Self-Propagation and Self-Dissolution: The Paradox of Patrick White’s Flaws in the Glass

Abstract

Gregory Graham-Smith’s aim in this article ‘is to examine the way in which Patrick White’s acts of self-inscription in *Flaws in the Glass*, despite being rendered as acts, structured within the trope of theatricality, ultimately serve the homeostasis of conventional humanist portraiture, rather than the subversive fragmentation of the self which one finds in his novels. Of particular concern are the ways in which this self-propagation/dissolution relates to White’s perception of himself as homosexual and artist, and how these roles relate tot he sometimes disturbing ambivalences which a critique of his autobiography reveals. This essay is written within the context of a renewed interest in the work of the Nobel Laureate.’ (72)