The tripod in the dunny : a study of Patrick White's sylleptic habits

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dc.contributor.advisorKnox-Shaw, Peteren_ZA
dc.contributor.authorMerrington, David Johnen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2016-09-28T19:03:16Z
dc.date.available2016-09-28T19:03:16Z
dc.date.issued1994en_ZA
dc.description.abstractThis thesis is a study of relations between aspects of Patrick White's prose style and his perception of a moral equivocation that is entailed in the construction of identity and in the making of fiction. Chapter One presents examples of White's sylleptic style. The virtuosity of the figure is seen to reflect the discursive puissance of a detached and ironic narrative stance. His habitually ironic perspective is ascribed to his apparent sense that human life is governed by fiction, and that such governance is morally equivocal. The chapter concludes with the specification of gossip as a malicious social discourse which, for White, also reflects the practice of narrative fiction. In Chapter Two the analogy between fiction and gossip is developed. The discourse of repute is seen to exercise a perverse and vicarious dominance over its object. This governance by a morally equivocal discourse is considered to illustrate White's habitual apprehension of a universally ironic dispensation under which the human subject exists. The role and the conduct of authorship is examined as the "voice" which governs and articulates such a dispensation. Aspects of M.M. Bakhtin's theory of carnival are adduced, in Chapter Three, to the analysis of-narrative irony. The figure of syllepsis is considered as a stylistic formula for the carnivalesque. The concept of a reactionary "counter-carnival" is formulated, and is used to examine the equivocal energies of White's ironic dispensation. Chapter Four focuses on the carnivalesque dialectic between the orthodox and the grotesque "other". "Illicit knowledge" of the grotesque is seen to be cognate with the discourse of repute and gossip, and the artist is found to be guilty of vicarious appropriations. Chapter Five is an extended analysis of The Twyborn Affair as White's allegory 'of fiction. The chapter is in two parts: the first focuses on the discursive means by which the· fiction of "Eudoxia Vatatzes" is constructed. The flaws in such "authorship" are examined, and this "text" is seen to be a vulnerable and unreliable narrative structure. The second part traces the development of Eddie Twyborn as a fictional "text", through his personae as a jackeroo and as Eadith Trist the brothelkeeper. The Coda comprises brief illustrations, from Three Uneasy Pieces, of Patrick White's last thoughts on authorship.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationMerrington, D. J. (1994). <i>The tripod in the dunny : a study of Patrick White's sylleptic habits</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of English Language and Literature. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/21973en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationMerrington, David John. <i>"The tripod in the dunny : a study of Patrick White's sylleptic habits."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of English Language and Literature, 1994. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/21973en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationMerrington, D. 1994. The tripod in the dunny : a study of Patrick White's sylleptic habits. University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Merrington, David John AB - This thesis is a study of relations between aspects of Patrick White's prose style and his perception of a moral equivocation that is entailed in the construction of identity and in the making of fiction. Chapter One presents examples of White's sylleptic style. The virtuosity of the figure is seen to reflect the discursive puissance of a detached and ironic narrative stance. His habitually ironic perspective is ascribed to his apparent sense that human life is governed by fiction, and that such governance is morally equivocal. The chapter concludes with the specification of gossip as a malicious social discourse which, for White, also reflects the practice of narrative fiction. In Chapter Two the analogy between fiction and gossip is developed. The discourse of repute is seen to exercise a perverse and vicarious dominance over its object. This governance by a morally equivocal discourse is considered to illustrate White's habitual apprehension of a universally ironic dispensation under which the human subject exists. The role and the conduct of authorship is examined as the "voice" which governs and articulates such a dispensation. Aspects of M.M. Bakhtin's theory of carnival are adduced, in Chapter Three, to the analysis of-narrative irony. The figure of syllepsis is considered as a stylistic formula for the carnivalesque. The concept of a reactionary "counter-carnival" is formulated, and is used to examine the equivocal energies of White's ironic dispensation. Chapter Four focuses on the carnivalesque dialectic between the orthodox and the grotesque "other". "Illicit knowledge" of the grotesque is seen to be cognate with the discourse of repute and gossip, and the artist is found to be guilty of vicarious appropriations. Chapter Five is an extended analysis of The Twyborn Affair as White's allegory 'of fiction. The chapter is in two parts: the first focuses on the discursive means by which the· fiction of "Eudoxia Vatatzes" is constructed. The flaws in such "authorship" are examined, and this "text" is seen to be a vulnerable and unreliable narrative structure. The second part traces the development of Eddie Twyborn as a fictional "text", through his personae as a jackeroo and as Eadith Trist the brothelkeeper. The Coda comprises brief illustrations, from Three Uneasy Pieces, of Patrick White's last thoughts on authorship. DA - 1994 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 1994 T1 - The tripod in the dunny : a study of Patrick White's sylleptic habits TI - The tripod in the dunny : a study of Patrick White's sylleptic habits UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/21973 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/21973
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationMerrington DJ. The tripod in the dunny : a study of Patrick White's sylleptic habits. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of English Language and Literature, 1994 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/21973en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of English Language and Literatureen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanitiesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subject.otherEnglish Language and Literatureen_ZA
dc.titleThe tripod in the dunny : a study of Patrick White's sylleptic habitsen_ZA
dc.typeMaster Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
dc.type.qualificationnameMAen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceThesisen_ZA
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