UNIT 6 PERSPECTIVES

Structure

Objectives
The Twins as a Structuring Principle
Points of Criticism
Counterpoints of Defense
Let Us Sum Up
Questions
Glossary
References
Consolidated Suggested Readings

6.0 OBJECTIVES

This unit will look at the twins as a structuring principle in the novel and at cei-tain
critical positioils 011 Tlzc Solid Mandala and Patrick White's art. Diversities of
interpretative perspectives have been presented to encourage you to arrive at your
own assessments.

6.1 TWINS AS A STRUCTURING

-- PRINCIPLE
----- - --

The twins have been used as a structuring principle in the narrative of The Solid
Mandala . The tension between the brothers is comic and grave and brilliantly
sustained. White at one level attempts to show the failure to combine two ways of
seeing, and hence of approaching reality. The twins are as the blurb says "two people
living one life. ... They shared everything - except their view of things. Waldo, with
his intelligence, saw everything and understood little. Arthyr was the fool who didn't
bother to look. He understood." First, we see things from Waldo's point of view, and
then Arthur's. Both these perspectives are further sandwiched between the outer
framing perspectives of society. There is a virtuoso use of polyphonic techniques that
allow the interaction of multiple voices and perspectives and dramatic structures
which brilliantly juxtapose clashes of color and dissonances of tone - the dryness of
Waldo and the mystical lyricism of Arthur.

William Walsh comments, "The twins are themselves divided parts of one person,
and the tension which divides and unites them dramatizes the disturbance within man
and within the single person. They act out that impure mixture of love and hate which
is both the condition of the relationship of every human being to another and the
condition of the attitude of the individual within himself to himself'(Walsh, 86).
Thelma Herring concurs when she posits that "Waldo and Arthur, in fact are not
ordinary twins, but rather a device for dramatizing the concept of the antithetical
self.. .. From the technical point of view the device is handled brilliantly: the twin
narratives do not ask of the reader the kind of imaginative co-operation demanded by
Voss, but Arthur's account is a check on Waldo's, showing how his apparent blunders
are deliberate (as when he calls to the dogs after seeing Waldo in their mother's
dress, to warn him of his presence) (Herring, 74).

This antithesis pervades the structuring of the central sections of the novel, according
to Edgecombe. "For if Waldo's section is longer and more discursive, less reliant on
symbolism, it tends to reflect the intellectual precedence he has always assumed over
his brother and the rationalism that will seek meaning through statement rather than
 through sacramental imagery. The events common to both narratives.. . articulate
The Solid Mandala
most acutely the points at which the temperamental and philosophical divide between
the two brothers declares itself' (Edgecombe, 62). He continues, "the twinning is one
of emotional warmth to rational coolness, of approach to recession, of extra - to
introversion, of inclusiveness to fastidious rejection, indeed of centrally antithetic
tendencies of human nature" (Edgecombe, 64) .

Even as the text, uses the twins to personify dichotomous pulls, it also employs them
at the level of structure to reiterate the inextricability of the connections. Kirpal Singh
points out, "It is a mistake, I feel, to see White as an anti-intellectual. Waldo's
knowledge in The Solid Mandala may be faulty, bigoted, narrow and perverse, but it
is as necessary to a complete grasp of reality as is Arthur's morbid and childish
fascination with his orange marble. Waldo and Arthur are twin manifestations of a
whole that is out ofjoint7'(Singh, 120). McCulloch too notes, "It is important to
realize that neither Arthur or Waldo can exist as a whole individual without the other.
Consequently there is a logical reason for Arthur ending up in a "nut house" at
Waldo's death.. .. Waldo should not be viewed merely as a character who exists as a
contrast to the true seeker, Arthur. It is through the form and structure of "Waldo's
section" that we can understand "Arthur's section". Although structured separately
the two parts interact, and the interdependence of the two sections reflects the
necessary interdependence of the two brothers"(~'c~ulloch, 50).

