The Decorative Voice of Hidden, Secret Flesh: Corporeal Dynamics in Patrick White’s Fiction

Abstract

With reference to Roland Barthes’s and Julia Kristeva’s observations on the bodily origins of language, this article argues that physicality is an important aspect, both thematically and stylistically, of the fiction of Australian Nobel prizewinner, Patrick White. Kristeva’s theory of the “symbolic” and “semiotic” aspects of signification, developed in her book Revolution in Poetic Language (1984), informs the argument that White’s writing emphasises a dualism of rationality and physicality at work within language and literature. Taking Kristeva’s observation that the “semiotic” or bodily aspect of language – evident in asymbolic poetic effects such as rhythm and rhyme – is comparable to music, the article explores White’s interest in music as expressed within his fiction. It argues, accordingly, that White’s frequent descriptions of music function as metatextual elements within his writing that draw attention to the materiality of language, the poetic dimension of his prose, and his association of representation with corporeality. Finally, in a reading of the short story “Five-Twenty”, from the collection The Cockatoos ([1974]1979), White’s interest in corporeal markings – which emphasise signification as bodily and corporeality as a language – is explored.

Opsomming
Met verwysing na Roland Barthes en Julia Kristeva se beskouings oor die lyflike oorsprong van taal, voer hierdie artikel aan dat liggaamlikheid sowel tematies as stilisties gesproke ʼn belangrike aspek uitmaak van die Australiese Nobelpryswenner Patrick White se fiksie. Kristeva se teorie oor die “simboliese” en “semiotiese” aspekte van betekening in haar boek Revolution in Poetic Language (1984) staaf die argument dat White se werk aandui dat daar in taal en literatuur ʼn dualisme van rasionaliteit en liggaamlikheid teenwoordig is. Op grond van Kristeva se beskouing dat die “semiotiese” of lyflike aspek van taal − soos blyk uit asimboliese poëtiese effekte soos ritme en rym − met musiek vergelyk kan word, verken die artikel White se belangstelling in musiek wat uit sy fiksie blyk. Daar word gevolglik aangevoer dat die veelvuldige musiekbeskrywings optree as metatekstuele elemente wat die aandag vestig op die stoflikheid van taal, die poëtiese dimensie van sy prosa, en sy vereenselwiging van voorstelling met lyflikheid. Ten slotte word White se belang-stelling in liggaamsmerke verken aan die hand van die kortverhaal “Five-Twenty” uit die bundel The Cockatoos ([1974]1979) waarin nadruk gelê word op betekening as lyflik en liggaamlikheid as ʼn taal.