ومع المعاناة التي تلعب دوراً في ايجاد السبل التي تؤدي بدورها الى الحكمة.
يري ڨوس من خلال الرواية سوبرمان نيتشه، فهو يجسد الإرادة ويستحضرها كأنها قوة قادرة على قهر كل العقبات الإنسانية والطبيعية. كما أنه يعتبر أيضا المستقبل إرادة. فعندما يصل الى عمق الصحراء تقل قدرته الفائقة ويصبح بروميثيوس الذي لا يلين.
623 pages, Paperback
First published August 10, 1957
205 people are currently reading
9519 people want to read
About the author
Patrick White
82 books366 followers There is more than one author by this name on Goodreads. For the Canadian Poet Laureate see "Patrick^^^^^White".
Patrick Victor Martindale White was an Australian author widely regarded as one of the major English-language novelists of the 20th century, and winner of the 1973 Nobel Prize for Literature.
Born in England while his Australian parents were visiting family, White grew up in Sydney before studying at Cambridge. Publishing his first two novels to critical acclaim in the UK, White then enlisted to serve in World War II, where he met his lifelong partner, the Greek Manoly Lascaris. The pair returned to Australia after the war.
Home again, White published a total of twelve novels, two short story collections, eight plays, as well as a miscellany of non-fiction. His fiction freely employs shifting narrative vantages and the stream of consciousness technique. In 1973, he was awarded the Nobel Prize "for an epic and psychological narrative art which has introduced a new continent into literature."
From 1947 to 1964, White and Lascaris lived a retired life on the outer fringes of Sydney. However after their subsequent move to the inner suburb of Centennial Park, White experienced an increased passion for activism. He became known as an outspoken champion for the disadvantaged, for Indigenous rights, and for the teaching and promotion of art, in a culture he deemed often backward and conservative. In their personal life, White and Lascaris' home became a regular haunt for noted figures from all levels of society.
Although he achieved a great deal of critical applause, and was hailed as a national hero after his Nobel win, White retained a challenged relationship with the Australian public and ordinary readers. In his final decades the books sold well in paperback, but he retained a reputation as difficult, dense, and sometimes inscrutable.
Following White's death in 1990, his reputation was briefly buoyed by David Marr's well-received biography, although he disappeared off most university and school syllabuses, with his novels mostly out of print, by the end of the century. Interest in White's books was revived around 2012, the year of his centenary, with all now available again.
Sources: Wikipedia, David Marr's biography, The Patrick White Catalogue
Patrick Victor Martindale White was an Australian author widely regarded as one of the major English-language novelists of the 20th century, and winner of the 1973 Nobel Prize for Literature.
Born in England while his Australian parents were visiting family, White grew up in Sydney before studying at Cambridge. Publishing his first two novels to critical acclaim in the UK, White then enlisted to serve in World War II, where he met his lifelong partner, the Greek Manoly Lascaris. The pair returned to Australia after the war.
Home again, White published a total of twelve novels, two short story collections, eight plays, as well as a miscellany of non-fiction. His fiction freely employs shifting narrative vantages and the stream of consciousness technique. In 1973, he was awarded the Nobel Prize "for an epic and psychological narrative art which has introduced a new continent into literature."
From 1947 to 1964, White and Lascaris lived a retired life on the outer fringes of Sydney. However after their subsequent move to the inner suburb of Centennial Park, White experienced an increased passion for activism. He became known as an outspoken champion for the disadvantaged, for Indigenous rights, and for the teaching and promotion of art, in a culture he deemed often backward and conservative. In their personal life, White and Lascaris' home became a regular haunt for noted figures from all levels of society.
Although he achieved a great deal of critical applause, and was hailed as a national hero after his Nobel win, White retained a challenged relationship with the Australian public and ordinary readers. In his final decades the books sold well in paperback, but he retained a reputation as difficult, dense, and sometimes inscrutable.
Following White's death in 1990, his reputation was briefly buoyed by David Marr's well-received biography, although he disappeared off most university and school syllabuses, with his novels mostly out of print, by the end of the century. Interest in White's books was revived around 2012, the year of his centenary, with all now available again.
Sources: Wikipedia, David Marr's biography, The Patrick White Catalogue
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 397 reviews
September 7, 2021
Voss is a splendidly dark and uncompromisingly realistic novel. The story is a conflict of the ideal and the actual…
Patrick White purposely writes in such a manner that a reader trips over his sentences and I believe he does it on the principle that steep and thorny ways are to be remembered best.
And he depicts his personages as the skeins of psychological paradoxes…
This is an ideal world of the heroine:
And this is the real hell of the hero:
If one aims too high one’s ideals turn against one and begin to ruin a person… And in the end reality always defeats idealism.
They realized, standing on the wharf, that the orderly, grey, past life was of no significance. They had reached that point at which they would be offered up, in varying degrees, to chaos or to heroism. So they were shaking with their discovery, beside the water, as the crude, presumptuous town stretched out behind them, was reeling on its man-made foundations in the sour earth. Nothing was tried yet, or established, only promised.
Patrick White purposely writes in such a manner that a reader trips over his sentences and I believe he does it on the principle that steep and thorny ways are to be remembered best.
And he depicts his personages as the skeins of psychological paradoxes…
This is an ideal world of the heroine:
So far departed from that rational level to which she had determined to adhere, her own thoughts were grown obscure, even natural. She did not care. It was lovely. She would have liked to sit upon a rock and listen to words, not of any man, but detached, mysterious, poetic words that she alone would interpret through some sense inherited from sleep. Herself disembodied. Air joining air experiences a voluptuousness no less intense because imperceptible.
And this is the real hell of the hero:
Voss, he began to know, is the ugly rock upon which truth must batter itself to survive. If I am to justify myself, he said, I must condemn the morality and love the man.
If one aims too high one’s ideals turn against one and begin to ruin a person… And in the end reality always defeats idealism.
October 29, 2020
“There were occasions, this fever-gutted man suspected, when his leader was not sensible of their common doom, and so, he must see for him, he must feel for him. By now he was able to read the faintest tremor of blood or earth, the recording of which was perhaps his sole surviving reason for existence.” (p. 280)
This is a novel of astonishing vision and talent. An adventure story and a love story, the writing is vivid and lush. Its characterizations have an emotional resonance that does not flag.
It’s about an expedition through what in 1845 were Australia’s uncharted northern territories. Not unknown territories, as a friend recently reminded me, but land unknown to the Europeans who were then colonizing it. Interestingly, it was written by a gay man about ostensibly straight men alone with each other under punishing conditions for long periods.
It is based on the life of explorer Ludwig Leichhardt who crossed from Newcastle to Port Essington in Australia’s Northern Territory. The North American parallel would probably be the Lewis & Clark expedition. A later Leichhardt expedition is believed to have met its demise in the Great Sandy Desert of Western Australia. For narrative purposes the various expeditions have been condensed into one.
A second part is the love story. In Sydney, before setting out, the explorer, Johann Ulrich Voss, is smitten by the intelligent and attractive Laura Trevelyan. There’s a scene in the garden of Mr. Bonner—Miss Trevelyan’s uncle and Voss’s sponsor—that is among the finest I have read this year. They meet only a few times, but affinities, and areas of disagreement, especially with regard to the idea of humility, are found. Later, in the middle of his expedition, Voss, an eccentric, writes to ask for her hand, or rather for permission to ask her uncle for it.
There are especially long passages of dialogue and interior monologue which defy the reader’s expectations in their ability to extend character. Moreover, White’s ease in describing everything from a forlorn expedition to a gala ball is striking. Nothing seems beyond him. Voss is dense, however, and I don’t think it will reward anything but careful reading.
Some of the characters’ names are irresistible: Dr. Badgery, a ship’s surgeon; Rose Portion, Laura’s servant impregnated by a scoundrel; Mr. Palfreyman, an ornithologist with Voss’s expedition; even Trevelyan, with it suggestion of travail. In terms of evocation of landscape, another major strength of the book, I am reminded of Cormac McCarthy’s The Crossing: The Border Trilogy 2, not in terms of style so much as ability or perhaps capacity. There is something here, too, of Henry James’s late style, though without the terse obliquity and resulting tedium.
Here’s a rare bit of authorial misogyny that stopped me dead. “Because she was a woman, she was also dishonest whenever it was really necessary.” (p. 314) Is this the exception which proves the rule? It would seem so, for elsewhere Laura Trevelyan is portrayed as an independent-minded woman chafing somewhat against propriety and society. She is also, deplorably, a reader of books.
This is a novel of astonishing vision and talent. An adventure story and a love story, the writing is vivid and lush. Its characterizations have an emotional resonance that does not flag.
It’s about an expedition through what in 1845 were Australia’s uncharted northern territories. Not unknown territories, as a friend recently reminded me, but land unknown to the Europeans who were then colonizing it. Interestingly, it was written by a gay man about ostensibly straight men alone with each other under punishing conditions for long periods.
It is based on the life of explorer Ludwig Leichhardt who crossed from Newcastle to Port Essington in Australia’s Northern Territory. The North American parallel would probably be the Lewis & Clark expedition. A later Leichhardt expedition is believed to have met its demise in the Great Sandy Desert of Western Australia. For narrative purposes the various expeditions have been condensed into one.
A second part is the love story. In Sydney, before setting out, the explorer, Johann Ulrich Voss, is smitten by the intelligent and attractive Laura Trevelyan. There’s a scene in the garden of Mr. Bonner—Miss Trevelyan’s uncle and Voss’s sponsor—that is among the finest I have read this year. They meet only a few times, but affinities, and areas of disagreement, especially with regard to the idea of humility, are found. Later, in the middle of his expedition, Voss, an eccentric, writes to ask for her hand, or rather for permission to ask her uncle for it.
There are especially long passages of dialogue and interior monologue which defy the reader’s expectations in their ability to extend character. Moreover, White’s ease in describing everything from a forlorn expedition to a gala ball is striking. Nothing seems beyond him. Voss is dense, however, and I don’t think it will reward anything but careful reading.
Some of the characters’ names are irresistible: Dr. Badgery, a ship’s surgeon; Rose Portion, Laura’s servant impregnated by a scoundrel; Mr. Palfreyman, an ornithologist with Voss’s expedition; even Trevelyan, with it suggestion of travail. In terms of evocation of landscape, another major strength of the book, I am reminded of Cormac McCarthy’s The Crossing: The Border Trilogy 2, not in terms of style so much as ability or perhaps capacity. There is something here, too, of Henry James’s late style, though without the terse obliquity and resulting tedium.
Here’s a rare bit of authorial misogyny that stopped me dead. “Because she was a woman, she was also dishonest whenever it was really necessary.” (p. 314) Is this the exception which proves the rule? It would seem so, for elsewhere Laura Trevelyan is portrayed as an independent-minded woman chafing somewhat against propriety and society. She is also, deplorably, a reader of books.
August 19, 2025
Patrick White's 1957 novel I found to be an immensely challenging read, with the story itself certainly a case of substance over style, which as it turned out, was one of its big strengths, and White's sentencing had a purposeful way of switching between brisk flashes of brilliance, whilst also drawing out scenarios that seem to take off wistfully, and glide over the never ending landscapes. In a nutshell, 'Voss' I would say is a combination of metaphysical drama and love story overseeing a harsh historical adventure into the unknown. The characters and events are meticulously orchestrated with a skill of precision, and it's 1845 setting really captures the time. Neither the explorers featured in the novel, nor myself, the reader, could have been prepared for the journey ahead...
White predominantly focuses on two characters: Johann Ulrich Voss, a German explorer who challenges himself (with the help of small band of others) to partake in an expedition crossing the Australian continent, and Laura Trevelyan, a young, slightly naive, but lovely orphan who recently arrived in New South Wales. Voss and Laura would meet for the first time in the house of Laura’s uncle (Mr. Bonner) the patron of Voss’s expedition. Theirs is a complex relationship, and they are bonded by not the close warmth and tenderness of each other, but with a mutual obsession based on separation, which, as time passes, grows greater the further they are apart. After the first third sets the scene, the rest of the novel alternates between Voss's adventure and Laura's life at home.
Although Voss is the one traveling great distances, both are on a journey of not just self-discovery, but also self-realization. White looks at the Australian outback, just as many would see it, a dangerous, overwhelmingly hot landscape, where what could go wrong, generally does, whether that be with man or beast, and when the party is split in two, a sense of oblivion and doom takes hold. For those who have read it, will know there is moment late on that really did send my jaw dropping towards the floor, something I just didn't think would happen, but it did.
