Patrick White at 100

       Nobel laureate Patrick White would have turned 100 today -- and it's disappointing to see that there's not more coverage of the great writer to commemorate the occasion.
       In The Australian Peter Craven does have a nice piece, Coloured by the literary richness of White (I'm not sure how accessible this piece is/remains), but beyond that there's little more -- just stuff like: 'Eileen Battersby ponders novelist Patrick White to artist Sidney Nolan' in From here ... to there in the Irish Times, for example.
       A few weeks back Jane Sullivan did find Minds shaped by the styles of White -- but that also came with the depressing parenthetical observation:

One sobering statistic: The Tree of Man has sold only 464 copies this century.

       There are fifteen White titles under review at the complete review (see the author page for links), and The Tree of Man is pretty much the only major work not covered: I've been saving that because I can't bear the thought of there not being some additional work by White left for me to read (though with the posthumous The Hanging Garden now out (in the UK and Australia ... get your copy at Amazon.co.uk) I should really take the plunge).
       ABC Arts does have an interesting-looking video, Patrick White: Will They Read Me When I'm Dead ? up.

       Centenary occasion or not, White is always worth your while -- if you haven't read anything by him, I strongly recommend you give him a try.