February Group Read: Voss

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February Group Read: Voss

1pamelad
jan 16, 2021, 9:11 pm

Patrick White won the Nobel Prize for Literature. The historical novel, Voss, set in mid-nineteenth century Australia, is the story of the love between a young woman and the doomed explorer, Voss, who is based on Ludwig Leichhardt.

I don't know that spoilers will really matter, but just in case, when you make a comment please put the chapter number at the start.

Happy reading!

2JayneCM
jan 17, 2021, 1:01 am

I didn't even think of this when I posted the February group challenge in the 1001 group but this fits perfectly for that as well!

3avatiakh
jan 17, 2021, 3:14 pm

I have my copy ready to go. Despite good intentions I still haven't read anything by White.

4DeltaQueen50
jan 17, 2021, 5:43 pm

I, too, have my copy ready to go.

5leslie.98
jan 25, 2021, 12:47 pm

I too have my copy. I'm in the same boat as >3 avatiakh: - this will be my first book by White.

6pamelad
Bewerkt: jan 31, 2021, 7:31 pm

Chapter 1

We're in Sydney, in the house of a wealthy draper, Edmund Bonner. The time is the 1840s. Transportation of convicts has stopped, and convicts are now a small minority of the population of New South Wales. The maid is an emancipated convict - she has served her time and is now free. Victoria is settled, but hasn't yet become a separate state. Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania are separate colonies with their own governors. Queensland is still part of NSW; its main settlement is Moreton Bay, which is a convict colony (Jessica Anderson's The Commandant is set here a couple of decades earlier). When Tom Radclyffe and his fiancee Belle talk about a trip to Moreton Bay, I doubt that they are serious. They are much more likely to concur with Laura, who would be frightened to venture too far from Sydney. The furthest she has been is to close-by stations, enormous holdings that run sheep or cattle. (The wealthy graziers who own them belong to the "squattocracy".) The interior of Australia is unexplored, the Goldrush is yet to occur, and it's less than fifty years since the First Fleet arrived at Botany Bay.

Voss is about to set off on an expedition, to parts of Australia still unmapped. Edmund Bonner is a private sponsor, and Voss has come to his house to discuss arrangements, but Bonner and his family are still at church, so he is welcomed by Bonner's niece, Laura Treveleyan. I have been struck by White's unusual imagery, the odd descriptions that so clearly reveal the the nature of Laura and Voss, and the commonplace Bonner family. I expected it to be much harder to read!

7NinieB
jan 31, 2021, 10:40 pm

I'm looking forward to reading Voss! Just trying to figure out if I should wait while I finish some other reading, or just plunge in.

8pamelad
feb 1, 2021, 3:13 am

>7 NinieB: I just plunged, and plan to read about chapter a day of Voss while reading other things as well, though that may change.

9pamelad
feb 1, 2021, 8:45 pm

Chapter 2

We learn more about the men who are accompanying Voss on the expedition into into the interior.

10leslie.98
feb 1, 2021, 8:47 pm

I'll start tomorrow...

11pamelad
feb 4, 2021, 4:43 pm

Feeling lonely here. Up to chapter 5. Enjoying it.

12DeltaQueen50
feb 4, 2021, 4:45 pm

I just finished The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas and will take a couple of days to read some lighter stuff then I will be picking up Voss - so will be joining in soon.

13leslie.98
feb 4, 2021, 6:01 pm

I have finished the first 3 chapters, so I am not far behind you >11 pamelad:.

Have you run across anything which would pinpoint the time frame? The back of my paperback just says nineteenth century...

14pamelad
Bewerkt: feb 4, 2021, 6:20 pm

>13 leslie.98: Yes, Voss is based on Ludwig Leichardt, who set off from Brisbane (Moreton Bay in those times) in 1848 to cross the continent to Perth. People thought then that there might be a huge inland sea in the middle of the continent - they had no idea what to expect. See >6 pamelad:

I've just read chapter 5, where he sets sail from Sydney to Moreton Bay.

15pamelad
feb 4, 2021, 7:55 pm



Leichhardt Falls

16pamelad
feb 4, 2021, 7:59 pm

17NinieB
feb 4, 2021, 8:19 pm

>6 pamelad: "I have been struck by White's unusual imagery, the odd descriptions that so clearly reveal the the nature of Laura and Voss . . ."

Me too! One metaphor that really sunk in, from the Pringle picnic: children's "colorful laughter" hanging from the bushes.

I am somewhere in chapter 4.

18leslie.98
feb 4, 2021, 11:00 pm

>14 pamelad: Thanks - I skipped post 6 earlier because I hadn't started the book yet and failed to go back and read it. And thanks for the photos!

19pamelad
feb 7, 2021, 12:31 am

Finished! Requires some reflection.

