Voss, by Patrick White won the inaugural Miles Franklin Award in 1957. These are the opening lines…
‘There is a man here, miss, asking for your uncle,’ said Rose.
And stood breathing.
‘What man?’ asked the young woman, who was engaged upon some embroidery of a difficult nature, at which she was now forced to look more closely, holding the little frame to the light. ‘Or is it perhaps a gentleman?’
‘I do not know,’ said the servant. ‘It is a kind of foreign man.’
Vintage Classics, 1994, p7
Posted in 20th century, Australia, Australian Classics, Australian Literature, C20th, Miles Franklin Award, Miles Franklin winners, Modernism, Nobel Prize, Opening Lines, Penguin, Publishers (Australian), Quotations, Titles - V, WHITE, Patrick | Tags: Miles Franklin Award 1957, Nobel Prize for Literature 1973, Patrick White, Voss
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Have you read, Voss, Lisa? These opening lines are intriguing… I need to read more White. I have a “Fringe of Leaves” in my TBR. Maybe I should dust it off…
By: kimbofo on August 16, 2009
at 8:47 pm
Have I read Voss? *chuckle*
Set aside a week or two to read the longest post I’ve ever written! See http://anzlitlovers.wordpress.com/2009/06/08/voss-by-patrick-white/
I loved Fringe of Leaves, it’s a good tale, but it also raises some very interesting issues. The characterisation of the older women at the beginning is a hoot!
I might get round to blogging that too, using the entry in my reading journal….
Lisa
By: Lisa Hill on August 16, 2009
at 9:03 pm
Ahhh, I should have checked first before asking! Thanks for the link.
By: kimbofo on August 16, 2009
at 11:18 pm
‘What man?’ asked the young woman…‘Or is it perhaps a gentleman?’
‘I do not know,’ said the servant. ‘It is a kind of foreign man
The young woman ultimately finds out, and I too have a vested interest in the answer. My ancestors emigrated from Prussia in the mid 1840’s for reasons passionately spiritual. My grandparents still spoke German at home.
Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Leichhardt emigrated from Prussia in 1841. Of a delicate physique and very short sighted, this ‘foreign man’ tended to sway between euphoria and fits of depression. In 1846-1847 he attempted to traverse Australia from east to west, heading for Perth. From this expedition Leichhardt did not return, leaving behind a legacy of rock art:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/03/08/2510542.htm
By: Gladys on October 1, 2009
at 9:22 am
It’s a clever play on the word foreign, Gladys. I hadn’t noticed the dual meaning till now.
By: Lisa Hill on October 1, 2009
at 2:51 pm