Lurker of Chalice

Partick White tells the story of Voss, in his aptly titled Voss. It is the tedious love/adventure tale about a German who sets out to cross the Australian Outback in search of the unknown. With a shoddy, mismatched group, he embarks on his ill-advised adventure organized and supported by the wealthy Sydney resident Edmund Bonner. The counterpart to the story of Voss' journey is Laura Trevelyan, Voss' lost love and Bonner's niece.

Where do I begin when appraising Patrick White's Voss? I should probably start off with the positives. It is certainly a work of genius, but is not for the impatient. It is bold and adventurous, and scathing in its impact on the reader, through rigorous character development and descriptive language. The novel is what most would refer to as "dense", taking on an arduous form that I could only closely relate to the writing style of a Victorian novelist such as Dickens.

What I personally found most intriguing about this work of White was how much I ended up hating Voss by the end of the novel. He was self arrogant, narcissistic to no end, and painfully long winded. At first I was comparing myself to the man, but by the end, I truly had no clue how any woman could possibly wait around for a man as self serving and absent as Voss. Not only that, but it was incredibly hard to identify with the man on a personal level, and that it was I look for the most in any protagonist. Upon further reading up on Patrick White, it is very possible that Voss could have been somewhat of a autobiographical character, which made me develop even more disdain for the author.

Most reviews of Voss praise it for the way in which the story gradually unfolds into something eventually spectacular. However, the book not only failed to grab me initially, but I spent my entire reading experience waiting for something to happen which never actually came to fruition. I was pretty much bored throughout the entire novel, as a result. Ultimately the book was as dry as the Australian Outback itself.

Surprisingly, I enjoyed the Art of Travel much more than I did the renowned Voss. I guess it was just too dated for my liking, riddled with tedium. For the older reader, Voss could garner greater appreciate, but for the undergraduate student, Voss was simply obsolete in subject matter and could not properly hold my interest.

-Tyler Collins