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y The Eye of the Storm single work   novel  
Issue Details: First known date: 1973... 1973 The Eye of the Storm
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Adaptations

form y The Eye of the Storm Judy Morris , Australia : 2011 Z1679559 2011 single work film/TV 'In a Sydney suburb, two nurses, a housekeeper and a solicitor attend to Elizabeth Hunter as her expatriate son and daughter convene at her deathbed. In dying, as in living, Mrs Hunter remains a formidable force on those around her. It is via Mrs Hunter's authority over living that her household and children vicariously face death and struggle to give consequence to life.

'Estranged from a mother who was never capable of loving them Sir Basil, a famous but struggling actor in London and Dorothy, an impecunious French princess, attempt to reconcile with her. In doing so they are reduced from states of worldly sophistication to floundering adolescence.

'The children unite in a common goal - to leave Australia with their vast inheritance. Moving through Sydney's social scene, they search for a way to fulfil their desire. Using the reluctant services of their family lawyer Arnold Wyburd, a man long in love with Mrs Hunter, they scheme to place their mother in a society nursing home to expedite her demise.

'Panic sets in as the staff sense the impending end of their eccentric world. Mrs Hunter confesses her profound disappointment at failing to recreate the state of humility and grace she experienced when caught in the eye of a cyclone fifteen years earlier.

'For the first time in their lives, the meaning of compassion takes the children by surprise. During a ferocious storm Mrs Hunter finally dies, not through a withdrawal of will but by an assertion of it. In the process of dying she re-lives her experience in the cyclone. Standing on a beach, she is calm and serene as devastation surrounds her.'

Source: Fred Schepisi's website, http://www.fredschepisi.com/
Sighted: 09/08/2011

Notes

  • Dedication: To Maie Casey.

  • Epigraph:

    I was given by chance this human body so difficult to wear. - No Play

    He felt what could have been a tremor of heaven's own perverse love. - Kawabata

    Men and boughs break;/ Praise life while you walk and wake;/ It is only lent. - David Campbell

  • Other formats: Also braille and sound recording.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,      :       Jonathan Cape ,       1973 .
      Extent: 608p.
      Reprinted: 1974
      Note/s:
      • Published 16 September 1973.
      ISBN: 0224009028
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,      :       Book Club Associates ,       1973 .
      7691527467007158843.jpg
      This image has been sourced from Web.
      Extent: 608p.
    • New York (City), New York (State),
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,      :       Viking ,       1974 .
      Extent: 593p.
      Note/s:
      • Published in January 1974. Reprinted six times during the next four months.
      ISBN: 0670303747
    • Harmondsworth, Middlesex,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,      :       Ringwood, Ringwood - Croydon - Kilsyth area, Melbourne - East, Melbourne, Victoria,: Penguin ,       1975 .
      Extent: 588p.
      Note/s:
      • Reprinted ten times by 1992.
      ISBN: 0140039635
    • New York (City), New York (State),
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,      :       Avon Books ,       1975 .
      Extent: 272p.
      Note/s:
      • Reprinted five times in 1975.
      ISBN: 0380002140
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,      :       Vintage ,       1995 .
      Extent: 608p.
      ISBN: 0099324210
Alternative title: Im Auge des Sturms
Language: German
VIEW PUBLICATION DETAILS FOR ALL VERSIONS ()

Related Works

The Eye of the Storm Paul Grabowsky (composer), Branford Marsalis (composer), 2010 single work lyric/song 'Based on the acclaimed novel by Nobel Laureate Patrick White, the film reunites Schepisi with long-time collaborator, composer and pianist Paul Grabowsky. The original score was recorded in Melbourne and New York in late 2010 with Branford Marsalis, Grabowsky and full orchestra.' Source: www.melbournejazz.com (Sighted 07/06/2011).
form y The Eye of the Storm Judy Morris , Australia : 2011 Z1679559 2011 single work film/TV 'In a Sydney suburb, two nurses, a housekeeper and a solicitor attend to Elizabeth Hunter as her expatriate son and daughter convene at her deathbed. In dying, as in living, Mrs Hunter remains a formidable force on those around her. It is via Mrs Hunter's authority over living that her household and children vicariously face death and struggle to give consequence to life.

'Estranged from a mother who was never capable of loving them Sir Basil, a famous but struggling actor in London and Dorothy, an impecunious French princess, attempt to reconcile with her. In doing so they are reduced from states of worldly sophistication to floundering adolescence.

'The children unite in a common goal - to leave Australia with their vast inheritance. Moving through Sydney's social scene, they search for a way to fulfil their desire. Using the reluctant services of their family lawyer Arnold Wyburd, a man long in love with Mrs Hunter, they scheme to place their mother in a society nursing home to expedite her demise.

'Panic sets in as the staff sense the impending end of their eccentric world. Mrs Hunter confesses her profound disappointment at failing to recreate the state of humility and grace she experienced when caught in the eye of a cyclone fifteen years earlier.

'For the first time in their lives, the meaning of compassion takes the children by surprise. During a ferocious storm Mrs Hunter finally dies, not through a withdrawal of will but by an assertion of it. In the process of dying she re-lives her experience in the cyclone. Standing on a beach, she is calm and serene as devastation surrounds her.'

