Resuscitating the Body: Corporeality in the Fiction of Patrick White

Abstract

This essay argues that Patrick White’s commitment to transcendentalism does not involve a dismissal or rejection of corporeality as critics in the past have maintained, but rather focuses on the dissolution of discursive subjectivity. It contends that White’s writing in fact advances the ontological, ethical and metaphysical imperative of accepting the body, prioritizing moments of ‘transcendence’ that may be viewed productively as characters’ engulfment within the material world. In its focus on physicality, White’s fiction emphasizes dualism in order to problematize it, and even at times to subvert it. Crucial to this aspect of his fiction is his tendency to create characters exhibiting opposing attitudes towards the flesh. This essay explores the manifestation of these opposing attitudes within White’s writing. Ultimately, it argues for a reading of White that is sensitive to the strong theme of corporeality in evidence throughout the oeuvre. It suggests that White’s attention to the body assists in his rejection of hubris, repudiation, repression and abjection and promotes a human possibility defined by humility, simplicity, compassion and love.