Although the novel draws heavily on the complex ways of Voss, it was difficult to always like him. Whereas the time spent with Laura will stay with me the most, I found her really quite moving, and could have easily read a novel solely about her. She would live for the rare letters received from the expedition, whilst also writing them herself to travel the other way, to others there is no inkling that she is in love, she senses disaster the longer time goes on, and ultimately accepts a future of unwedded, unhappy, widowhood, this after seeing her adopt a baby she cannot keep, getting really sick with a dangerous fever, and watching her cousin wed, whilst she ponders the long lost Voss. I just wanted to give her a great big hug, I probably wouldn't want to let go.
It didn't strike me at first, but Patrick White does use religion as an extensive symbolism, there is often the reference of God, Christ or the Devil, a meeting in a garden prior to departure (Garden of Eden), Voss, leader of men walking though the desert, tending to the sick, a man of non-violence, a God to some, the devil to others. Both Voss and Laura seem to communicate through visions, whether this could be seen as dreams, disorientation or actual, it's about as remote as romance gets, but still, helped in keeping each other close by.
I don't think I have fully grasped White's achievement with this book, to deem it a masterpiece, may have to read again, in as little time as possible, it probably does require some longer reading sessions that I just couldn't give it, breaking up the pattern, but it was still, unquestionably, a mighty fine piece of writing that is still fluttering around inside my head, yet to find a way out.
November 19, 2024
That's 1845: Australia, a new colony, a world to discover. The English have been installing there recently and have yet to explore everything. They were confined to the coasts, where they reproduced a reduced model of their society. The Bonners, Edmund and Emmy, their daughter Belle, and their orphaned niece Laura Trevelyan, live in this society. They gravitate to a high community, which occupies itself in parties, balls, and gossip. A newcomer, the German Johann Ulrich Voss, had to show up to shake up this beautiful world a bit. He launched the idea of an expedition in the Australian bush and found some voluntary companions.
The plot is slow to unfold. The long-awaited expedition gets underway after the first quarter, that is, after more than a hundred pages. In the meantime, the reader can become familiar with the characters and see the beginnings of a relationship between Voss and Laura Trevelyan. This relationship will continue despite the distance that will soon separate them. The two will write letters and see each other in shared visions.
This long wait, above all, makes it possible to get a head for this Australian company. I am amused by the preoccupations of this "English" elite. For example, when their servant Rose becomes pregnant, the Bonners are shaken (the former prisoner is not married!). Still, they don't want to be called intolerant and heartless for sending a destitute woman away. It reminds me of Jane Austen's novels and her now laughable struggling characters. For example, when a wheel of their carriage breaks, the petty bourgeois cannot warn their guests of their delay. We would only like to have such problems!
Then, when the plot takes off, and Voss and his companions (Palfreyman, Robarts, le Mesurier, Judd, etc.) launch an assault on the Australian bush, the action does not progress as quickly as I would have hoped. They cross semi-wooded regions, scrubby land made muddy by heavy rains. Not much is going on there. Also, this is different from how I imagined the landscape. The descriptions could be more minimalist or ordinary, not helping to visualize them. I was especially looking forward to the group arriving in the desert.
Throughout the novel, this plot alternates with that of the metropolitans in Sydney. Unfortunately, neither of them mainly hooked me. They weren't bad or dull, but they lacked that little "oomph" that is hard to describe, and that allows me to appreciate a work fully. The plot of Voss and his companions took off when they started to conflict; they separated, and the blacks (aborigines) came to complicate the whole thing. But, then, it was a bit late.
I don't want to sound too negative, but the novel has a lot of qualities - for example, all the symbolism behind several of the themes used. Voss and his long expedition in the Australian bush has a little something of the walk of Jesus in the desert. He leads his companions and flock like a preacher (except this intellectual is a little pretentious). Even the spiritualities of the locals add to the mysticism.
These are Three Stars, rounded to Four.
The plot is slow to unfold. The long-awaited expedition gets underway after the first quarter, that is, after more than a hundred pages. In the meantime, the reader can become familiar with the characters and see the beginnings of a relationship between Voss and Laura Trevelyan. This relationship will continue despite the distance that will soon separate them. The two will write letters and see each other in shared visions.
This long wait, above all, makes it possible to get a head for this Australian company. I am amused by the preoccupations of this "English" elite. For example, when their servant Rose becomes pregnant, the Bonners are shaken (the former prisoner is not married!). Still, they don't want to be called intolerant and heartless for sending a destitute woman away. It reminds me of Jane Austen's novels and her now laughable struggling characters. For example, when a wheel of their carriage breaks, the petty bourgeois cannot warn their guests of their delay. We would only like to have such problems!
Then, when the plot takes off, and Voss and his companions (Palfreyman, Robarts, le Mesurier, Judd, etc.) launch an assault on the Australian bush, the action does not progress as quickly as I would have hoped. They cross semi-wooded regions, scrubby land made muddy by heavy rains. Not much is going on there. Also, this is different from how I imagined the landscape. The descriptions could be more minimalist or ordinary, not helping to visualize them. I was especially looking forward to the group arriving in the desert.
Throughout the novel, this plot alternates with that of the metropolitans in Sydney. Unfortunately, neither of them mainly hooked me. They weren't bad or dull, but they lacked that little "oomph" that is hard to describe, and that allows me to appreciate a work fully. The plot of Voss and his companions took off when they started to conflict; they separated, and the blacks (aborigines) came to complicate the whole thing. But, then, it was a bit late.
I don't want to sound too negative, but the novel has a lot of qualities - for example, all the symbolism behind several of the themes used. Voss and his long expedition in the Australian bush has a little something of the walk of Jesus in the desert. He leads his companions and flock like a preacher (except this intellectual is a little pretentious). Even the spiritualities of the locals add to the mysticism.
These are Three Stars, rounded to Four.
February 17, 2025
Wow, this was a surprising discovery! At first it seemed to be a classic adventure story about a sturdy German, named Voss, who was the first ever to make the passage through Australia, from east to west, around 1840. This story is mixed with the platonic love story between this Voss-character and the headstrong lady Laura. But the book offers much more than this: it is a derisive portrait of society in Sydney (in the manner of Jane Austen), an accumulation of wisdom on life, death and love (in the manner of Henry James) and a quest for the dark side of reality (Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, of course). On top of that it offers a (first?) evocation of the dreamtime-world of the aboriginals.
This is quite tough reading though: Nobel Prize winner Patrick White (1912-1990) mixes the storylines with lots of commentaries and especially the ending of the expedition is rather raw. Finally, this book is an illustration of the fact that it is almost impossible to grasp the real truth in history. Definitely a book to reread...
This is quite tough reading though: Nobel Prize winner Patrick White (1912-1990) mixes the storylines with lots of commentaries and especially the ending of the expedition is rather raw. Finally, this book is an illustration of the fact that it is almost impossible to grasp the real truth in history. Definitely a book to reread...
October 15, 2017
In the end I actually began to despise this book. Overwrought and pretentious in my opinion. A simple story based on an explorer disappearing in outback Australia during colonial times I never felt that the simplicity of the story was saved by the writing. Challenging prose is fine by me but this went beyond a challenge.
I almost feel that I read this book two and a half times as I read and reread passage after passage to try and get the nuances that were obviously completely above my tiny little brain. At one point Voss reads a poem written by one of his men and hates it. I reread the poem and his reaction to it four times and even now as I type this, a reread for a fifth time, I am none the wiser as to why he dislikes the poem. What did I miss? Someone tell me.
The presentation of this book is also paragraphless (is that a word?) in what seemed one long almost stream of consciousness delivery that had me returning to reread why the sudden change from character to character. No doubt intentional but it left me frustrated and annoyed.
But again what would I know. Loved by many, a friend of mine adores this and has read it several times, awarded the first ever Miles Franklin and author Patrick White is the only Australian Nobel Prize winner. Yep what would I know. I feel an utter traitor to Australian literature considering the reverence this is held in some circles but to be frank I detested it. It took all my will to finish and I am glad I have. Onwards and upwards.
I almost feel that I read this book two and a half times as I read and reread passage after passage to try and get the nuances that were obviously completely above my tiny little brain. At one point Voss reads a poem written by one of his men and hates it. I reread the poem and his reaction to it four times and even now as I type this, a reread for a fifth time, I am none the wiser as to why he dislikes the poem. What did I miss? Someone tell me.
The presentation of this book is also paragraphless (is that a word?) in what seemed one long almost stream of consciousness delivery that had me returning to reread why the sudden change from character to character. No doubt intentional but it left me frustrated and annoyed.
But again what would I know. Loved by many, a friend of mine adores this and has read it several times, awarded the first ever Miles Franklin and author Patrick White is the only Australian Nobel Prize winner. Yep what would I know. I feel an utter traitor to Australian literature considering the reverence this is held in some circles but to be frank I detested it. It took all my will to finish and I am glad I have. Onwards and upwards.
July 13, 2019
10/10
Maybe there's a God above
But all I've ever learned from love
Was how to shoot somebody who outdrew ya
And it's not a cry that you hear at night
It's not somebody who's seen the light
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah
Leonard Cohen
I couldn't think of a better placeholder, until I find words for a proper review. It's been an exhausting month in the desert with Voss.
“It is like using an iron crowbar at minus 65 degrees centigrade in Siberia: when you let go, part of the skin adheres to it. Part of me went to Voss and blood too.” Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko after reading Voss.
~~~~~~
"What kind of man is he? wondered the public, who would never know. If he was already more of a statue than a man, they really did not care, for he would satisfy their longing to perch something on a column, in a square or gardens, as a memorial to their own achievement. They did, moreover, prefer to cast him in bronze than to investigate his soul, because all dark things made them uneasy; and even on a morning of historic adventure, in bright primary colours, the shadow was sewn to the ends of his trousers, where the heels of his boots had frayed."
This is the man we follow into the unrecorded Australian desert in the mid-1800s, and we are hard-pressed to find out if anyone comes out alive -- including some readers. This is a good soul-scouring of a book that travels into the undiscovered country of one man's morality; and helps us test our own, as we measure his.
I would say this is typical Patrick White -- having now read two novels by him ! -- but typical in those two novels is that White seems to like putting humanity on trial, in both cases thus far using historical figures from Australia's past. Twice now, I've encountered characters who are forced to meet their elemental selves and test their own morality against their instincts; and test themselves against society's mores. The social norms always break down and are rewritten with inspired vision.
Twice now, in my reading of White, it is the European colliding with the aboriginal society which forces confrontation and reinvention of the soul. In A Fringe of Leaves, Ellen Roxburgh is rescued by an escaped convict, but her spiritual survival may be a matter of conjecture. In this novel, all are lost.
The brutality and the violence of the man, Voss, is only implied for the most part; but the mind pulls it forth and paints such vivid agonies.
Why does he undertake this journey, we ask ourselves. He is not on any quest, measureable in this physical plane; why gather beasts of burden and beasts of nourishment, ... along with the men he attempts to turn into beasts through his viciousness -- if he is only on a personal vision quest? Why this retinue, this ungainly procession into the desert? It comes as a flash, by the end of the novel, that he did not go into the desert to seek, or expiate personal sins, but to ultimately have an audience for his suffering. It is this aspect which is so brutal and so unmerciful -- to be conscripted through this hell simply be a witness to his suffering and death.
But further, what is the point of witnessing this suffering if one cannot survive, almost by predestination; for it is written in the stars that this mission will fail, everyone will die.
There must be, in the end, some message to the transformative power of suffering, surely? It cannot be to simply promote the Christian ethos? What was the atheist in White saying, when he wrote of Voss, as witnessed by Judd, the convict?
He would wash the sores of men. He would sit all night with them when they were sick, and clean up filth with his own hands. I cried, I tell you, after he was dead. There was none of us could believe it when we saw the spear, hanging from his side, and shaking.
Just as Jesus washed the disciples' feet, just as Jesus was betrayed by Judas; so too, did Voss wash and attend to wounds; so too did Judd betray Voss; and in the end, so too does Laura wash Voss's feet with her tears, (as Mary Magdalene washed Christ's feet), as she pours her grief after Voss's statue is erected. Christian parables re-erected in the Australian outback? To what purpose?
Whether Judd is an impostor or a madman, or simply a poor creature who has suffered too much, I am convinced that Voss had in him a little of Christ, like other men. If he was composed of evil, along with the good, he struggled with that evil. And failed.
Mercy Trevelyan alone realized the extent to which her mother had been tried by some experience of the afternoon. If the daughter did not enquire into the origin of the mother's distress, it was because she had learnt that rational answers seldom do explain. She was herself, moreover, of unexplained origin.
