Patrick White | |
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White in Sydney, 1973
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Born | Patrick Victor Martindale White 28 May 1912 Knightsbridge, London, England |
Died | 30 September 1990 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
(aged 78)
Occupation | Novelist, playwright, poet, short-story writer, essayist |
Language | English |
Nationality | British Australian |
Education | Bachelor of Arts |
Alma mater | University of Cambridge |
Period | 1935–87 |
Notable awards |
Miles Franklin Literary Award 1973 |
Partner | Manoly Lascaris (1912–2003) |
Relatives |
Victor Martindale White (father) Ruth White (mother) |
Miles Franklin Literary Award
1957 Voss
1961 Riders in the Chariot
Australian Literature Society Gold Medal
1941 Happy Valley
1955 The Tree of Man
1965 The Burnt Ones
Australian of the Year Award
1973
Victor Martindale White (father)
Patrick Victor Martindale White (28 May 1912 – 30 September 1990) was an Australian writer who is widely regarded as one of the most important English-language novelists of the 20th century. From 1935 to his death, he published 12 novels, three short-story collections and eight plays.
White's fiction employs humour, florid prose, shifting narrative vantage points and a stream of consciousness technique. In 1973, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, the first Australian to have been awarded the prize. White was also the inaugural recipient of the Miles Franklin Award.
White was born in Knightsbridge, London, to, Victor Martindale White and Ruth née Withycombe, both English Australians, in their apartment overlooking Hyde Park, London on 28 May 1912. His family returned to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. As a child he lived in a flat with his sister, a nanny, and a maid while his parents lived in an adjoining flat.
At the age of four, White developed asthma, a condition that had taken the life of his maternal grandfather. White's health was fragile throughout his childhood, which precluded his participation in many childhood activities.