6.2 POINTS OF CRITICISM

Patrick White has been no stranger to criticism. We have had a look at some of the
negative positions on him that have emerged as a result of his deviations from what
was seen as the Australian literary tradition. Others have focussed more specifically
on the epistemological premises that go into his world view as presented in his books.
Vincent Buckley, for example found fault with his penchant for infusing cosmic
implications into the quiddity of things. It is a critique that can easily be applied to a
novel where marbles carry the weight of the central motif mandalic totality. "He is, I
think, a victim! of R mysticism of objects - or, better still, a mysticism of sensations.
Far too many objects are presented as revelations; and it is through an unremitting
concern with sensations that they are so presented.. .. This is unmistakably fine, but
only a rigid control keeps it from inanity"(Buckley, 4 17).

Veena Noble comes out with a more pointed attack. Like Marshall A. Best who felt
the novel was "stimulating but not convincing in its arbitrary re-shuffling of the
brothers"(692), Veena indicates the forced thematic and character positions in the
novel. "When we find ourselves not liking characters as much as the author wants us
to (like Arthur and Mrs. Poulter in this novel) and liking a character more than he
wants us to (like Waldo) there seem to be two factors especially at work; the author's
values are too arbitrary and his presence is too obtrusive. It is the author's obligation
to demonstrate to us through his portraiture and his selection of significant incidents
that his values are acceptable. But White's values are too ambivalent for us to be in
definite agreement or disagreement with them; and his attempts to sway us into
agreement or disagreement with his mood of the moment by intrusions of his
personal judgement give us small credit for an ability to arrive at our own
perceptions"(Noble, 32).

She critiques the novel on the grounds that the characters are too weighed down by
moral significance and mysticism which are not given foundations in acceptable
human values and hence fail to be convincing. "One of White's less successful
works, The Solid Mandala is a curious melange; an unhappy blend of mysticism and
satire, it preaches the values of love but is prone at times to mockery. It holds up as
saint figures a physically gross idiot and an unthinking suburbanite, and it damns a
poor paranoid"(Noble, 33). She accuses White of adopting Mrs. Allwright's crotchety
stance of" Human beings are all very welI"(2 17) by using shallow mysticism and rerspectives
dispensing s?.lvationand damnation arbitrarily.

-
6.3 COUNTERPOINTS OF DEFENCE

Bliss is aware that the design of the novel can be critiqued for being "too patent" and
of such a "programmatic quality that undercuts any sense of 'felt life"'(l3) in it. But
she also opposes a defense to this allegation that reads the novel as an allegory and
argues for a middle ground which allows for both humanistic impact and allegorical
or symbolic implications. This call to reconcile, if not collapse opposites seems very
important to an appreciation of White's work. To move from thesis and antithesis to
synthesis. Interestingly, The Solid Mandala attempts to show the stultifying effects of
not doing that on a thematic level.

More positive responses to White have ranged from hyperbolic positions such as,
"Patrick White remains the one who showed the way to understanding that
comprehension is ubiquitous and that goodness is fragile."(Carolyn Van Langberg in
Joyce, 124) to positions that attempt to account for the ambiguities in his work.
"White's talents as a novelist were paradoxical in many ways: melancholy yet
excitingly powerful; controlled yet furious; there was a dazzling vision and yet the
most exact and precise eye for detail. It is an art prolific with symbolism and images
and yet hardly concealing a palpable anxiety, sometimes a loathing for human kind."(
Clement Semmler in Joyce, 105)

Ken Goodwin writes, "White's corpus deals in every style from farce to tragedy, with
a small number of themes but a vast number of characters. He has conducted a
continuous literary protest against materialism and the dullness of realism. His
positive values are an integration of the divided soul, receptiveness through genuine
goodness to moments of illumination, and the struggle for creative forms capable of
expressing these ideas. Novels, stories and plays tend to alternate between
identifiably placed social satire and commentary and more timeless and placeless
settings. No other Australian writer has displayed such capacity to hate and to love
humanity or such capacity to create comic and tragic character. He has always, as he
says in Flaws in the Glass, been, 'embarking on voyages of exploration which I hope
may lead to discovery'."(Goodwin, 179) Thus perhaps the best thing about the
paradoxes, dichotomies and dualities that pervade White's work is that they force you
to read and to critically arrive at your own position. "Patrick White, thought-
provoking and entertaining, sets us, speculating, adrift - forcing us to think for
ourselves"(Elizabeth Jolley in Joyce, 138)

6.4 LET US SUM UP

Patrick White and The Solid Mandala are replete with dual pulls but the idea is to
reflect on them, to let them make you think.