Mercy, alone, prevails as the final message, without explanation.
And which brings us full circle, back to Leonard Cohen's wisdom:
No one believed what she had seen
No one believed what she heard
But there were sorrows to be healed
And mercy, mercy in this world
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f96Wy...
One of the best novels I've read in a decade or two, tied for first with A Fringe of Leaves.
Maybe there's a God above
But all I've ever learned from love
Was how to shoot somebody who outdrew ya
And it's not a cry that you hear at night
It's not somebody who's seen the light
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah
Leonard Cohen
I couldn't think of a better placeholder, until I find words for a proper review. It's been an exhausting month in the desert with Voss.
“It is like using an iron crowbar at minus 65 degrees centigrade in Siberia: when you let go, part of the skin adheres to it. Part of me went to Voss and blood too.” Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko after reading Voss.
~~~~~~
"What kind of man is he? wondered the public, who would never know. If he was already more of a statue than a man, they really did not care, for he would satisfy their longing to perch something on a column, in a square or gardens, as a memorial to their own achievement. They did, moreover, prefer to cast him in bronze than to investigate his soul, because all dark things made them uneasy; and even on a morning of historic adventure, in bright primary colours, the shadow was sewn to the ends of his trousers, where the heels of his boots had frayed."
This is the man we follow into the unrecorded Australian desert in the mid-1800s, and we are hard-pressed to find out if anyone comes out alive -- including some readers. This is a good soul-scouring of a book that travels into the undiscovered country of one man's morality; and helps us test our own, as we measure his.
I would say this is typical Patrick White -- having now read two novels by him ! -- but typical in those two novels is that White seems to like putting humanity on trial, in both cases thus far using historical figures from Australia's past. Twice now, I've encountered characters who are forced to meet their elemental selves and test their own morality against their instincts; and test themselves against society's mores. The social norms always break down and are rewritten with inspired vision.
Twice now, in my reading of White, it is the European colliding with the aboriginal society which forces confrontation and reinvention of the soul. In A Fringe of Leaves, Ellen Roxburgh is rescued by an escaped convict, but her spiritual survival may be a matter of conjecture. In this novel, all are lost.
The brutality and the violence of the man, Voss, is only implied for the most part; but the mind pulls it forth and paints such vivid agonies.
Why does he undertake this journey, we ask ourselves. He is not on any quest, measureable in this physical plane; why gather beasts of burden and beasts of nourishment, ... along with the men he attempts to turn into beasts through his viciousness -- if he is only on a personal vision quest? Why this retinue, this ungainly procession into the desert? It comes as a flash, by the end of the novel, that he did not go into the desert to seek, or expiate personal sins, but to ultimately have an audience for his suffering. It is this aspect which is so brutal and so unmerciful -- to be conscripted through this hell simply be a witness to his suffering and death.
But further, what is the point of witnessing this suffering if one cannot survive, almost by predestination; for it is written in the stars that this mission will fail, everyone will die.
There must be, in the end, some message to the transformative power of suffering, surely? It cannot be to simply promote the Christian ethos? What was the atheist in White saying, when he wrote of Voss, as witnessed by Judd, the convict?
He would wash the sores of men. He would sit all night with them when they were sick, and clean up filth with his own hands. I cried, I tell you, after he was dead. There was none of us could believe it when we saw the spear, hanging from his side, and shaking.
Just as Jesus washed the disciples' feet, just as Jesus was betrayed by Judas; so too, did Voss wash and attend to wounds; so too did Judd betray Voss; and in the end, so too does Laura wash Voss's feet with her tears, (as Mary Magdalene washed Christ's feet), as she pours her grief after Voss's statue is erected. Christian parables re-erected in the Australian outback? To what purpose?
Whether Judd is an impostor or a madman, or simply a poor creature who has suffered too much, I am convinced that Voss had in him a little of Christ, like other men. If he was composed of evil, along with the good, he struggled with that evil. And failed.
Mercy Trevelyan alone realized the extent to which her mother had been tried by some experience of the afternoon. If the daughter did not enquire into the origin of the mother's distress, it was because she had learnt that rational answers seldom do explain. She was herself, moreover, of unexplained origin.
Mercy, alone, prevails as the final message, without explanation.
And which brings us full circle, back to Leonard Cohen's wisdom:
No one believed what she had seen
No one believed what she heard
But there were sorrows to be healed
And mercy, mercy in this world
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f96Wy...
One of the best novels I've read in a decade or two, tied for first with A Fringe of Leaves.
April 9, 2019
While pondering on whether to read another Patrick White, I check my rating of "Voss", which I remember dimly as an excruciatingly slow ride through 19th century Australia with a man I couldn't stand at all until the very end of the story.
Even though I felt that it was a struggle to get to the end of that (reading) journey, it left an impression on me that lingered: that Patrick White's fiction is worth grappling with, that the effort the reader has to put in is mirrored in the effort of the characters.
If Voss seems arrogant, it probably is because only with a sense of superiority one dares to venture out on a trip that holds no pleasures. If Laura on the other hand seems caught in her dreamworld, that probably is her survival strategy.
I think I will try my luck with White again. There is enough left to explore!
Even though I felt that it was a struggle to get to the end of that (reading) journey, it left an impression on me that lingered: that Patrick White's fiction is worth grappling with, that the effort the reader has to put in is mirrored in the effort of the characters.
If Voss seems arrogant, it probably is because only with a sense of superiority one dares to venture out on a trip that holds no pleasures. If Laura on the other hand seems caught in her dreamworld, that probably is her survival strategy.
I think I will try my luck with White again. There is enough left to explore!
December 25, 2012
Apparently White listened repeatedly to Alban Berg's violin concerto while composing Voss. I was made aware of this about half way through. I lazily experimented but found myself engulfed in the novel's emotional torrents. Maybe my ears popped, but I wasn't aware of the music.
Voss is a story of volition. It is sun-baked and agonizing. Quickly thereafter I bought a half dozen of White's other works but Voss remains the only one I've finished.
Not to elaborate but Voss is about curiosity and will. Burr is about avarice.
File this one under day-after-review. A night of excess left the world aslant today. Thinking about Voss helps.
Voss is a story of volition. It is sun-baked and agonizing. Quickly thereafter I bought a half dozen of White's other works but Voss remains the only one I've finished.
Not to elaborate but Voss is about curiosity and will. Burr is about avarice.
File this one under day-after-review. A night of excess left the world aslant today. Thinking about Voss helps.
July 29, 2018
Into the Wilderness
The book opens with the delicacy of a Jane Austen. A young woman, alone in a Sydney drawing-room on a quiet Sunday morning around 1845, reluctantly receives a visitor from abroad. "That strange, foreign men should come on a Sunday when she herself had ventured on a headache was quite exasperating." The headache on which Laura Trevelyan, the heroine, has so deliciously ventured is a cover for her recent loss of faith in conventional Christianity, yet the vast novel that follows will soon plunge into mysticism and madness, a magnificent wrestling match between man and God.
For the foreign visitor is Johann Ulrich Voss, a German explorer who is to lead an expedition to traverse the unexplored Australian interior. Awkward and antisocial, he is nonetheless a secular messiah with an almost divine sense of his own destiny. Funded by Laura's uncle, he gathers together a motley collection of misfits and visionaries: a secret poet, a sensitive ornithologist, a simple-minded boy, a rich dilettante, and a former convict whose practical know-how rivals Voss's own. [White's fondness for visionary loners will get even greater play in his next book, Riders in the Chariot.] Accompanied by two aborigines, Voss leads the party into the bush and through the desert, encountering both beauty and hardship, but ultimately tested less by the physical world than by the terrible discovery of their own inner natures.
But back to that meeting in the drawing-room:
So the light began to flow into the high room, and the sound of doves, and the intimate hum of insects. Then, too, the squat maid had returned, bearing a tray of wine and biscuits; the noise itself was a distraction, the breathing of a third person, before the trembling wine subsided in its decanter into a steady jewel. Order does prevail.How beautifully White uses the intrusion of the "squat maid"—an ex-convict with an ugly hare lip—to emphasize that oasis of peace! Though Voss and Laura dislike each other at first, they recognize an inner kinship, and remain in each other's thoughts and, for a while, letters, even as the explorer puts half the continent between them. Chapters in the wilderness alternate with those in Sydney, where White's lucid wit (channeling Austen, Thackeray, and Trollope) provides a much-needed relief from the ordeals of Voss and his party. Yet Laura is no minor character, and her spiritual quest is no less intense for being conducted amid the confining world of picnics and balls.
Every part of this astonishingly diverse book seems to contain parallels, foreshadowings, or echoes of every other. It would be a great novel in any context, but specifically a great Australian one. The contrast between the thin veneer of culture at one corner of the country and the untamed vastness behind it must have had special resonance in its early years as a colony, but it has also entered the mythology of the emerging nation. The Australian outback becomes a metaphor for existential challenge, a crucible in which the externals of wealth and class melt in the forging of a new person. Yet it is also a reproach, a vast and magnificent barbarity that cannot be covered over with the lace-doily trappings of civilization. It can be challenged only by people of sense and spirit, visionaries and outcasts like Voss and his followers. Such people, Laura included, will suffer and may not always succeed; White, something of an outcast himself, is too much of a realist to offer easy solutions. But the spirit does endure.
February 12, 2018
'I detest humility,' he said. 'Is man so ignoble that he must lie in the dust, like worms? If this is repentance, sin is less ugly.'
Patrick White is Australia's only Nobel prize laureate (if we haven't co-opted Coetzee yet). If you haven't heard of him, don't worry, it's only you and everyone else. He also was the first winner of the Miles Franklin Literary Award in 1957, but people mainly focus on the Nobel prize winning for some reason.
Voss, his most famous work, is as prickly and difficult as its eponymous hero. Inspired by the real life explorer Leichhardt (yes the suburb in Sydney is named after him. He turns out to be German rather than Italian, as you'd expect) who attempted to make the first overland crossing of Australia from East to West in 1848.
Johann Ulrich Voss is a real oddball. With delusions of godhood he subtly undermines any who threaten his authority.
"Voss did not care to be told the secrets of others. He preferred to arrive at them by his own intuition, then to pounce. Now he did not have the advantage."
He falls in love with Laura Trevelyan. They are brought together by their mutual contempt of other mere mortals. (Voss and Laura are the original hipsters. Everyone is so bourgeois. Get on our level.)
'Oh,' said Laura, 'I had always been led to understand that the expression of thought was the height of unsociability.'
Unlike us regular losers, their connection transcends the physical. It is through letters (written but never arrive), thoughts and dreams that they communicate. Their love (obsession? folie a deux?) flowers as the distance between them grows.
This is a hard book to rate. Did I enjoy Voss? No. Was it technically good? Yes. I wasn't apathetic, which is something. Great was my admiration in some parts, deep was my agony in others. Recommended reservedly for those who have the will to conquer the tyranny of distance between page one and page four hundred and forty eight.
Patrick White is Australia's only Nobel prize laureate (if we haven't co-opted Coetzee yet). If you haven't heard of him, don't worry, it's only you and everyone else. He also was the first winner of the Miles Franklin Literary Award in 1957, but people mainly focus on the Nobel prize winning for some reason.
Voss, his most famous work, is as prickly and difficult as its eponymous hero. Inspired by the real life explorer Leichhardt (yes the suburb in Sydney is named after him. He turns out to be German rather than Italian, as you'd expect) who attempted to make the first overland crossing of Australia from East to West in 1848.
Johann Ulrich Voss is a real oddball. With delusions of godhood he subtly undermines any who threaten his authority.
"Voss did not care to be told the secrets of others. He preferred to arrive at them by his own intuition, then to pounce. Now he did not have the advantage."
He falls in love with Laura Trevelyan. They are brought together by their mutual contempt of other mere mortals. (Voss and Laura are the original hipsters. Everyone is so bourgeois. Get on our level.)
'Oh,' said Laura, 'I had always been led to understand that the expression of thought was the height of unsociability.'
Unlike us regular losers, their connection transcends the physical. It is through letters (written but never arrive), thoughts and dreams that they communicate. Their love (obsession? folie a deux?) flowers as the distance between them grows.
This is a hard book to rate. Did I enjoy Voss? No. Was it technically good? Yes. I wasn't apathetic, which is something. Great was my admiration in some parts, deep was my agony in others. Recommended reservedly for those who have the will to conquer the tyranny of distance between page one and page four hundred and forty eight.
