''The Solid Mandala'' is the seventh published novel by Australian author
Patrick White
Patrick Victor Martindale White (28 May 1912 – 30 September 1990) was a British-born Australian writer who published 12 novels, three short-story collections, and eight plays, from 1935 to 1987.
White's fiction employs humour, florid prose, ...
,
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
winner of 1973, first published in 1966. It details the story of two brothers, Waldo and Arthur Brown, with a focus on the facets of their symbiotic relationship. It is set in White's fictional suburb of
Sarsaparilla Sarsaparilla often refers to the sarsaparilla soft drink, made from Smilax plants.
Sarsaparilla may also refer to:
Biology
*Several species of plants, of the genus ''Smilax'', including:
**''Smilax ornata'', also known as Honduran or Jamaican sar ...
, a setting he often employed in his other books, such as with ''
Riders in the Chariot
''Riders in the Chariot'' is the sixth novel by Australian author Patrick White. It was published in 1961 and won the Miles Franklin Award that year. It also won the 1965 Gold Medal of the Australian Literature Society.
The novel is the story o ...
''. The book is typical of White's writing style, and is slow-paced, with little considerable action, instead focusing upon the inner turmoils of the aforementioned characters.
The book
The book is split into four chapters, each narrated in the third-person omniscient limited style; by far the largest is the second, which is limited to Waldo Brown's point of view. Following this is a chapter told through Arthur Brown's view.
The story
It tells the story of two brothers, Waldo and Arthur Brown, and the mutually dependent and mutually antagonistic relationship they share: Waldo is cold and supremely rational in his behaviour while Arthur is more warm-hearted and instinctual, so that together they represent what White saw as the two conflicting and complementary halves of human nature. Although Arthur would be considered by most in society as slightly "retarded", by the end of the novel he is shown to have a better grip on life than the conventional Waldo. The novel symbolizes the entire universe.
Reception
It is notable for being heavily tipped to win the 1967
Miles Franklin Award
The Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual literary prize awarded to "a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases". The award was set up according to the will of Miles Franklin (1879–195 ...
, the third of White's novels to be nominated for the prize, until White personally intervened and withdrew it from consideration so that other writers might stand a chance of winning.White, Patrick. Letter to Juliet O'Hea, 7 May 1967. ''Patrick White: Letters''. Ed. David Marr. Sydney: Random House, 1994. 312–313.
Arthur Calder-Marshall
Arthur Calder-Marshall (19 August 1908 – 17 April 1992) was an English novelist, essayist, critic, memoirist, and biographer.
Life and career
Calder-Marshall was born in El Misti, Woodcote Road, Wallington, Surrey, the son of Alice (Poole) ...
said on
BBC Home Service
The BBC Home Service was a national and regional radio station that broadcast from 1939 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 4.
History
1922–1939: Interwar period
Between the early 1920s and the outbreak of World War II, the BBC ...
that "Patrick White is a colossus among novelists. ''Voss'' has hitherto stood as his masterpiece. ''The Solid Mandala'' seems to me to rank beside it."
Francis King
Francis Henry King (4 March 19233 July 2011) Ion Trewin and Jonathan Fryer"Obituary: Francis King" ''The Guardian'', 3 July 2011. was a British novelist and short story writer. He worked for the British Council for 15 years, with positions i ...
in
The Sunday Telegraph
''The Sunday Telegraph'' is a British broadsheet newspaper, founded in February 1961 and published by the Telegraph Media Group, a division of Press Holdings.
It is the sister paper of ''The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', kn ...
said, "I am increasingly convinced that he is one of the five novelists at present at work in our language who is truly possessed of greatness."
Notes
*Dedication: "For Gwen and David Moore".
* Epigraph:
** 'There is another world, but it is in this one.' –
Paul Eluard
Paul may refer to:
*Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name)
* Paul (surname), a list of people
People
Christianity
*Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...
** 'It is not outside, it is inside: wholly within.' –
Meister Eckhart
Eckhart von Hochheim ( – ), commonly known as Meister Eckhart, Master EckhartPatrick Anderson
** 'It was an old and rather poor church, many of the ikons were without settings, but such churches are the best for praying in.' –
Dostoevsky
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (, ; rus, Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский, Fyódor Mikháylovich Dostoyévskiy, p=ˈfʲɵdər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ dəstɐˈjefskʲɪj, a=ru-Dostoevsky.ogg, links=yes; 11 November 18219 ...
External links
Excerpts from the novel at the ABC's "Why Bother With Patrick White?" archive.
at the ABC's "Why Bother With Patrick White?" archive.
at ABC TV's ''First Tuesday Book Club'' website, including transcript of book group discussion.
in which he identifies ''The Solid Mandala'' as the best of the novels he had written up to that point.