Heaven in a Grain of Sand'--Patrick White's Contemporary Vision‪.‬

It should be emphasised at the outset that Patrick White, so far, Australia's only native-born Nobel Prize winning novelist should not be too narrowly categorised as a "religious" writer .His works have a magisterial breadth and range of theme that have invited a range of varied approaches to his work. Yet White has himself unequivocally asserted the central concern of his novels: "Religion--that's behind all my novels ... the relationship between the blundering human being and God." (Mc Gregor, 1969,216) . As the "blundering human beings" of his novels succeed in working out their relationship to "an unseen order"--to God, their lives appear to open to the possibility of a harmonious resolution of all the vicissitudes of experience. His own faith cannot admit of narrow categorisation: "I belong to no church but I have a religious faith ... I have lifted various bits from various religions in trying to come to a better understanding."(McGregor,1969, 218). Religion, in White's work does not imply constraints within a narrow orthodoxy; it conforms rather to the broad definition proffered by William James as "a belief that there is an unseen order and that our supreme good lies in harmoniously adjusting ourselves thereto." (1928, 271) Notwithstanding the obvious secularisation of the modern world which made White realise his preoccupation with religious themes ensured his work "sticks in the guts of the rigidly rational;" he also believed that 'most people have a religious factor, but are afraid that by admitting it they will forfeit their right to be considered intellectuals. (Wilkes & Herring, 1973,138)' This Paper will highlight some of the writerly strategies through which White negotiates the challenges which appear to confront the writer who attempts to explore a religious vision of the world