6.5 QUESTIONS

1. Discuss the use of the twins as a structuring principle.

2. Is the novel programmatic in your opinion? Give reasons and examples for
your positions.
3. Discuss the play of dualities at v a r i o ~ ~levels
s in the interpretation of The
Solid Manu'izlii

6.6 GLOSSARY

Epistemological premises: Assumptions that underpin a framework of

knowledge or point of view

Quiddity: The real nature or essence of a thing that inakes it

what it is

6.7 REFERENCES

Best, Marshall A.. 'White, Patrick (Victor Martindale)' in C ~ n r e r n ~ o r a ~ ~ o v e l i s t s .

Edited by James Vinson. 3rdEdition. Surrey: Macmillan, 1982. p691-692.

Bliss, Carolyn. Patrick Wzite 's Fiction: The Pdradox oj'Fortunate Faibrr.
London:Macmillan, 1986.

Buckley, Vincent. 'The Novels of Patrick White' in The Literature ofdustraliu.

Edited by Geoffrey Dutton. I-iarmonclswo~-th:Penguin Books,1964. p4 13-
426.

Edgecornbe, Rodney Stenning. Vision andStyle in Patrick W/iite:AStudy ofFive

Novels. Tuscaloosa and London:University of Alabama Press,1989.

Goodwin, Ken. A History of Austrrrlicln Literature. London: Macmillan, 1986.

Herring, 'l'heima. 'Self and Shadow: The Quest for Totality in T/ze Solid Mandala' in
Ten Earsayson Parrick Wzite Selecredfiom Souiherb(1964-1967). Edited by
G.A.Wilkes. Sydney and London: Angus and Robertson, 1970. p72-82.

Joyce, Claytoli ed.. lnu/rick White.A Tribure.North Ryde:Angus and Robertson, 1991.
\

McCulloch, A.M. A Trugic I.'i.szon. Thc Novels ofPatrick White. St. Lucia: University
of Queensland Press, 1983.

Noble, Veena. 'A Stud!. of the Hermaphroditic Element in Patrick White's The Solid
Mcrndaithr' i n 4u.strulian and Indian Literature: Studies in Mtrtual Response.
Edited by 13. Kerr and R.K. Dhawan. New DeIhi: Indian Society for
Commonwealth Studies, 1991, p 30-35.

Singh, Kirpal. 'Patrick White: An Outsider's View' in Putrick White: A Critical

Symposium. Edited by K.E. Shepherd and Kirpal Singh. Adelaide: Flinders
University Centre for Research in the New Literatures in English, 1978.
~117-122.

Walsh,William. Patrick White's Fiction.Sydney:George Allen and Unwin, 1977.

6.8 CONSOLIDATED SUGGESTED READINGS

Ashcroft, W.D.. 'More Than One Horizon' in Patrick White: A Critical Symposium.
Edited by R.E. Shepherd and Kirpal Singh. AdeIaide: Flinders University
Centre for Research in the New Literatures in English, 1978. p 123-134.
Barnes, John. 'Introduction' in Patrick White: -4 Criticul Sj~mposium.Edited by R.E. Perspectives
Shepherd and Kirpal Singh. Adelaide: Flinders University Centre for
Research in the New Literatures in English, 1978. p 1-4.

Beatson, Peter. The Eye in the Mandala: Putrick @%ire:A Vision ofhfon and God.
London: Paul Elek, 1976.

Best, Marshall A.. 'WHITE, Patrick (Victor Martindale)' in Contemporary Novelists.

Edited by James Vinson. 3Id Edition. Surrey: Macmillan, 1982. p69 1-692.

