Dark Continent - Representations of Female Sexuality in Patrick White’s The Eye of the Storm

Patrick White was a gay novelist with a marked interest in female sexuality, which he saw as a reflection of his own. Sex is a prominent topos in The Eye of the Storm : it is in White’s eyes a fundamental dimension of human nature, though he generally views lust, as distinct from love, as a negative selfish force. But lust can be a source of pleasure too, and anyway it cannot be denied despite its repulsive aspects. The compellingness of sex has more to do with the imagination than with the body which inevitably disappoints. For social and other reasons, White’s female characters tend to be frightened of their own desires but are not above using sex to manipulate men, lovers no less than husbands. Sexual transgressions are inevitable in White’s fiction because sex reveals one’s true nature. The Eye of the Storm places greater emphasis on sex than White’s previous fiction, and can be seen as transitional, opening the way for the more overt explorations of sensuality in the novels that follow. Although his depiction of female sexuality is conventional in some respects, it also challenges many stereotypes : it is both sympathetic and critical