Does anyone know why Patrick White's books are out of print. He is recognised as Australia's best writer, the only one to win The Nobel Prize for Literature. I have just read 'The Tree of Man' a powerful story of the ordinary being extraordinay. It is the essence of Australia , the scent of eucalypts ,the struggles against fire, flood and loneliness. The story is driven by the well rounded characters, spanning three generations.
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Patrick White
- Thread starter Meg
- Start date
novella
Active Member
Good question. Who knows. Politics?
It appears to be in print at Vintage UK and available through Amazon UK. I've ordered (to NY State) from them several times and it does take a bit longer and cost more, but maybe you could try that.
Thanks for putting me on to Patrick White. I'd never heard of him and just ordered Tree of Man, though now I'm wondering if I should've ordered Voss. Maybe if a few orders come in, they'll put him back in print for a small run. Anyway, now I have a new author to keep my eye peeled for at the used-book stores.
It does seem that, despite his acclaimed work, his politics came to overshadow his writing at some point.
Novella
It appears to be in print at Vintage UK and available through Amazon UK. I've ordered (to NY State) from them several times and it does take a bit longer and cost more, but maybe you could try that.
Thanks for putting me on to Patrick White. I'd never heard of him and just ordered Tree of Man, though now I'm wondering if I should've ordered Voss. Maybe if a few orders come in, they'll put him back in print for a small run. Anyway, now I have a new author to keep my eye peeled for at the used-book stores.
It does seem that, despite his acclaimed work, his politics came to overshadow his writing at some point.
Novella
RonPrice
New Member
To Add Some More Comments
I'll add a few more comments in attempting to answer the question raised at the start of this thread.-Ron Price, Tasmania
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Publishers tend to publish, and book stores tend to stock, books that sell. In addition, requests for books tend to influence what a bookstore stocks. The plethora of books and the myriad reading options that are now available to the reading public are yet other factors in determing why Patrick White's books are not found. Finally, and in addition, it must be said that there are millions now who read very little due to: (a) the demands of their employment, (b) their preferences for watching and listening to great quantities of the electronic media, and (c) their need to take care of their families and their desire to pursue their varied interests and hobby-apparatus.
I should add, as a student and teacher of English literature for half a century, that White is not easy to read. People who read the local paper, the occasional celebrity or fashion magazine, or the sports and gardening columns, do not tend to get into Patrick White. I, too, have my problems with White's novels and I wrote the above prose-poetic piece about White and his books today giving readers of this thread one of the reasons I don't buy his books. I can also read stuff over the internet for hours every day and never have to pay a penny. For this reason I do not tend to go to libraries any more. In life as in reading: "to each their own."-Ron Price, Tasmania
I'll add a few more comments in attempting to answer the question raised at the start of this thread.-Ron Price, Tasmania
--------------------------------------------------------
Publishers tend to publish, and book stores tend to stock, books that sell. In addition, requests for books tend to influence what a bookstore stocks. The plethora of books and the myriad reading options that are now available to the reading public are yet other factors in determing why Patrick White's books are not found. Finally, and in addition, it must be said that there are millions now who read very little due to: (a) the demands of their employment, (b) their preferences for watching and listening to great quantities of the electronic media, and (c) their need to take care of their families and their desire to pursue their varied interests and hobby-apparatus.
I should add, as a student and teacher of English literature for half a century, that White is not easy to read. People who read the local paper, the occasional celebrity or fashion magazine, or the sports and gardening columns, do not tend to get into Patrick White. I, too, have my problems with White's novels and I wrote the above prose-poetic piece about White and his books today giving readers of this thread one of the reasons I don't buy his books. I can also read stuff over the internet for hours every day and never have to pay a penny. For this reason I do not tend to go to libraries any more. In life as in reading: "to each their own."-Ron Price, Tasmania
