Abstract
Although the division of works into categories or periods is risky with any author, especially a living one, I think it safe to say that the four novels White published from 1957 to 1970 constitute a major phase. Within these works, the Whitean concern with the quest towards apprehension of a greater reality finds its fullest treatment. Moreover, the novels represent a major phase in regard to the author’s conscious, careful, and increasingly complex exploration of the theme of failure.
The mystery of life is not solved by success, which is an end in itself, but in failure, in perpetual struggle, in becoming. (V, p. 269)
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© 1986 Carolyn Jane Bliss
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Bliss, C. (1986). The Major Phase: the Mystery of Failure. In: Patrick White’s Fiction. Studies in 20th Century Literature. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-18327-2_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-18327-2_3
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-18329-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-18327-2
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