Australian · 1912–1990
Patrick White won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1973 for "an epic and psychological narrative art which has introduced a new continent into literature." The Australian author's novels—"Voss," "The Tree of Man," "Riders in the Chariot"—brought modernist difficulty to Australian subjects. White was born to wealthy graziers and lived much of his life as a recluse in Sydney. His prose is dense and visionary; his characters pursue transcendence through the Australian landscape.