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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
"Hurtle Duffield, a painter, is incapable of loving anything except what he paints. The men and women who court him during his long life are, above all, the victims of his art. He is the vivisector, dissecting their weaknesses with cruel precision: his sister's deformity, a grocer's moonlight indiscretion, and the passionate illusions of his mistress Hero Pavloussi.
It is only when Hurtle meets an egocentric adolescent whom he sees as his spiritual child does he experience a deeper, more treacherous emotion in this tour de force of sexual and psychological menace that sheds brutally honest light on the creative experience."
Source: Penguin Books Australia.
Notes
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Dedication: For Cynthia and Sidney Nolan.
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Epigraph: 'As I see it, painting and religious experience are the same thing, and what we are all searching for is the understanding and realisation of infinity.' - Ben Nicholson
Cruelty has a Human Heart,/ And Jealousy a Human Face; /Terror the Human Form Divine,/ And Secrecy the Human Dress./ The Human Dress is forged in Iron,/ The Human Form a fiery Forge,/ The Human Face a Furnace seal'd,/ The Human Heart its hungry Gorge. -William Blake
They love truth when it reveals itself, and they hate it when it reveals themselves. -Saint Augustine
He becomes beyond all others the great Invalid, the great Criminal, the great Accursed One - and the Supreme Knower. For he reaches the unknown. -Rimbaud
Affiliation Notes
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Writing Disability in Australia:
See C.A. Cranston's dissertation 'Deformity as Device in the Twentieth-century Australian Novel'.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Sound recording.
Works about this Work
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Australia in Three Books
2021
single work
review
— Appears in: Meanjin , September / Spring vol. 80 no. 3 2021; (p. 18-21)
— Review of The Vivisector 1970 single work novel ; Dark Places of the Heart 1966 single work novel ; Mullumbimby 2013 single work novel -
Camera, Colony, Künstlerroman : Photography in Three Australian Novels
2018
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Studies , vol. 42 no. 1 2018; (p. 116-130) -
The Boredom and Futility of War in Patrick White's Fiction
2016
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Le Simplegadi , April no. 15 2016; (p. 65-73) This article investigates the representation of war in terms of uselessness and waste in the fiction of Patrick White, with a particular emphasis on the short story “After Alep”, written in 1945 when the writer was enrolled in the RAF as an Intelligence Officer. By analysing the story in the light of White’s approach to the war as to “the most horrifying and wasteful period” of his life (Marr 1992: 493), the article attempts to demonstrate how the narrative devices used by White contribute to demythologize the rhetoric of the war and of war heroes in a way that may be instrumental in conveying a message of peace out of the ultimate sense of futility transmitted by any war. -
The Vivisector : A Rewritten Pygmalion Story of Modern Tragedy
2015
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Oceanic Literary Studies , no. 2 2015; (p. 1-13) 'The Pygmalion story in Metamorphosis by Roman poet Ovid originates from the ancient Greek mythology, reflecting poet's affirmation and eulogy of the value and significance of this life while Bernard Shaw's namesake comedy Pygmalion emphasizes the environmental and educational influence on the formation of perfect personality, evident of bourgeois values of freedom, equality and independence. Roman poet Ovid's Pygmalion story and Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, both of which end in comedy, maintain an optimistic outlook towards the making of a perfect human being. But Patrick White's The Vivisector, which is in fact a Pygmalion story rewritten as a modern tragedy, presents the life of a superman artist, Hurtle Duffield, whose vivisection of his models leads him not only to a success in art but also to the deconstruction and destruction of real human life. The story is indicative of a tragic failure on Hurtle's effort to reshape and reorder the chaotic modern world as well as an existential dilemma of modern man who vainly seeks to establish a spiritual homeland. (1-2) -
Patrick White, Composer Manqué : The Centrality of Music in White's Artistic Aspiration
2015
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Antipodes , June vol. 29 no. 1 2015; (p. 153-161) 'Australian writer Patrick White was burdened with the reputation of a misanthrope. This was, perhaps, self-inflicted but it allowed many to disregard the sensitivity and insights of his writing. It is nevertheless surprising that most critics and readers seem unaware of his deep engagement with music. Certainly, few (if any) literary critics appear to recognize the significance of music in his output. Here, Carmody contends that not only was music profoundly important to White as a human being, but that it fundamentally drove his work. Without a recognition of this crucial importance of music, it is impossible to understand adequately White's aesthetic aspiration.' (Publication abstract)
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Time for the Timeless
2012
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 9 January 2012; (p. 8-9)
— Review of The Vivisector 1970 single work novel ; Autumn Laing 2011 single work novel ; The Slap 2008 single work novel ; Ransom 2009 single work novel ; Caleb's Crossing : A Novel 2011 single work novel ; Bereft 2010 single work novel ; Cloudstreet 1991 single work novel ; That Deadman Dance 2010 single work novel ; The Secret River 2005 single work novel ; The Lieutenant 2008 single work novel ; Sarah Thornhill 2011 single work novel ; The Ballad of Desmond Kale 2005 single work novel ; Mr Darwin's Shooter 1998 single work novel -
Fiction Chronicle
1971
single work
review
— Appears in: Meanjin Quarterly , Autumn vol. 30 no. 1 1971; (p. 125, 127, 129, 131, 133, 135, 137, 139)
— Review of Let's Hear It for Prendergast : A Novel 1970 single work novel ; The Age of Death 1970 single work novel ; Clean Straw for Nothing : A Novel 1969 single work novel ; A Salute to the Great McCarthy 1970 single work novel ; The Tea-Time of Love : The Clarification of Miss Stilby 1969 single work ; The Survivor 1969 single work novel ; The Vivisector 1970 single work novel -
[Review] The Vivisector
1970
single work
review
— Appears in: Westerly , December no. 4 1970; (p. 58-61)
— Review of The Vivisector 1970 single work novel -
Search for Truth
1970
single work
review
— Appears in: Overland , Summer (1970-1971) no. 46 1970; (p. 37-38)
— Review of The Vivisector 1970 single work novel -
[Review] The Vivisector
1970
single work
review
— Appears in: Nation , 28 November 1970; (p. 21-22)
— Review of The Vivisector 1970 single work novel -
Patrick White's Aesthetic
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
1987
single work
criticism
— Appears in: LiNQ , vol. 15 no. 2 1987; (p. 2-14) The Pathos of Distance 1992; (p. 290-303) -
Translating Patrick White's Novels Voss and The Vivisector into Greek
2003
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 63 no. 1 2003; (p. 133-141) -
Patrick White: An International Perspective
1991
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Breaking Circles 1991; (p. 182-196) -
Some Sources for the Construction of Hurtle Duffield in The Vivisector
2003
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Antipodes , December vol. 17 no. 2 2003; (p. 107-109) Examines the similarities between the Belgain artist James Ensor and White's depiction of the fictional character, Hurtle Duffield, in his novel The Vivisector
Awards
- 2010 shortlisted The Booker Prize — Lost Man Booker Prize
Last amended 5 Sep 2022 12:09:03
Settings:
- Europe,
- Sydney, New South Wales,
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