March 15, 2023
Spent a 14 hour train ride through unchanging landscape with this book. I will forever think of it as my saviour from the most crushing boredom. A good travel companion.
January 1, 2017
Já li mais de metade e não gosto de nada; nem da escrita, nem das personagens, nem do enredo. Pensei em desistir lá muito atrás, mas os escritos na badana impediram-me:
"Uma das maiores obras-primas em prosa do século xx. [...] As suas páginas abrem-se como uma vasta fissura geológica na paisagem domesticada da ficção de língua inglesa. [...] Não é que o livro seja perfeito - a sua escala é demasiado grandiosa: está para lá da perfeição."
Lindsay Clark, in The Independent
"Patrick White era um génio e Voss uma das mais notáveis obras da era modernista e do século passado."
Thomas Keneally, in The Guardian
"Patrick White é um dos maiores romancistas do século xx apenas igualado pelos seus pares vencedores do Nobel, Faulkner, Laxness, e Thomas Mann."
Nicholas Shakespeare in, The Telegraph
Mesmo acreditando em tudo o que estes senhores dizem, e lastimando-me por não ler como eles, vou deixar Voss "morrer" já aqui. Não quero levar fretes para o Novo Ano...
"Uma das maiores obras-primas em prosa do século xx. [...] As suas páginas abrem-se como uma vasta fissura geológica na paisagem domesticada da ficção de língua inglesa. [...] Não é que o livro seja perfeito - a sua escala é demasiado grandiosa: está para lá da perfeição."
Lindsay Clark, in The Independent
"Patrick White era um génio e Voss uma das mais notáveis obras da era modernista e do século passado."
Thomas Keneally, in The Guardian
"Patrick White é um dos maiores romancistas do século xx apenas igualado pelos seus pares vencedores do Nobel, Faulkner, Laxness, e Thomas Mann."
Nicholas Shakespeare in, The Telegraph
Mesmo acreditando em tudo o que estes senhores dizem, e lastimando-me por não ler como eles, vou deixar Voss "morrer" já aqui. Não quero levar fretes para o Novo Ano...
July 16, 2018
Grandioso. Exigente. Complexo.
O leitor precisa de se adaptar ao estilo e estar atento às subtilezas e sobreposições da narrativa. A presença constante do vento une momentos, tempo e personagens numa única geografia, seca e tórrida . Vento é agitação e desordem.
A vida de cada ser humano é uma brevíssima jornada.
Voss parte para uma viagem exploratória ao deserto aborígene. Sabe que será uma empreitada cheia de desafios, provações e perigos, mas avança cheio de ânimo, sem humildade, encorajado por uma vontade férrea e pela ambição. Acredita que o seu esforço será recompensado. Nada o poderá matar.
A viagem permite ao grupo, por ele liderado, conhecer paisagens frescas e verdes e também, um imenso chão inóspito, hostil e atormentado por um sol abrasador. A viagem proporciona também a introspecção, o autoconhecimento e a revelação das idiossincrasias da caravana. O amor de Laura acompanha Voss. A ligação entre os dois transcende a passagem do tempo e a distância que os separa. Irá transformar ambos profundamente. Laura, embora ausente, é também uma companheira de viagem e um apoio fundamental para Voss. É ela que possibilita a sua redenção.
Uma obra-mais-que perfeita de White!
( deverei voltar a ela pois uma única leitura não basta.)
O leitor precisa de se adaptar ao estilo e estar atento às subtilezas e sobreposições da narrativa. A presença constante do vento une momentos, tempo e personagens numa única geografia, seca e tórrida . Vento é agitação e desordem.
A vida de cada ser humano é uma brevíssima jornada.
Voss parte para uma viagem exploratória ao deserto aborígene. Sabe que será uma empreitada cheia de desafios, provações e perigos, mas avança cheio de ânimo, sem humildade, encorajado por uma vontade férrea e pela ambição. Acredita que o seu esforço será recompensado. Nada o poderá matar.
A viagem permite ao grupo, por ele liderado, conhecer paisagens frescas e verdes e também, um imenso chão inóspito, hostil e atormentado por um sol abrasador. A viagem proporciona também a introspecção, o autoconhecimento e a revelação das idiossincrasias da caravana. O amor de Laura acompanha Voss. A ligação entre os dois transcende a passagem do tempo e a distância que os separa. Irá transformar ambos profundamente. Laura, embora ausente, é também uma companheira de viagem e um apoio fundamental para Voss. É ela que possibilita a sua redenção.
Uma obra-mais-que perfeita de White!
( deverei voltar a ela pois uma única leitura não basta.)
October 27, 2017
This book is based upon the life of the nineteenth-century Prussian explorer and naturalist Ludwig Leichhardt who disappeared whilst on an expedition into the Australian outback.
A magnificent and unforgettable book to be read by all fans of Australian fiction.
A magnificent and unforgettable book to be read by all fans of Australian fiction.
July 25, 2025
https://kansasbooks.blogspot.com/2025...
"Una tarde se dio cuenta de que no había escrito la carta.
Entonces se sentó en su escritorio. Empezó a escribir. Le resultó más fácil de lo que había imaginado, como si se hubiera convertido en una virtuosa de la escritura. Las esquirlas salían disparadas en todas direcciones al tiempo que las palabras se iban grabando en el mármol de un modo profundo y definitivo.Después de airear el papel para que se secará, lo dobló y lo selló; lloró unos breves instantes y se sintió un poco mejor."
[...]
"El viajero, inspirado, les explicó que aquellos papeles contenían los pensamientos de los que los blancos deseaban deshacerse: los malos pensamientos tristes, los malos, los pensamientos que pesaban demasiado o les hacían daño. Todos salían a través del palo de escribir del hombre blanco, pasaban al papel y luego se enviaban lejos."
Llego hasta Patrick White casi por casualidad, entre incursiones rebuscando entre la literatura australiana, y poco después de empezada la novela, me entero de que White fue Premio Nobel en 1973 que casi nunca es un dato que me atraiga especialmente a la hora de ponerme con un autor, pero en este caso me sorprende mucho el hecho de que a pesar de este premio sea un autor tan desconocido, teniendo en cuenta las modas imperantes de coleccionar premios nobeles en los curriculums lectores. Pero si tenemos en cuenta que durante la novela resuena algún ramalazo misógino o incluso pueda resultar incómodo como se refieren los personajes a los aborígenes australianos, entonces puedo llegar a entender y/o justificar que White no se encuentre en los Nobels más populares. Cuando me encuentro con lecturas que puedan llegar a resultar controvertidas por un cierto racismo, o misoginia, intento siempre situarlo en el tiempo en el que transcurre, en su contexto histórico, en este caso el colonialismo del siglo XIX. No podemos ni debemos interpretar ciertas situaciones con nuestra perspectiva de ahora, en pleno s.XXI. No sé absolutamente nada de la biografia de Patrick White, ni sé si era un misógino redomado o un racista de tomo y lomo, pero sí que entiendo que nos enfrente a ciertas situaciones de este tipo porque era lo que primaba en la época en que transcurre esta novela, la Australia colonial del siglo XIX.
"-¿Y qué había en ese libro?- preguntó triste.
-Locuras que podrían hacer que el mundo volara por los aires; al menos, el mundo que usted y yo conocemos.
Poemas y esas cosas."
A priori y a cualquiera que quiera bucear superficialmente en esta novela se va a encontrar que se la describe como una novela histórica ambientada en la Australia colonial del siglo XIX, incluso en alguna contraportada se la describiría como un romance colonial, y a mi entender no tiene absolutamente nada que ver con estas etiquetas aunque siga el viaje del explorador alemán Johann Voss en su obsesión por recorrer el interior agreste de Australia y descubrir nuevas fuentes, expediciones que solían ser también obsesiones egomaniacas por llegar a ser los primeros en descubrir o encontrar, y esto es algo que explora aquí magníficamente el autor. Patrick White parte de la base de la obsesión de Johann Voss por explorar las aisladas tierras australianas para profundizar en el aislamiento como tema principal, no solo el de Voss desde el momento en que inicia su viaje, sino el aislamiento mental en el que se encuentra Laura Trevelyan, que incluso viviendo en la estructurada sociedad de Sydney, se siente completamente aislada de lo que la rodea: “Y aún así, a pesar de su admirable autosuficiencia, si se le hubiera presentado la ocasión, le habría agradado compartir su realidad con alguna mente afin. Pero no había encontrado pruebas de la existencia de aquella afinidad intelectual en su pequeño círculo de amistades, y desde luego tampoco en su familia. Así que, en realidad, no tenía a nadie y, en ausencia de un equipo de rescate, debía ser fuerte”. Así que White crea dos personajes antagonistas, una mujer y un hombre, que en un principio parece que no tengan absolutamente ninguna conexión y que solo se verán dos veces (antes de la expedición), para a partir de aquí, enfrentarnos al hecho de que aunque en un principio no se soporten, construir una relación entre ambos basada casi exclusivamente en el aislamiento en el que viven sumergidos ambos. Johann Voss conoce a Laura Trevelyan antes de emprender la expedición financiada por el tio de Laura y en el último de estos dos encuentros, White desarrollará la base de la relación entre ambos. Un encuentro en el jardín, de noche, en una escena arrebatadora por lo imprevisible, seca, árida e íntima, ambos buceando en el interior del otro, se reconocen como forasteros, como incomprendidos, como outsiders. A partir de aquí, ya no volverán a verse más físicamente, pero en esta expedición, Laura será una presencia fantasmal siempre cabalgando junto a Voss como una proyección ectoplásmica. Nos encontraremos con pasajes en los que Voss reconocerá a Laura junto a él cuando sabemos que Laura está en Sydney, e incluso viceversa. En este aspecto es una novela única, rara, imprevisible en la construcción de esta intimidad telepática entre dos seres que ni siquiera están enamorados, pero se necesitan desesperadamente para escapar de este aislamiento, todo es imaginación, todo es figurado entre ambos. Realmente no hay nada de romance, solo cartas deseando soltar la desesperación interior, creo. Y no es una novela "amable", en el sentido de que apenas hay nadie que sea feliz, y los que lo son, es pura apariencia , (White tenía mala leche). Eso sí, Laura es uno de los grandes personajes femeninos de la literatura universal, va muy por delante de Voss porque tiene los pies en la tierra y no se anda con autoengaños porque para ella el ego no existe. Y por otra parte, es la única que entiende al rarito de Voss. "Voss pensó en cómo hablaría con Laura Trevelyan, en cómo nunca habían hablado empleando las palabras auténticamente sencillas que comunican la realidad más íntima: pan, por ejemplo, o agua. Obsesionados con la lucha entre sus dos almas, se habían amenazado el uno al otro con las ostentosas armas del pensamiento abstracto, ignorando completamente su necesidad de sustento."
"Está usted aislado de todos. Por eso le fascina la perspectiva de encontrar lugares desiertos en los que sabe que se sentirá cómodo, o incluso enardecido. De vez en cuando regala palabras amables o fragmentos de poesía. Todo lo hace por usted. Cuando experimenta emociones humanas, se siente halagado. Si dichas emociones despiertan algo en los demás, también se siente halagado."
"Había leído cuántos libros habían caído en sus manos en aquella remota colonia, hasta que su intelecto pareció saciarse. En consecuencia, no sentía la necesidad de reconocerse fuera de si misma, salvo en su propio reflejo , como en aquel momento, en el espejo empañado de aquella enorme y oscura habitación." Voss es una novela en la que se reflexiona sobre la tensión existente entre el mundo exterior, sus presiones y sus apariencias, y nuestra mente interior, también entre entre civilización y las tierras inexploradas y salvajes. Es evidente que Patrick White se apoya continuamente en un simbolismo recurrente cuando compara la naturaleza omnipresente con la ridiculez de la condición humana cuando se siente el centro del mundo, e incide continuamente en la resistencia del paisaje australiano frente a al discurrir de la historia, e incluso Laura se refiere a la colonia como ese país irracional (“Algunos oasis de afecto habían hecho soportable el desierto, hasta qu ele feroz calor de la sinrazón había empezado a amenazar con destruir cualquier refugio”). El viaje de Voss se va convirtiendo poco a poco no solo en un viaje de exploración de sí mismo, de resistencia a la locura sino en la creencia de que a través del sufrimiento el hombre aprende que no es Dios, que no es el centro del mundo. Quizás lo más interesante de esta novela esté en el hecho de las dos tramas paralelas: ambos caminos, el de Johann Voss por un lado, y el de Laura Trevelyan aunque separados físicamente confluyen en una conexión casi desesperada. "-Siento -dijo ella lentamente, y tuvo miedo por lo que estaba a punto de admitir- que la vida que voy a vivir ya ha escapado por completo a mí control." Casi viven las mismas experiencias, por un lado el sufrimiento físico y espiritual de Voss perdido en tierras inhóspitas, y por otro el sufrimiento de Laura en una continua exploración de sí misma. Patrick White desafía continuamente las convenciones literarias de la época y construye una novela que sorprende por la forma que tiene de reflexionar en las diferentes perspectivas culturales y sociales. A través de Voss y de Laura examina cómo la imaginación en momentos de tocar fondo y de un profundo sufrimiento, es capaz de sostener a las personas y dar un cierto sentido a la vida: una novela en la que el sueño y la imaginación pareciera que fuesen la única realidad.
