The Modernist Sacred: Randolph Stow and Patrick White

Abstract

‘In this essay, the radical potentialities of modernism’s dialogue with notions of the sacred will be analysed, with a particular focus on the active construction of a transcendental spirituality that functions as a rejection of hegemonic forces. I will argue that Randolph Stow constructs a place in which hegemonic symbolisation–the alienating forms of language that separate subjects from the real–can be challenged or subverted. I will also argue that Patrick White’s fiction develops further the anti-hegemonic exploration of the sacred. In particular, I will explore the ways in which White’s novel Voss engages with concepts of the sacred, only to challenge direct notions of religious identification. This novel has provoked a series of interpretative gestures which privilege a Christian framework, without any political context which could help to explain the ethics of White’s treatment of the sacred. Thus, the current analysis will aim to re-politicise the reading of White’s novel, as a text that articulates a challenge to the hegemony of meaning in a colonial (and post-colonial) context.’