AustLit

"Patrick White's 'religious' vision in 'Riders in the Chariot' is explored. Against readings from a Jewish perspective, a Christian perspective or a secular non-religious perspective, this article proposes an alternative. It suggests that White brings together a synthetic vision in which three religious traditions are affirmed as complimentary with a new fourth, the artist as religious visionary. In doing so, White respects the deep differences between these traditions while also drawing on an analogical commonality: the redemptive value of suffering and the nature of an unfinished atonement within our lives." (162)