"Durante unos instantes, se quedó allí tumbado, tratando de recordar lo que había soñado, sin conseguirlo. Irritado al principio, después recordó que basta con haber soñado. Así que continuó tumbado, y el sueño perdido siguió siendo parte de él. Al sueño le debía el estado absoluto de bienestar que lo invadió."
♫♫♫ Down under - Men at work ♫♫♫
"Una tarde se dio cuenta de que no había escrito la carta.
Entonces se sentó en su escritorio. Empezó a escribir. Le resultó más fácil de lo que había imaginado, como si se hubiera convertido en una virtuosa de la escritura. Las esquirlas salían disparadas en todas direcciones al tiempo que las palabras se iban grabando en el mármol de un modo profundo y definitivo.Después de airear el papel para que se secará, lo dobló y lo selló; lloró unos breves instantes y se sintió un poco mejor."
[...]
"El viajero, inspirado, les explicó que aquellos papeles contenían los pensamientos de los que los blancos deseaban deshacerse: los malos pensamientos tristes, los malos, los pensamientos que pesaban demasiado o les hacían daño. Todos salían a través del palo de escribir del hombre blanco, pasaban al papel y luego se enviaban lejos."
Llego hasta Patrick White casi por casualidad, entre incursiones rebuscando entre la literatura australiana, y poco después de empezada la novela, me entero de que White fue Premio Nobel en 1973 que casi nunca es un dato que me atraiga especialmente a la hora de ponerme con un autor, pero en este caso me sorprende mucho el hecho de que a pesar de este premio sea un autor tan desconocido, teniendo en cuenta las modas imperantes de coleccionar premios nobeles en los curriculums lectores. Pero si tenemos en cuenta que durante la novela resuena algún ramalazo misógino o incluso pueda resultar incómodo como se refieren los personajes a los aborígenes australianos, entonces puedo llegar a entender y/o justificar que White no se encuentre en los Nobels más populares. Cuando me encuentro con lecturas que puedan llegar a resultar controvertidas por un cierto racismo, o misoginia, intento siempre situarlo en el tiempo en el que transcurre, en su contexto histórico, en este caso el colonialismo del siglo XIX. No podemos ni debemos interpretar ciertas situaciones con nuestra perspectiva de ahora, en pleno s.XXI. No sé absolutamente nada de la biografia de Patrick White, ni sé si era un misógino redomado o un racista de tomo y lomo, pero sí que entiendo que nos enfrente a ciertas situaciones de este tipo porque era lo que primaba en la época en que transcurre esta novela, la Australia colonial del siglo XIX.
"-¿Y qué había en ese libro?- preguntó triste.
-Locuras que podrían hacer que el mundo volara por los aires; al menos, el mundo que usted y yo conocemos.
Poemas y esas cosas."
A priori y a cualquiera que quiera bucear superficialmente en esta novela se va a encontrar que se la describe como una novela histórica ambientada en la Australia colonial del siglo XIX, incluso en alguna contraportada se la describiría como un romance colonial, y a mi entender no tiene absolutamente nada que ver con estas etiquetas aunque siga el viaje del explorador alemán Johann Voss en su obsesión por recorrer el interior agreste de Australia y descubrir nuevas fuentes, expediciones que solían ser también obsesiones egomaniacas por llegar a ser los primeros en descubrir o encontrar, y esto es algo que explora aquí magníficamente el autor. Patrick White parte de la base de la obsesión de Johann Voss por explorar las aisladas tierras australianas para profundizar en el aislamiento como tema principal, no solo el de Voss desde el momento en que inicia su viaje, sino el aislamiento mental en el que se encuentra Laura Trevelyan, que incluso viviendo en la estructurada sociedad de Sydney, se siente completamente aislada de lo que la rodea: “Y aún así, a pesar de su admirable autosuficiencia, si se le hubiera presentado la ocasión, le habría agradado compartir su realidad con alguna mente afin. Pero no había encontrado pruebas de la existencia de aquella afinidad intelectual en su pequeño círculo de amistades, y desde luego tampoco en su familia. Así que, en realidad, no tenía a nadie y, en ausencia de un equipo de rescate, debía ser fuerte”. Así que White crea dos personajes antagonistas, una mujer y un hombre, que en un principio parece que no tengan absolutamente ninguna conexión y que solo se verán dos veces (antes de la expedición), para a partir de aquí, enfrentarnos al hecho de que aunque en un principio no se soporten, construir una relación entre ambos basada casi exclusivamente en el aislamiento en el que viven sumergidos ambos. Johann Voss conoce a Laura Trevelyan antes de emprender la expedición financiada por el tio de Laura y en el último de estos dos encuentros, White desarrollará la base de la relación entre ambos. Un encuentro en el jardín, de noche, en una escena arrebatadora por lo imprevisible, seca, árida e íntima, ambos buceando en el interior del otro, se reconocen como forasteros, como incomprendidos, como outsiders. A partir de aquí, ya no volverán a verse más físicamente, pero en esta expedición, Laura será una presencia fantasmal siempre cabalgando junto a Voss como una proyección ectoplásmica. Nos encontraremos con pasajes en los que Voss reconocerá a Laura junto a él cuando sabemos que Laura está en Sydney, e incluso viceversa. En este aspecto es una novela única, rara, imprevisible en la construcción de esta intimidad telepática entre dos seres que ni siquiera están enamorados, pero se necesitan desesperadamente para escapar de este aislamiento, todo es imaginación, todo es figurado entre ambos. Realmente no hay nada de romance, solo cartas deseando soltar la desesperación interior, creo. Y no es una novela "amable", en el sentido de que apenas hay nadie que sea feliz, y los que lo son, es pura apariencia , (White tenía mala leche). Eso sí, Laura es uno de los grandes personajes femeninos de la literatura universal, va muy por delante de Voss porque tiene los pies en la tierra y no se anda con autoengaños porque para ella el ego no existe. Y por otra parte, es la única que entiende al rarito de Voss. "Voss pensó en cómo hablaría con Laura Trevelyan, en cómo nunca habían hablado empleando las palabras auténticamente sencillas que comunican la realidad más íntima: pan, por ejemplo, o agua. Obsesionados con la lucha entre sus dos almas, se habían amenazado el uno al otro con las ostentosas armas del pensamiento abstracto, ignorando completamente su necesidad de sustento."
"Está usted aislado de todos. Por eso le fascina la perspectiva de encontrar lugares desiertos en los que sabe que se sentirá cómodo, o incluso enardecido. De vez en cuando regala palabras amables o fragmentos de poesía. Todo lo hace por usted. Cuando experimenta emociones humanas, se siente halagado. Si dichas emociones despiertan algo en los demás, también se siente halagado."
"Había leído cuántos libros habían caído en sus manos en aquella remota colonia, hasta que su intelecto pareció saciarse. En consecuencia, no sentía la necesidad de reconocerse fuera de si misma, salvo en su propio reflejo , como en aquel momento, en el espejo empañado de aquella enorme y oscura habitación." Voss es una novela en la que se reflexiona sobre la tensión existente entre el mundo exterior, sus presiones y sus apariencias, y nuestra mente interior, también entre entre civilización y las tierras inexploradas y salvajes. Es evidente que Patrick White se apoya continuamente en un simbolismo recurrente cuando compara la naturaleza omnipresente con la ridiculez de la condición humana cuando se siente el centro del mundo, e incide continuamente en la resistencia del paisaje australiano frente a al discurrir de la historia, e incluso Laura se refiere a la colonia como ese país irracional (“Algunos oasis de afecto habían hecho soportable el desierto, hasta qu ele feroz calor de la sinrazón había empezado a amenazar con destruir cualquier refugio”). El viaje de Voss se va convirtiendo poco a poco no solo en un viaje de exploración de sí mismo, de resistencia a la locura sino en la creencia de que a través del sufrimiento el hombre aprende que no es Dios, que no es el centro del mundo. Quizás lo más interesante de esta novela esté en el hecho de las dos tramas paralelas: ambos caminos, el de Johann Voss por un lado, y el de Laura Trevelyan aunque separados físicamente confluyen en una conexión casi desesperada. "-Siento -dijo ella lentamente, y tuvo miedo por lo que estaba a punto de admitir- que la vida que voy a vivir ya ha escapado por completo a mí control." Casi viven las mismas experiencias, por un lado el sufrimiento físico y espiritual de Voss perdido en tierras inhóspitas, y por otro el sufrimiento de Laura en una continua exploración de sí misma. Patrick White desafía continuamente las convenciones literarias de la época y construye una novela que sorprende por la forma que tiene de reflexionar en las diferentes perspectivas culturales y sociales. A través de Voss y de Laura examina cómo la imaginación en momentos de tocar fondo y de un profundo sufrimiento, es capaz de sostener a las personas y dar un cierto sentido a la vida: una novela en la que el sueño y la imaginación pareciera que fuesen la única realidad.
"Durante unos instantes, se quedó allí tumbado, tratando de recordar lo que había soñado, sin conseguirlo. Irritado al principio, después recordó que basta con haber soñado. Así que continuó tumbado, y el sueño perdido siguió siendo parte de él. Al sueño le debía el estado absoluto de bienestar que lo invadió."
♫♫♫ Down under - Men at work ♫♫♫
March 31, 2023
Most of the reviews that I have read of this book seem to completely miss the things that I found compelling about it. For me this is a book about Australia as a special place where European ambition and materialist imperialist society run up against Aboriginal Dreamtime, so that they meld together into something that is scary but unique and filled with possibility for the select few who are able to make the essential spiritual connection.
The world of this book exists in Dreamtime -- every moment coexists as an inseparable part of a greater whole, everywhere and everywhen. Only Voss and Laura are able to fully immerse themselves in this weird magical universe, and it enables them to have a long distance marriage and even to have a child together through the mediation of Laura's servant, Rose Portion. Voss and Laura are closer to one another in their separation than they could ever be in mundane physical reality. But even the crude practical characters -- the awful Tom Radclyffe, the threatening Judd and the clueless but well meaning Mrs. Bonner all say and do things that show that they too exist on the edge of the supernatural world. The dialog and transitional clauses create bridges between the worlds or maybe trap doors that spring open and show sometimes illogical and unexpected connections. But White's supernatural world is not the mostly benevolent magical realism of 100 Years of Solitude or 1Q84; in Voss the supernatural world is a scary overpowering place of dark imagery and death that is closer to the view of German works such as the tales of ETA Hoffman or Goethe's Elf King. Voss, as a German, can access this strange supernatural universe that exists out of place and out of time better than the English settlers.
The other distinctly German part of Voss's personality is his obsessive drive. He is a Nietzschean superman who lives in a plane beyond good and evil, driving ever forward with no plan other than advancement. In this regard, he felt like a character from a Werner Herzog film - Aguirre or Fitzcarraldo.
And then there is there is all of the Christian religious symbolism around Voss. Going into the wilderness to be tempted. Caring for the sick, washing their sores. The spear in the side, where Palfreyman is initially Voss's proxy. The image of the white dove seen by Robarts. And finally the head of Voss severed like John the Baptist. Voss is repeatedly referred to as both God and Devil. And of course he is both because in this world, they are the same.
The minor characters in this book are an interesting ensemble who add immensely to the richness of the narrative and create a sense of Australia as a vast place of varying people who fit in different ways into this transcendent continent that is beyond ordinary place and time. Even the crassest of them, with the possible exception of the cowardly drunkard Turner, have some redeeming features, and each seems essential in his or her unique way to the realization of the possibilities of Australia.
