29. Vrasidas Karalis on Patrick White

About this episode

The episode features a discussion on the life and legacy of Australian author Patrick White, with insights from writer Vrasidas Karalis and journalist Helen Trinca.

In this episode of Fully Lit , recorded live at Gleebooks in Sydney, we turn to one of the most formidable figures in Australian literature — Patrick White . Nobel Prize–winning, fiercely private, and allergic to sentimentality, White remains both towering and divisive. But what does it mean to read him now? Writer and translator Vrasidas Karalis joins journalist and biographer Helen Trinca for a searching conversation about White’s life, art and legacy. From the quiet, enduring presence of his lifelong partner Manoly Lascaris to White’s metaphysics, irony and suspicion of tidy plots, the discussion traces both the intimate and intellectual worlds that shaped his work. They revisit the war years, White’s complicated “salvation” in Australia, his artistic obsessions, and the enduring challenge of adapting his novels for the screen. Along the way, they reflect on why Voss , Riders in the Chariot and The Vivisector still feel urgent — and unsettling. Patrick White distrusted comfort. He rejected easy narratives. He believed the novel should disturb rather than console. So how do we read him in an age that prizes clarity, speed and reassurance? Voices Hosted by Giramondo publisher…

People in this episode

Host: Helen Trinca

Guest: Vrasidas Karalis

Topics covered

• Australian literature
• Patrick White
• literary legacy
• artistic influence
• adaptation
• modernism

Keywords

• Patrick White
• Vrasidas Karalis
• Australian literature
• Nobel Prize
• literary analysis
• modernism
• adaptation
• Voss
• Riders in the Chariot
• The Vivisector

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University of Sydney

Books & works: Voss, Riders in the Chariot, The Vivisector

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