Source: Fred Schepisi's website, http://www.fredschepisi.com/
Sighted: 09/08/2011
VIEW ALL RELATED WORKS (1)

Works about this Work

Food for Thought in Patrick White's Fiction Susan Whaley , single work review
— Review of The Eye of the Storm Patrick White 1973 single work novel
“The Cyclone Which Is at the Heart of Things” : The Cyclone as Trope of Place and Apocalypse in Queensland Literature Chrystopher Spicer , 2016 single work criticism
— Appears in: Etropic , vol. 15 no. 2 2016;

'In order to better understand and respond to the tropics as part of the global environment, we need to accept the unique features of the regional weather, such as cyclones, and be prepared to embrace their larger meaning for life in the tropics. In a physical landscape impacted by some 207 tropical cyclones since 1858, Queensland writers have attempted to incorporate both the terror and the sublime of the cyclone into their sense of place as they have attempted to find context for the unpredictable, chaotic and destructive tropical cyclone within their ostensibly tamed and ordered natural landscape. Consequently, the cyclone has become a defining symbolic metaphor of not only physical but also of literary tropical Queensland.

'Some Queensland writers have perceived within cyclones the Burkean sublime or personal revelation, while others have seen it as motivation for community strength, cooperation and compassion. For some, the purpose of the cyclone is divine retribution, but to others it’s an apocalyptic event revealing a rare second chance for revelation and renewal. This paper will examine a range of such perceptions within Queensland literature as part of the search for meaning within cyclonic chaotic events.' (Publication abstract)
Patrick White's Expressionism Ivor Indyk , 2015 single work criticism
— Appears in: Patrick White beyond the Grave : New Critical Perspectives 2015; (p. 131-140) 'In 'Patrick White's Expressionism', Ivor Indyk identifies White's exaggeration of small, complex emotional jitters, placing his in the context of both an expressive mode of Australian literature and modernism at large, describing (with eloquent self-reflexivity) the experience of of reading a Patrick White novel', affording insight thereby also into the significance of material objects in White's writing.' (Introduction 8)
Worlding Options : Conflation of Personal and Physical Space in Patrick White’s Novels 2015 single work
— Appears in: Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities , September-December vol. 7 no. 3 2015; 'Great texts that have accrued literary renown over the years and across space, time and genre, are those that are able to project universal sentiments. But simultaneously these texts feature a conscious engagement with the constituent space(s) that are unique to their creation or generation. Every text, then, as it naturally appears, has its singular framework or modality of engagement(s) with space. This article seeks to illustrate how Australian novelist Patrick White’s novels enshrine philosophical, and sometimes metaphysical explorations of the nature of spatiality that the self has to contend with as an unavoidable burden of living itself and clarify the singular, pivotal role that spatiality plays in determining individual responses to specific situations and decision-making processes.' (Publication summary)
Patrick White-Lite : Fred Schepisi’s Filmic Adaptation of The Eye of the Storm Sissy Helff , 2014 single work criticism
— Appears in: Patrick White Centenary : The Legacy of a Prodigal Son 2014; (p. 181-195) ‘Fred Schepisi's film, The Eye of the Storm is set in the insular cultural landscape of Sydney's suburbs around Centennial Park of the 1970s. Just as in its literary source text, tempests erode textual, visual, temporal and societal facades. The film tells the life-story of the wealthy, but now frail and aged matriarch Elizabeth Hunter (Charlotte Rampling). This mother has asked her two adult children, Basil Hunter (Geoffrey Rush) and 'Princess de Lascabanes' aka Dorothy (Judy Davis) to return from Europe in order to spend time by her bedside in these final days. This reunion highlights salient family tensions and arouses suppressed and unsettling memories.’ (Introduction)
Culture Vulture Greg Callaghan , 2003 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian Magazine , 20-21 September 2003; (p. 10)
— Review of The Eye of the Storm Patrick White 1973 single work novel
Untitled 1973 single work review
— Appears in: The Times Literary Supplement , 21 September 1973; (p. 1072)
— Review of The Eye of the Storm Patrick White 1973 single work novel
Untitled P. Ackroyd , 1973 single work review
— Appears in: The Spectator , vol. 231 no. 1973; (p. 312-13)
— Review of The Eye of the Storm Patrick White 1973 single work novel
Untitled P. Bailey , 1973 single work review
— Appears in: The Observer , 9 September 1973; (p. 37)
— Review of The Eye of the Storm Patrick White 1973 single work novel
Patrick White's Latest Novel Rose Marie Beston , 1973 single work review
— Appears in: Hemisphere , December vol. 17 no. 12 1973; (p. 35)
— Review of The Eye of the Storm Patrick White 1973 single work novel
Patrick White's Aesthetic Noel Macainsh , 1984 single work criticism
— Appears in: LiNQ , [Triple Issue] vol. 12 no. 1-3 1984; (p. 55-70) The Pathos of Distance 1992; (p. 304-319)
Patrick White and the Aesthetics of Death Noel Macainsh , 1987 single work criticism
— Appears in: LiNQ , vol. 15 no. 2 1987; (p. 2-14) The Pathos of Distance 1992; (p. 290-303)
Mandala Symbolism in the Novels of Patrick White Shaik Samad , 1995-1996 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Commonwealth Review , vol. 7 no. 1 1995-1996; (p. 117-123)
Patrick White: An International Perspective John Colmer , 1991 single work criticism
— Appears in: Breaking Circles 1991; (p. 182-196)
y The Structure of Two Novels by Patrick White : The Eye of the Storm (1973) and A Fringe of Leaves (1976) David Kelly , 1979 Z1163297 1979 single work thesis
VIEW ALL WORKS ABOUT (149)
Last amended 22 Mar 2017 10:19:40
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