20NinieB
feb 7, 2021, 4:07 pm

>19 pamelad: Well done! I have not been reading much, but I'm trying to shake that mood and keep moving in Voss.

21pamelad
feb 7, 2021, 4:37 pm

>20 NinieB: It's heavy going. I was relieved each time a chapter took me back to the superficial people in Sydney.

Here's a review by Thomas Keneally.

22DeltaQueen50
feb 9, 2021, 3:10 pm

I have read the first two chapters and already I am struggling with this book. I don't like the characters as they all seem to be suffering from an endless supply of internal angst. I will continue on, but I can see this one may take some time.

23pamelad
feb 9, 2021, 5:23 pm

>22 DeltaQueen50: It goes beyond angst, even, with Voss thinking he's God. I'm reminded of The Life of Brian. "He's not the Messiah. He's a very naughty boy."

24DeltaQueen50
feb 10, 2021, 9:13 pm

>23 pamelad: I read a lot today and I have read to the end of Chapter 12 and while I can see that it's a brilliant piece of writing, it's not for me. I will finish it over the next couple of day but Voss isn't destined to be a favorite. He does use quite a lot of religious sybolism which I am not sure that I always grasp or understand.

25leslie.98
feb 10, 2021, 11:05 pm

>20 NinieB:, >21 pamelad:, >22 DeltaQueen50: Glad to know that it isn't just me! This style of writing just does not appeal to me - I don't mind some characterization but I prefer plot-driven narratives - guess that is why mysteries & sci fi/fantasy appeal to me!

I have finished Chap. 4 but my reading of anything is suffering right now from my attention to the ongoing American impeachment trial. I will continue but it may be slow and intermittent - sorry folks!

26DeltaQueen50
feb 11, 2021, 3:48 pm

Has anyone here read anything else by Patrick White? I read somewhere that Voss is considered his most accessible book - which doesn't bode well for others of his that I may try to read.

27pamelad
Bewerkt: feb 11, 2021, 4:09 pm

>26 DeltaQueen50: I've read A Fringe of Leaves, The Twyborn Affair, The Aunt's Story, Happy Valley and, many years ago, The Tree of Man. In my opinion, A Fringe of Leaves is far and away his most accessible book, with The Twyborn Affair second. It's a long time ago, but I remember enjoying The Tree of Man. I've started The Vivisector a few times, but never got very far.

Shows dedication, doesn't it? Patrick White is Australia's only Nobel Prize winner, so I must support him!

28avatiakh
feb 11, 2021, 9:44 pm

I still haven't started this one. Sounds like it will be a more drawn out read when I do. I have a couple of overdue library books to get out of the way first.

29DeltaQueen50
feb 12, 2021, 12:27 pm

I have completed my read of Voss and believe me I was very happy to see the end of this one!

>27 pamelad: Good on you for supporting Australian writers! I would like to try him at least one more time even though I suspect he is not for me. I remember my Mother reading The Tree of Man many years ago and being very pleased with herself when she got through it. That may be the reason I was nervous of giving him a try.

30pamelad
feb 12, 2021, 2:40 pm

>29 DeltaQueen50: In 2019 I struggled through Ulysses, which I found almost almost impenetrable. That's now my baseline for unreadable, and Voss was a long way from it. I liked White's poetic language, but the religious symbolism put me off, along with the mystical communication between Voss and Laura, and White's contempt for most of his characters. It was all too angry.

31DeltaQueen50
feb 12, 2021, 5:28 pm

>30 pamelad: You are right in that Voss was readable, and I too, have struggled with James Joyce. I read A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man which was very difficult. At this point I have put James Joyce at the bottom of my 1,001 reads, but I am still open to trying another Patrick White.

32avatiakh
feb 12, 2021, 7:51 pm

>30 pamelad: Have you read The man who loved children by Christina Stead, another Aussie. I struggled with this one, yet on completion was really happy I'd read it.
I've not tried Joyce as yet. There's a chapter in Alan Moore's Jerusalem written in the style of Joyce's Finnigan's Wake, he said it took him 2 years to write the chapter and then he had to take a year off to recover. I stumbled through that chapter with difficulty, it was based on Lucia Joyce who spent 30 years in the Asylum in Northampton.

33pamelad
feb 13, 2021, 9:13 pm

>32 avatiakh: I read The Man Who Loved Children many years ago, and that monstrous man has stayed in my memory. Text has republished four of Christina Stead's other books, so recently I read The Little Hotel and The Puzzleheaded Girl, and can recommend them both, particularly The Little Hotel. They are short, which is a very good thing.

I read that Joyce used lots of made-up words in Finnegan's Wake and that it's a much more difficult read than Ulysses, so it must require enormous dedication. Kudos to Alan Moor!