The world of this book exists in Dreamtime -- every moment coexists as an inseparable part of a greater whole, everywhere and everywhen. Only Voss and Laura are able to fully immerse themselves in this weird magical universe, and it enables them to have a long distance marriage and even to have a child together through the mediation of Laura's servant, Rose Portion. Voss and Laura are closer to one another in their separation than they could ever be in mundane physical reality. But even the crude practical characters -- the awful Tom Radclyffe, the threatening Judd and the clueless but well meaning Mrs. Bonner all say and do things that show that they too exist on the edge of the supernatural world. The dialog and transitional clauses create bridges between the worlds or maybe trap doors that spring open and show sometimes illogical and unexpected connections. But White's supernatural world is not the mostly benevolent magical realism of 100 Years of Solitude or 1Q84; in Voss the supernatural world is a scary overpowering place of dark imagery and death that is closer to the view of German works such as the tales of ETA Hoffman or Goethe's Elf King. Voss, as a German, can access this strange supernatural universe that exists out of place and out of time better than the English settlers.
The other distinctly German part of Voss's personality is his obsessive drive. He is a Nietzschean superman who lives in a plane beyond good and evil, driving ever forward with no plan other than advancement. In this regard, he felt like a character from a Werner Herzog film - Aguirre or Fitzcarraldo.
And then there is there is all of the Christian religious symbolism around Voss. Going into the wilderness to be tempted. Caring for the sick, washing their sores. The spear in the side, where Palfreyman is initially Voss's proxy. The image of the white dove seen by Robarts. And finally the head of Voss severed like John the Baptist. Voss is repeatedly referred to as both God and Devil. And of course he is both because in this world, they are the same.
The minor characters in this book are an interesting ensemble who add immensely to the richness of the narrative and create a sense of Australia as a vast place of varying people who fit in different ways into this transcendent continent that is beyond ordinary place and time. Even the crassest of them, with the possible exception of the cowardly drunkard Turner, have some redeeming features, and each seems essential in his or her unique way to the realization of the possibilities of Australia.
May 20, 2022
This is the second year in a row I've personally discovered an all-timer. Last year it was The Red and the Black. This one is not in my all-time Top 10, but it is close, and it's one of those books that makes me realize I'll have to read everything White has written. It's an amazing book that can serve as a connector between Moby-Dick and Blood Meridian but also as a connector between Jane Austen and Shirley Hazzard. I thought The Transit of Venus was pretty sui generis, but clearly I hadn't known about this book. I'd also like to find out if McCarthy read this. The best comparison might actually be to say it's a mix of Austen and Heart of Darkness, and it is as strange as that mix sounds in the very best way.
It's a historical novel set in the 1840s with a 20-year time jump in the final chapters. Voss like Ahab and Glanton leads an expedition into a zone of death. In this case, the zone is the vast unknown (to white men) interior of Australia. White was gifted with bottomless powers of description. Landscapes, people, psychological states. As beautiful as the style is, there is little waste. It's a style that McCarthy following Faulkner and Hemingway put in a rock tumbler and polished even further until it was perfectly efficient. The narrator is third person, but it is weird. It's often tightly close to one character, but it bounces around within scenes and approaches omniscience while avoiding certain minds for long periods of time. The gang that follows Voss into the bush is memorable. Each is stamped and opened up, spirit and will examined sometimes to the point of humiliation but rarely without honesty.
Over all this scene, which was more a shimmer than the architecture of landscape, palpitated extraordinary butterflies. Nothing had been seen yet to compare with their colours, opening and closing, opening and closing. Indeed, by the addition of this pair of hinges, the world of semblance communicated with the world of dream.
This moment occurs within a larger context of surprise for me. In the middle of the desert trek, the worst challenges and disasters for the gang come from heavy rain. It is really something.
It's a historical novel set in the 1840s with a 20-year time jump in the final chapters. Voss like Ahab and Glanton leads an expedition into a zone of death. In this case, the zone is the vast unknown (to white men) interior of Australia. White was gifted with bottomless powers of description. Landscapes, people, psychological states. As beautiful as the style is, there is little waste. It's a style that McCarthy following Faulkner and Hemingway put in a rock tumbler and polished even further until it was perfectly efficient. The narrator is third person, but it is weird. It's often tightly close to one character, but it bounces around within scenes and approaches omniscience while avoiding certain minds for long periods of time. The gang that follows Voss into the bush is memorable. Each is stamped and opened up, spirit and will examined sometimes to the point of humiliation but rarely without honesty.
Over all this scene, which was more a shimmer than the architecture of landscape, palpitated extraordinary butterflies. Nothing had been seen yet to compare with their colours, opening and closing, opening and closing. Indeed, by the addition of this pair of hinges, the world of semblance communicated with the world of dream.
This moment occurs within a larger context of surprise for me. In the middle of the desert trek, the worst challenges and disasters for the gang come from heavy rain. It is really something.
October 14, 2014
I had a very turbulent relationship with this book which alternated between the ridiculous and the sublime.
Set in mid 19th century Australia, Voss is the German leader of an expeditionary force.A powerful psychological narrative, it reminded me at times of Conrad's Heart of Darkness and Golding's Lord of the Flies.Voss is an outsider who is patronised by the colonial gentry. The book centres upon 2 outsiders: Voss and the niece of his major patron and their relationship.
I found the portrayal of early Aus society quite fascinating also relationships with the aboriginal characters in the book.
I was pleased I persisted with it - it is very challenging and was on the point of being binned more than once!
Set in mid 19th century Australia, Voss is the German leader of an expeditionary force.A powerful psychological narrative, it reminded me at times of Conrad's Heart of Darkness and Golding's Lord of the Flies.Voss is an outsider who is patronised by the colonial gentry. The book centres upon 2 outsiders: Voss and the niece of his major patron and their relationship.
I found the portrayal of early Aus society quite fascinating also relationships with the aboriginal characters in the book.
I was pleased I persisted with it - it is very challenging and was on the point of being binned more than once!
September 16, 2021
Баш ме је намучила ова књига; не само због прилично комплексног језика, већ због тога што је просто речено - досадна.
Вајт, истина, зна са речима, али је мени деловало да су то више "велике" речи ради самих речи. Подсећа ме на "Крвави меридијан" Кормака Макартија, само са нешто мање убијања и крви.
Прича прати два тока - у једном пратимо експедицију немачког истраживача Јохана Урлиха Воса у западни, неистражени део Аустралије, средином 19. века (инспирисано истинитим догађајима), док је други ток смештен у Сиднеј, где пратимо живот породице Бонер, покровитеља експедиције. Нећака покровитеља - Лаура, главни је лик и иако су се она и Вос срели само два пута, и то врло кратко, испоставиће се да су повезани неком "чвршћом", наднаравном везом, те и да имају способности комуникације путем визија (?!). Вос је инригантан свима, не зна се његово порекло, нити се знају његове праве намере, али су сви ипак њиме опчињени и приписују му се чак и супериорне моћи.
Експедиција ће, пролазећи кроз пустињске, негостољубиве пределе наилазити само на потешкоће и завршиће се, очекивано, потпуном пропашћу. Патрик Вајт врло натуралистички описује све те патње и препреке, али опет нисам успео да се више повежем са причом и/или ликовима.
Коментари и тумачи спомињу и други, религијски слој приче - потрага за самим собом, борба са сопственим демонима, дихотомија бог-ђаво оличена у лику самог истраживача итд. итд. Јасна је ауторова намера, али нисам сигуран колико је у њеној реализацији успео.
Патрик Вајт је (за сада) једини аустралијски нобеловац, а "Вос" му је најхваљенија књига. Нисам успео да пронађем да ли је до сада превођен на српски.
Вајт, истина, зна са речима, али је мени деловало да су то више "велике" речи ради самих речи. Подсећа ме на "Крвави меридијан" Кормака Макартија, само са нешто мање убијања и крви.
Прича прати два тока - у једном пратимо експедицију немачког истраживача Јохана Урлиха Воса у западни, неистражени део Аустралије, средином 19. века (инспирисано истинитим догађајима), док је други ток смештен у Сиднеј, где пратимо живот породице Бонер, покровитеља експедиције. Нећака покровитеља - Лаура, главни је лик и иако су се она и Вос срели само два пута, и то врло кратко, испоставиће се да су повезани неком "чвршћом", наднаравном везом, те и да имају способности комуникације путем визија (?!). Вос је инригантан свима, не зна се његово порекло, нити се знају његове праве намере, али су сви ипак њиме опчињени и приписују му се чак и супериорне моћи.
Експедиција ће, пролазећи кроз пустињске, негостољубиве пределе наилазити само на потешкоће и завршиће се, очекивано, потпуном пропашћу. Патрик Вајт врло натуралистички описује све те патње и препреке, али опет нисам успео да се више повежем са причом и/или ликовима.
Коментари и тумачи спомињу и други, религијски слој приче - потрага за самим собом, борба са сопственим демонима, дихотомија бог-ђаво оличена у лику самог истраживача итд. итд. Јасна је ауторова намера, али нисам сигуран колико је у њеној реализацији успео.
Патрик Вајт је (за сада) једини аустралијски нобеловац, а "Вос" му је најхваљенија књига. Нисам успео да пронађем да ли је до сада превођен на српски.
February 27, 2011
Very interesting story. It is about crossing the then unexplored center of the vast Australian continent. Look at the globe. Australia is a big piece of land in the lower part of the Southern hemisphere. According to Wiki, a big part of that piece of land are desserts and one of the first land explorer who attempted to cross it from coast-to-coast, was a Prussian explorer, Ludwig Leichhardt (1814-1848), who disappered in the Australian outback while doing his 3rd land exploration.
In this 1957 book by the only so far Australian who won 1973 Nobel laureate for literature, Patrick White (1912-1990), Leichhardt is the 27-y/o Johann Voss. Prior to his expedition, he meets an orphan spinster Laura Trevelyan who is Voss' love interest in the story. However, this book is not a love story and even if it is about a man's struggle against odds, it is neither an adventure nor survival story. It is one of its kind and cannot easily be categorized. Reading it makes me remember several books like the early part in Sydney, where Voss and Laura have met, has that taste of Jane Austen comedy of manners book. The land exploration reminds me of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness and the distant psychic love affair of Voss and Laura makes me recall the story of Inman and Ada in Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain.
In my opinion it is un-categorizable and it adds to the mystique of this modernist novel. But don't get me wrong. This is a hard-hitting book and a superb epic adventure part will keep your interest high especially towards the end. The start is a bit dragging because of that Austen style of writing but once you've passed that part, the story is becomes very informative and White really knows how to keep your interest high. There are some facts that I thought would help me appreciate the book if only I have the time to stop and Google while reading but I just let them go. Maybe I should re-read this when I retire and know more about that part of Australian history when land explorers from Europe flock to that big piece of land to study it or just to have another life. Mystical Australia is just as interesting as any other continents in the world.
For a superb epic like this as well as his other highly acclaimed works, Patrick White definitely deserves his Nobel prize.
In this 1957 book by the only so far Australian who won 1973 Nobel laureate for literature, Patrick White (1912-1990), Leichhardt is the 27-y/o Johann Voss. Prior to his expedition, he meets an orphan spinster Laura Trevelyan who is Voss' love interest in the story. However, this book is not a love story and even if it is about a man's struggle against odds, it is neither an adventure nor survival story. It is one of its kind and cannot easily be categorized. Reading it makes me remember several books like the early part in Sydney, where Voss and Laura have met, has that taste of Jane Austen comedy of manners book. The land exploration reminds me of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness and the distant psychic love affair of Voss and Laura makes me recall the story of Inman and Ada in Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain.
In my opinion it is un-categorizable and it adds to the mystique of this modernist novel. But don't get me wrong. This is a hard-hitting book and a superb epic adventure part will keep your interest high especially towards the end. The start is a bit dragging because of that Austen style of writing but once you've passed that part, the story is becomes very informative and White really knows how to keep your interest high. There are some facts that I thought would help me appreciate the book if only I have the time to stop and Google while reading but I just let them go. Maybe I should re-read this when I retire and know more about that part of Australian history when land explorers from Europe flock to that big piece of land to study it or just to have another life. Mystical Australia is just as interesting as any other continents in the world.
For a superb epic like this as well as his other highly acclaimed works, Patrick White definitely deserves his Nobel prize.
July 16, 2015
File under: novels whose eponymous character is not the most interesting character in the book. Right alongside 'Anna Karenina,' 'Lila,' 'Moby Dick,' and the central book in this tradition, 'Frankenstein.'
Anyway, this Patrick White novel, you will be surprised to learn, is about the internal states of a small number of characters, the heroes among whom don't fit in, the villains among whom fit in very well. The heroes are mystics and idealists, gazing longingly through this (natural) world at the forms; the villains are fixated on this (human) world.
