Beschreibung:

A collection of correspondence including 23 autograph letters signed, 10 typed letters signed, one 2-page a.l.s fragment, 8 autograph postcards and w cards, to Margery WILLIAMS (1906 -1988), "Dogwoods" (Castle Hill), Centennial Park, London, Paris, Athens, Kavalla and elsewhere, 11 December 1960-29 October 1987, approximately 103 pages on 54 leaves, plus cards, various sizes, many letters with original envelopes; with related letters( including correspondence from Angus Wilson to Williams), 3 pp.ms fragments written by Williams, a 3pp.carbon copy of a letter from Williams to White, 30 original photographs, related newspaper clippings: and copies.. Ink, typed letters on paper, An important collection of letters written by Patrick White to Margery Williams, the foremost of White's "lady disciples". Having met in 1960, the pair became firm friends and long -time correspondents until they fell out in the 1970s over political differences. During their friendship they corresponded regularly and White's side of the correspondence reveals that he respected Williams' opinions and relished the gossip she was able to provide:"You are my eyes and ears," he once told her(David Marr, Patrick White: A Life, 1991,p.400). In a 1964 letter to Sidney Nolan in London, White wrote, " We have a very good friend who will probably be getting in touch with Cynthis while she is in London. She is Margery Williams, the wife of the British Council representative in Australia. She is both intelligent and perceptive, and I think you will like her." (David Marr(ed.) Patrick White: Letters, 1994, p259) White's letters to Williams, of which a number are quoted in Patrick White: A Life, and six are included in Patrick White: Letters, span White's life with Manoly Lascaris in semi- rural Castle Hill, their travels in Europe and the United States, and the move to their home in Centennial Park. White discusses in considerable detail, the publication of his work, projects for the theatre, film adaptations of his novels, and provides engaging descriptions of his travels. His correspondence paints a vivid picture of the nascent Australian cultural scene of the 1960s and struggling to establish its own identity both locally and abroad. He discusses collaborations with other Australians carving out successful international careers including Robert Helpman, Sidney Nolan who produced jacket illustrations for three Patrick White novels) and Barry Humphries. However, White vents his frustration that his own work, whilst lauded in the United States, and translated into many foreign languages, was frequently misunderstood and was resented and denigrated by local critics. He cites the many frustrations of "on-again, off-again" theatrical productions for the Adelaide Festival, which were repeatedly vetoed by the Festival governors. After their rejection of "The Ham Funeral", White wrote that he "sat down and poured out another play, which I suppose will have to be dedicated to the Festival Governors. It is very Australian- the Philistines have won again! I do not like the idea of playing the part of the intellectual and social pariah fo Adelaide for the third time." June, 1963. As well as descriptions of his many travels abroad, White gives Williams an account of a trip he took in 1961 to visit Ian Fairweather on Bribie Island (the letter is quoted in A Life). White writes that he was "lucky to have his Gethsemane, which I think one of his greatest paintings. taking up the whole of one of my bedroom walls." Gethsemane was one of 52 paintings given by White to the Art Gallery of New South Wales. In a 1975 letter he described the pleasure he experiences from the staging of an exhibition of these paintings at the Gallery. Gethsemane was controversially sold by the Gallery in 2010. Whilst we know that Williams' gossip provided the background to a number of White's short stories(and she herself was the basis of the character Mrs Mortimet in The Vivisector), the correspondence reve