White's biographer, David Marr, has claimed that White was being considered by a Nobel Prize committee to receive the Nobel Literature prize. In his final years he is drawn closer to his sister Rhoda, and after a stroke causes partial paralysis, is assisted by his protégé Don Lethbridge to produce a huge, final magnum opus to God - the Vivisector. However, he is unimpressed by the monetary and status gain this brings and continues to live a spartan life, beholden to nobody - even the Prime Minister. He becomes famous and his paintings are in great demand. The precocious Hurtle gains artistic inspiration from the world that surrounds him, his adoptive mother, Maman, and Rhoda the prostitute Nance, who is his first real love the wealthy heiress Olivia Davenport his Greek mistress Hero Pavloussi and finally the child prodigy Kathy Volkov. They adopt him out to the wealthy Courtneys, who are seeking a companion for their hunchbacked daughter Rhoda. Hurtle Duffield is born into a poor Australian family. I think it's White's great autobiography to be honest." Plot summary Other literary critics have interpreted the novel as being largely autobiographical, with Australian literary critic Geordie Williamson noting that "The Vivisector is a great Australian novel. While the novel was dedicated to painter Sidney Nolan, White denied any connection between Hurtle Duffield, the novel's central character, and Nolan or any other painter. The longest of White's novels, The Vivisector was written in 1968. Named for its sometimes cruel analysis of Duffield and the major figures in his life, the book explores universal themes like the suffering of the artist, the need for truth and the meaning of existence. First published in 1970, it details the lifelong creative journey of fictional artist/painter Hurtle Duffield.
The Vivisector is the eighth published novel by Patrick White.
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