Other White books with the same idea focus on one character (Vivisector), three characters (Riders in the Chariot), or three-characters-in-one (Twyborn Affair). Voss has two, which makes it unique among those I remember reading, though I suspect Tree of Man has two, and I think that's true also of The Solid Mandala, which I 'read' at uni and don't remember at all.
Despite the predictability, and his astonishing limitations (he's like Cormac McCarthy, except whereas McCarthy is *all* externality, White is all internality; I doubt he ever wrote a scene with more than two people in it without feeling uncomfortable, or satirical) White finds a way to make his work work. "Voss" works because Voss, an explorer, has an obvious narrative to hold it together, so it feels less flabby than "Riders". It helps that the narrative is historically based (Leichardt, which I've probably spelt wrong), and so White can focus on what he does well, i.e., psychology, sentences and mysticism.
Anyway, this Patrick White novel, you will be surprised to learn, is about the internal states of a small number of characters, the heroes among whom don't fit in, the villains among whom fit in very well. The heroes are mystics and idealists, gazing longingly through this (natural) world at the forms; the villains are fixated on this (human) world.
Other White books with the same idea focus on one character (Vivisector), three characters (Riders in the Chariot), or three-characters-in-one (Twyborn Affair). Voss has two, which makes it unique among those I remember reading, though I suspect Tree of Man has two, and I think that's true also of The Solid Mandala, which I 'read' at uni and don't remember at all.
Despite the predictability, and his astonishing limitations (he's like Cormac McCarthy, except whereas McCarthy is *all* externality, White is all internality; I doubt he ever wrote a scene with more than two people in it without feeling uncomfortable, or satirical) White finds a way to make his work work. "Voss" works because Voss, an explorer, has an obvious narrative to hold it together, so it feels less flabby than "Riders". It helps that the narrative is historically based (Leichardt, which I've probably spelt wrong), and so White can focus on what he does well, i.e., psychology, sentences and mysticism.
May 18, 2024
I feel like rereading is killing off some of my favourite classics this year. Still loved parts of it but overall found it a struggle. I first read it in 2007 and it was my first Patrick White. Now reading them all (very slowly) in order and I think it's going to be pretty far down the list, definitely below Riders in the Chariot.
October 10, 2024
This novel opens in Sydney, 1845, with the German explorer Voss preparing to cross the Australian continent. This physical aspect of the novel is loosely based on the ill-fated expedition of Ludwig Leichhardt.
Prior to leaving Sydney, Voss meets Laura Trevelyan. Laura is the niece of one of Voss's patrons and is perhaps the only person apart from Voss himself who perceives that his journey is a challenge of will as much as a geographical journey of discovery. Voss and Laura, despite only meeting four times before he departs, form a spiritual bond which strengthens during the course of the novel.
The novel is about discovery, about triumph and about failure. The physical elements of the journey describe many of the challenges facing explorers within central Australia at the time and combines elements of human suffering and religious metaphor.
The intense relationship between Laura and Voss develops during the course of the journey, and is conducted both through letter and telepathy.
This novel can be read as a simple story of an ill-fated expedition. Alternatively, it can be read as one man's challenge to the physical world, and of the good and evil in each of us.
By the end of the novel, the discovery seems clear, the triumphs and the failures are obvious. Or are they? Perhaps it depends on which viewpoint you choose to adopt.
I recommend this novel to anyone who wants to read well written literature which, under the guise of telling a story, invites the readers to confront their own thinking. The choice is yours.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
Prior to leaving Sydney, Voss meets Laura Trevelyan. Laura is the niece of one of Voss's patrons and is perhaps the only person apart from Voss himself who perceives that his journey is a challenge of will as much as a geographical journey of discovery. Voss and Laura, despite only meeting four times before he departs, form a spiritual bond which strengthens during the course of the novel.
The novel is about discovery, about triumph and about failure. The physical elements of the journey describe many of the challenges facing explorers within central Australia at the time and combines elements of human suffering and religious metaphor.
The intense relationship between Laura and Voss develops during the course of the journey, and is conducted both through letter and telepathy.
This novel can be read as a simple story of an ill-fated expedition. Alternatively, it can be read as one man's challenge to the physical world, and of the good and evil in each of us.
By the end of the novel, the discovery seems clear, the triumphs and the failures are obvious. Or are they? Perhaps it depends on which viewpoint you choose to adopt.
I recommend this novel to anyone who wants to read well written literature which, under the guise of telling a story, invites the readers to confront their own thinking. The choice is yours.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
May 25, 2016
Brilliant.
July 3, 2024
I found it hard to like this one, the very dry subject matter, the somewhat stifled characters, the long-winded approach which Patrick White prefers. Where 10 words will suffice, he will opt for 70 and while the words are often beautifully constructed and the prose is occasionally wonderful (as you'd expect from a Nobel prize winner), it is ultimately very draining. I felt like I'd eaten an entire packet of Jacobs crackers and had no access to water. That being said, there is no denying White's talent nor the fact that the book is definitely worth reading. I just found it a slog.
The story concerns Johann Ulrich Voss, a fictionalised version of the actual German outback explorer Ludwig Leichhardt. It immediately brought to mind Melancholy by Fosse (another fictionalised account of a real life) but felt somehow more fictionalised as Voss never really comes across as anything other than a random bloke (somewhat underwritten in fact) as opposed to the more accomplished scientist Leichhardt. Voss is backed by the Bonner family in his endeavours and Mr Bonner's daughter (Laura Trevelyan) becomes a kind of romantic interest (this relationship also never felt convincing) for Voss. What follows is a switching of chapters between Voss and his motley gang in the northern outback and Laura back in Sydney. The outback chapters brought to mind Blood Meridian but only in so much as they shared a similar environment. At this point, both Voss and Laura (more so Voss) appear to have a fictional versions of each other as company, a ghost companion of one another who remains with them, an idea which is interesting and which, had it been convincing, would have given the piece a greater sense of beauty and meaning. The problem, however, is that their romance simply wasn't something I believed actually existed. They were nothing to each other and while Voss turning Laura into some fantasy of a great love made sense for him (for his sanity perhaps), the fact that it was an apparition made it difficult for me to care.
Overall, the book was just too dry for me, full of unnecessary dialogue and forced profundity. I never got to grips with it and cared little for the characters or the events taking place. Occasionally, the writing was magnificent, full of rich language and beauty but it was in service of a book that was just a little too dense and bloated. I would definitely recommend it, however, because it is unquestionably good writing. But sometimes good writing isn't enough.
The story concerns Johann Ulrich Voss, a fictionalised version of the actual German outback explorer Ludwig Leichhardt. It immediately brought to mind Melancholy by Fosse (another fictionalised account of a real life) but felt somehow more fictionalised as Voss never really comes across as anything other than a random bloke (somewhat underwritten in fact) as opposed to the more accomplished scientist Leichhardt. Voss is backed by the Bonner family in his endeavours and Mr Bonner's daughter (Laura Trevelyan) becomes a kind of romantic interest (this relationship also never felt convincing) for Voss. What follows is a switching of chapters between Voss and his motley gang in the northern outback and Laura back in Sydney. The outback chapters brought to mind Blood Meridian but only in so much as they shared a similar environment. At this point, both Voss and Laura (more so Voss) appear to have a fictional versions of each other as company, a ghost companion of one another who remains with them, an idea which is interesting and which, had it been convincing, would have given the piece a greater sense of beauty and meaning. The problem, however, is that their romance simply wasn't something I believed actually existed. They were nothing to each other and while Voss turning Laura into some fantasy of a great love made sense for him (for his sanity perhaps), the fact that it was an apparition made it difficult for me to care.
Overall, the book was just too dry for me, full of unnecessary dialogue and forced profundity. I never got to grips with it and cared little for the characters or the events taking place. Occasionally, the writing was magnificent, full of rich language and beauty but it was in service of a book that was just a little too dense and bloated. I would definitely recommend it, however, because it is unquestionably good writing. But sometimes good writing isn't enough.
November 16, 2017
Estou certo que existem inúmeras teorias interpretativas deste colosso literário, para o engrossar das quais pouco teria a contribuir.
Voss é um livro complexo- brutal, simbólico,inovador, ousado e possuidor de uma respiração muito própria,de uma cadência muito particular, à qual nos devemos acomodar sob pena de lhe passar absolutamente ao lado. É um livro para ler em alerta,mas que se lê, depois,sem esforço e com deleite quase ininterrupto.
A perspectiva nietzschiana da vontade e da busca de voss, será, porventura,o significado mais evidente. Voss parte de uma condição de super-homem determinado para uma busca de si mesmo e da criação, estabelecendo-se na relação com Laura a válvula de escape redentor e a humanização em amor obsessivo, cujos contornos metafóricos dançam continuamente entre a angústia,a entrega,o egoísmo e a beleza.
É preciso ler voss,mantê-lo vivo e sublinhar, rasurar e voltar páginas atrás para se perceber o Universo que tem para nos oferecer.
Um livro desalinhado,de um desalinhado,para todos os que gostam de perceber que há múltiplos caminhos para procurar um sentido existencial.
Não poderia ter gostado mais. E gostaria de o ter lido (ainda) mais devagar.
Voss é um livro complexo- brutal, simbólico,inovador, ousado e possuidor de uma respiração muito própria,de uma cadência muito particular, à qual nos devemos acomodar sob pena de lhe passar absolutamente ao lado. É um livro para ler em alerta,mas que se lê, depois,sem esforço e com deleite quase ininterrupto.
A perspectiva nietzschiana da vontade e da busca de voss, será, porventura,o significado mais evidente. Voss parte de uma condição de super-homem determinado para uma busca de si mesmo e da criação, estabelecendo-se na relação com Laura a válvula de escape redentor e a humanização em amor obsessivo, cujos contornos metafóricos dançam continuamente entre a angústia,a entrega,o egoísmo e a beleza.
É preciso ler voss,mantê-lo vivo e sublinhar, rasurar e voltar páginas atrás para se perceber o Universo que tem para nos oferecer.
Um livro desalinhado,de um desalinhado,para todos os que gostam de perceber que há múltiplos caminhos para procurar um sentido existencial.
Não poderia ter gostado mais. E gostaria de o ter lido (ainda) mais devagar.
June 14, 2012
I'd avoided the books of Patrick White up till now because I'd heard he was difficult. With this year being the Centennary of his birth and a lot of arts programs being devoted to this, I decided to see what the fuss was all about. Now I'm only sorry I didn't pick him up earlier. From the very first page of this book, I was totally engaged. Inspired by the story of explorer Ludwig Leichardt who died in the Australian desert in 1849, it's a powerful narrative told in some of the most beautiful and evocative language I've ever encountered. White's story telling is more character driven than plot driven and he's as interested in the inner journey of his characters as in the outer one. As Australia's only Nobel laureate, he well deserves attention. It's going to be difficult after this, to find another book that's as deeply satisfying and soul nourishing.
December 19, 2012
Now why doesn't it surprise me that not one of my well read high brow friends, Australian or otherwise, has read this Nobel Prize winner?
Let alone reviewed it....
I'd do it myself, but why bother when Fred Dagg has this to say about writing The Great Australian Novel. Australians, if you haven't heard this, it's hilarious. For others, it is still very funny (he is great on Tolstoy), but there will be the odd reference you don't get.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bc50Gc...
Let alone reviewed it....
I'd do it myself, but why bother when Fred Dagg has this to say about writing The Great Australian Novel. Australians, if you haven't heard this, it's hilarious. For others, it is still very funny (he is great on Tolstoy), but there will be the odd reference you don't get.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bc50Gc...
April 2, 2012
Lately I’ve been searching for really outstanding books set in Australia to read, and that search led me to Australia’s first, and so far only, Nobel Prize winner, Patrick White and his extraordinary novel, Voss. Voss is the fictionalized account of the life of German explorer Ludwig Leichardt and his 1848 trek into the heart of the Australian desert where only aboriginal tribesmen dared to roam, and his subsequent disappearance. Much has been made of White’s fictionalization of the life of a real life explorer, but it should be remembered that today, the fictionalization of real life accounts is pretty routine.