Bliss, Carolyn. Patrick White's Fiction:The Paradox ofFot-tunute Failure.

London:Macmillan, 1986.

Buckley, Vincent. 'The Novels of Patrick White' in The Literature ofAustralia.

Edited by Geoffrey Dutton. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books,1964. p4 13-
426.

Craven, Peter. 'Australia' in The Oxford Guide to Contenzpomry Writing. Edited by

John Sturrock. Oxford: Oxford Ulliversity Press, 1996. p39-50.

Dutton, Geoffrey. Patrick White.Melboume: Lansdowne Press, 1962.

Edgecombe, Rodney Stenning. Vision and Style in Patrick W71ite:AStudy ofFive

- Novels. Tuscaloosa and London:University of Alabalna Press,1989.

Goodwin, Ken. A Histoly ofAust~*aliun

Literature. London: Macmillan, 1986.

Herring, Thelma. 'Self and Shadow: The Quest for Totality in The Solid Mandala' in
Ten Essays on Patrick White Selectedfrom Southerly(lY64-1967). Edited by
G.A.Wilkes. Sydney and London: A n g ~ and
~ s Robertson, 1970. p72-82.

Johnson, Manly. Patrick White. New York: Ungar, 1980.

Jones, Joseph. Patrick @%ire.Boston:Twayne Publishers, 1983.

Joyce, Clayton ed.. Patrick W71ite:A Tribute.North Ryde:Angus and Robertson, 1991.

Kiernan, Brian. Patrick White. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1980.

Kuiper, Kathleen ed.. 'White' in Merrian- Websters Encyclopedia ofLiterature.

Springfield: Merrian-Webster Inc., 1995. p1197.

Lawson, Alan. Patrick White. New York: Oxford University Press, 1974.

McCulloch, A.M. A Tragic Vision: The Novels ofPatrick PV11ite.St. Lucia: University
of Queensland Press, 1983.

McGregor,Craig ed..In the Making. Melbourne: Nelson, 1969.

Mitchell. Adrian. 'Eventually, White's Language: Words and More than Words' in
Patrick White: A Critical S~~mposizmrn.Edited by R.E. Shepherd and Kirpal
Singh. Adelaide: Flinders University Centre for Research in the New
Literatures in English, 1978. p 5-16.

Morley, Patricia. Mystery ofllnity: Theme and Technique in tlze Novels ofPatrick
White. St. Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1972.
The Solid Mandala Noble, Veena. 'A Study of the Hermaphroditic Element in Patrick White's The Solid
hifana'ala' in Australian and Indian Literature: Studies in Mutual R L ' S ~ ~ O I ~ S ~ .
Edited by D. Kerr and R.K. Dhawan. New Delhi: lndian Society for
Commonwealth Studies, 1 99 1. p 30-35.

Sadawarte. R.S.. 'Occult Symbolisln in The Solid Mandala'. inA4ustralianand Indian

Literature: Stzidies in Mutual Re~ponse.Edited by D. Kerr and R.K. Dliawan.
New Delhi: Indian Society for Commonwealth Studies, 1991. p 36-42.

Shepherd, R.E. and Kirpal Singh eds.. Putrick TUlite: A Critical Synzposiilnz.
Adelaide: Flinders University Centre for Research in the New Literatures in
English, 1978.

Singh, Kirpal. 'Patrick White: An Outsider's View' in Patrick White: A Critical

Synzpo.vium. Edited by R.E. Shepherd and Kirpal Singh. Adelaide: Flinders
University Centre for Research in the New Literatures in English, 1978.
p117-122.

Walsh,Willia~n.Patrick Pt'hite's Fiction.Sydney:George Allen and Unwin, 1977.

White,Patrick. Flurcs ill the G1ass:A SelJ1Portrait.New York:Viking Press, 198 1.

White,Patrick. Patrick tfiite Spcaks. London:Jonathan Cape, 1990.

Wilkes, G.A. ed.. Ten Essuys on Patrick FYhite Selectedfiorn Sozrtherl~~(1963-1967).

Sydney and Lotldon: Angus and Robertson, 1970.