Johann Ulrich Voss is determined to be the first white man/European to cross the Australian desert from coast-to-coast, though neither he nor White’s readers will be prepared for what happens once Voss sets out. His motley group is financed by the wealthy Sydney resident, Edmund Bonner. Before Voss sets off on his cross-Australian trek, however, he meets and falls in love with the Bonners’ orphaned niece, the English girl, Laura Trevelyan. Laura and Voss have a special connection, a strange bond, a real meeting of the minds, or souls, if you will, however neither recognizes the strength of that connection until Voss is hopelessly lost in the Australian desert. Although Laura and Voss have spent little time together, their bond is so powerful that the farther the Voss expedition heads into the desert, the more powerfully Voss and Laura are connected. There are letters, and in one Voss proposes. Laura happily accepts. Theirs in such an unlikely romance, but in White’s hands, it’s totally believable and even tender.
From the beginning, Voss is presented as having one heck of a god complex. “I am compelled into this country,” Voss tells Mr. Bonner. And when Mr. Bonner asks, “Have you studied the map?” Voss replies with typical hauteur, “The map? I will make it first.” And that pretty much sums up how Voss felt about each and every situation in which he found himself, with the exception of situations involving Laura, of course.
White writes of his hero, “At times his arrogance did resolve itself into simplicity, though it was difficult, especially for strangers, to distinguish these occasions.” For Voss, “[p]laces yet unvisited can become an obsession, promising final peace and goodness.”
One can’t, however, sally forth into the central Australian desert in the nineteenth century and expect to return safely without developing a little humility. For Voss, however, that humility came just a little too late:
He himself, he realized, had always been most abominably frightened, even at the height of his divine power, a frail god upon a rickety throne, afraid of opening letters, of making decisions, afraid of the instinctive knowledge in the eyes of mules, of the innocent eyes of good men, of the elastic nature of the passions, even of the devotion he had received from some men, and one woman, and dogs.
You might think Voss’ megalomania, his defiance and his arrogance, make him a particularly odious character, but such isn’t the case. He’s quite fascinating and vividly drawn. He’s so well drawn and so complex that he seems to leap off the page.
Laura, too, who feels she’s traveling a spiritual path that runs parallel to Voss’, and who is ennobled and redeemed by all that befalls Voss’ expedition, is an equally complex and headstrong character. And it’s Laura who understands that Voss was doing more than traversing Australia’s barren interior. He was, Laura says, creating a myth. A visitor tells Laura, “We are in every way provided for, by God and nature, and consequently, must survive.”
Laura replies, “Oh, yes, a country with a future. But when does the future become present? That is what always puzzles me.”
Laura believes a country without a myth – or myths – is nothing but a savage wilderness. She says, of Voss, “His legend will be written down, eventually, by those who are troubled by it.”
Laura, in other words “gets it.” And she “gets” Voss as well. She may be the only person who ever has.
Voss is a beautiful book, written in beautiful, rich, precise prose. The prose is, in fact, so precise that it makes the reader stop and marvel. Fairly early in the book, White writes that: “The darkness was becoming furious.” Furious. Have you ever seen darkness become “furious?” I have, but I don’t know that I would have thought to write about it using that particular word. It seems to anthropomorphize “darkness” a little too much when taken out of context. When read in the context of the entire novel, however, it “fits” perfectly. Such is the genius of Patrick White.
And then there’s this: “All this queerness was naturally discussed as the carriage crunched onward, and the German, walking into the sunset, was burnt up.” Burnt up? It’s precise, and you’ll marvel at this perfect choice when/if you read the book.
Some of White’s sentences are clipped and defined, while others are long and fold back in on themselves. Both work beautifully, and each seems the perfect choice for the job it has to do.
Voss and Laura are such fully formed characters that they spring instantly to life, and one comes away from this book believing that Voss was the real-life German on whose life the character was based, and that Laura must certainly have existed, somewhere, in some time. Even the minor characters are beautifully delineated:
His Excellency the Governor wished Mr. Voss and the expedition God-speed and a safe return, the Colonel said, with the littlest assistance from his fleshless face, which was of a rich purple where the hair allowed it to appear. And he clasped the German’s hand in a gloveful of bones.
Voss is a book filled with vivid images like the one quoted above, with images of Voss as he was “burnt up,” with the darkness as it becomes “furious.” And those images stay with the reader long after he or she closes the book. In fact, they tug at the reader’s consciousness, luring him back to Voss’ story when he really should be doing something else.
Voss is a historical novel, but it’s also a deep psychological portrait. It’s a journey of the mind, of the consciousness, as well as the physical body. Voss understands this, and Laura comes to understand it, too. The fact that Voss dies in the searing heat of Australia’s heart doesn’t make his journey any less real or any less important.
White wrote Voss in a style called “High Modernism.” High Modernism, according to Norton celebrates “personal and textual inwardness, complexity, and difficulties.” Unfortunately, this literary movement had faded from favor by the end of the 1920s, and today, White isn’t read nearly as much as he should be. Oh, the post-modernists are still in favor. Go into any bookstore and you’ll find copy-after-copy of novels filled with the exuberant and whimsical prose of David Mitchell, the furious prose of Salman Rushdie, and the stylized prose of Alice Munro. And that’s great. They’re all great writers. But you’ll be hard pressed to find any of White’s books. That’s so unfortunate because Voss is probably as perfect as a novel can get, and it’s certainly a ripping good tale. Part of the problem might be that Australia’s changed since White wrote Voss. It’s no longer a vast, dangerous wasteland in which even a seasoned explorer can meet a terrible and unexpected end. Yet people are forgetting, I think, Voss’ spiritual journey, to the center of the soul, and the spiritual journey Laura takes with him. A journey like that is still a journey to uncharted territory, and is still worth the price of admission to Voss’ world alone. As Laura puts it:
This great country, which we have been presumptuous enough to call ours, and with which I shall be content to grow since the day we buried Rose. For part of me has now gone into it. Do you know that a country does not develop through the prosperity of a few landowners and merchants, but out of the suffering of the humble?
Voss is an ultra-Australian novel, and that’s just what I was looking for. And no matter what you might think of Patrick White, who could be scathingly dismissive of other writers, he was truly a genius, and Voss is one of the masterpieces of the twentieth century.
When White wrote about books that were important to him, he said that one seems to “go on living in them for ever, possibly because they give glimpses of a heartbreaking perfection one will never achieve.”
So it is with Voss.
5/5
Recommended: To everyone who loves perfectly written literary fiction.
Johann Ulrich Voss is determined to be the first white man/European to cross the Australian desert from coast-to-coast, though neither he nor White’s readers will be prepared for what happens once Voss sets out. His motley group is financed by the wealthy Sydney resident, Edmund Bonner. Before Voss sets off on his cross-Australian trek, however, he meets and falls in love with the Bonners’ orphaned niece, the English girl, Laura Trevelyan. Laura and Voss have a special connection, a strange bond, a real meeting of the minds, or souls, if you will, however neither recognizes the strength of that connection until Voss is hopelessly lost in the Australian desert. Although Laura and Voss have spent little time together, their bond is so powerful that the farther the Voss expedition heads into the desert, the more powerfully Voss and Laura are connected. There are letters, and in one Voss proposes. Laura happily accepts. Theirs in such an unlikely romance, but in White’s hands, it’s totally believable and even tender.
From the beginning, Voss is presented as having one heck of a god complex. “I am compelled into this country,” Voss tells Mr. Bonner. And when Mr. Bonner asks, “Have you studied the map?” Voss replies with typical hauteur, “The map? I will make it first.” And that pretty much sums up how Voss felt about each and every situation in which he found himself, with the exception of situations involving Laura, of course.
White writes of his hero, “At times his arrogance did resolve itself into simplicity, though it was difficult, especially for strangers, to distinguish these occasions.” For Voss, “[p]laces yet unvisited can become an obsession, promising final peace and goodness.”
One can’t, however, sally forth into the central Australian desert in the nineteenth century and expect to return safely without developing a little humility. For Voss, however, that humility came just a little too late:
He himself, he realized, had always been most abominably frightened, even at the height of his divine power, a frail god upon a rickety throne, afraid of opening letters, of making decisions, afraid of the instinctive knowledge in the eyes of mules, of the innocent eyes of good men, of the elastic nature of the passions, even of the devotion he had received from some men, and one woman, and dogs.
You might think Voss’ megalomania, his defiance and his arrogance, make him a particularly odious character, but such isn’t the case. He’s quite fascinating and vividly drawn. He’s so well drawn and so complex that he seems to leap off the page.
Laura, too, who feels she’s traveling a spiritual path that runs parallel to Voss’, and who is ennobled and redeemed by all that befalls Voss’ expedition, is an equally complex and headstrong character. And it’s Laura who understands that Voss was doing more than traversing Australia’s barren interior. He was, Laura says, creating a myth. A visitor tells Laura, “We are in every way provided for, by God and nature, and consequently, must survive.”
Laura replies, “Oh, yes, a country with a future. But when does the future become present? That is what always puzzles me.”
Laura believes a country without a myth – or myths – is nothing but a savage wilderness. She says, of Voss, “His legend will be written down, eventually, by those who are troubled by it.”
Laura, in other words “gets it.” And she “gets” Voss as well. She may be the only person who ever has.
Voss is a beautiful book, written in beautiful, rich, precise prose. The prose is, in fact, so precise that it makes the reader stop and marvel. Fairly early in the book, White writes that: “The darkness was becoming furious.” Furious. Have you ever seen darkness become “furious?” I have, but I don’t know that I would have thought to write about it using that particular word. It seems to anthropomorphize “darkness” a little too much when taken out of context. When read in the context of the entire novel, however, it “fits” perfectly. Such is the genius of Patrick White.
And then there’s this: “All this queerness was naturally discussed as the carriage crunched onward, and the German, walking into the sunset, was burnt up.” Burnt up? It’s precise, and you’ll marvel at this perfect choice when/if you read the book.
Some of White’s sentences are clipped and defined, while others are long and fold back in on themselves. Both work beautifully, and each seems the perfect choice for the job it has to do.
Voss and Laura are such fully formed characters that they spring instantly to life, and one comes away from this book believing that Voss was the real-life German on whose life the character was based, and that Laura must certainly have existed, somewhere, in some time. Even the minor characters are beautifully delineated:
His Excellency the Governor wished Mr. Voss and the expedition God-speed and a safe return, the Colonel said, with the littlest assistance from his fleshless face, which was of a rich purple where the hair allowed it to appear. And he clasped the German’s hand in a gloveful of bones.
Voss is a book filled with vivid images like the one quoted above, with images of Voss as he was “burnt up,” with the darkness as it becomes “furious.” And those images stay with the reader long after he or she closes the book. In fact, they tug at the reader’s consciousness, luring him back to Voss’ story when he really should be doing something else.
Voss is a historical novel, but it’s also a deep psychological portrait. It’s a journey of the mind, of the consciousness, as well as the physical body. Voss understands this, and Laura comes to understand it, too. The fact that Voss dies in the searing heat of Australia’s heart doesn’t make his journey any less real or any less important.
White wrote Voss in a style called “High Modernism.” High Modernism, according to Norton celebrates “personal and textual inwardness, complexity, and difficulties.” Unfortunately, this literary movement had faded from favor by the end of the 1920s, and today, White isn’t read nearly as much as he should be. Oh, the post-modernists are still in favor. Go into any bookstore and you’ll find copy-after-copy of novels filled with the exuberant and whimsical prose of David Mitchell, the furious prose of Salman Rushdie, and the stylized prose of Alice Munro. And that’s great. They’re all great writers. But you’ll be hard pressed to find any of White’s books. That’s so unfortunate because Voss is probably as perfect as a novel can get, and it’s certainly a ripping good tale. Part of the problem might be that Australia’s changed since White wrote Voss. It’s no longer a vast, dangerous wasteland in which even a seasoned explorer can meet a terrible and unexpected end. Yet people are forgetting, I think, Voss’ spiritual journey, to the center of the soul, and the spiritual journey Laura takes with him. A journey like that is still a journey to uncharted territory, and is still worth the price of admission to Voss’ world alone. As Laura puts it:
This great country, which we have been presumptuous enough to call ours, and with which I shall be content to grow since the day we buried Rose. For part of me has now gone into it. Do you know that a country does not develop through the prosperity of a few landowners and merchants, but out of the suffering of the humble?
Voss is an ultra-Australian novel, and that’s just what I was looking for. And no matter what you might think of Patrick White, who could be scathingly dismissive of other writers, he was truly a genius, and Voss is one of the masterpieces of the twentieth century.
When White wrote about books that were important to him, he said that one seems to “go on living in them for ever, possibly because they give glimpses of a heartbreaking perfection one will never achieve.”
So it is with Voss.
5/5
Recommended: To everyone who loves perfectly written literary fiction.
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