Voss by Patrick White is a sweeping narrative that link together the story of a perilous expedition into the Australian outback with a complex, spiritual love story. The novel was first published in 1957.
The novel is loosely based on a real life story. Ludwig Leichhardt, a 19th century Prussian explorer disappeared during an expedition to cross the Australian continent in 1845. The novel follows Johann Ulrich Voss and his grand expedition to cross Australia. Like Ludwig Leichhardt, Voss is found missing at the end of the novel.
Voss by Patrick White Summary
This story starts in the middle of the 19th century in New South Wales. A proud German naturalist named Johann Ulrich Voss shows up at the house of a rich settler called Mr Bonner. Mr Bonner has funded Voss in a grand expedition to cross Australia.
There, Voss meets Laura Trevelyan, Bonner’s niece, who is an orphan. They have just been introduced but quickly a deep and uneasy relationship develops between the two of them: Voss is intrigued by the cool intelligence of Laura; Voss’s forceful presence impresses Laura. Their bond quickly becomes very strong and will survive distance and hardship.
Voss starts his Expedition
Voss starts his ambitious expedition in 1845 from the eastern coast into Australian interior. He takes a small group of men-settlers, an emancipated named Judd, two Aboriginal guides, and provisions. They move inland.
As they travel across drought‑stricken plains and barren bushland, the single‑minded leadership of Voss starts to to strain the group. Among those who bear the pressure of his intensity are Palfreyman, the gentle Christian ornithologist, and the sensitive poet Le Mesurier. Frustrations grow as the terrain takes its toll and the provisions dry up.
Voss’s Hallucinations and Grand Visions
As the journey progresses, the landscape turns into a reflection of Voss’s inner turbulence. He undergoes hallucinations and grand visions – a sense of mystical destiny that attaches him to the desert. The men start doubting his determination to continue the movement westwards.
In the meantime in Sydney, Laura waits for Voss and struggles with longing. She takes an orphaned child named Mercy, and moves on with her life. But, she is being haunted by letters and psychic visions which connect her to Voss across thousands of miles.
The Crisis and Disintegration
The expedition goes to pieces. They take shelter in a cave for days in a flood prone area. Some members decide to renege, and one of them is Judd who distrusts the vision of Voss. Palfreyman dies in a sacrificial manner and this echoes a saint’s martyrdom.
Le Mesurier commits suicide. There are only a few remain loyal. After the group lands on hostile Aboriginal territory, betrayal and violence intensify. The arrogance of Voss makes him more lonely as his followers desert or die.
The Final Vision of Voss
With the increasing scale of isolation, the mind of Voss breaks. He dreams himself as a Christ-like savior who suffers to fight on behalf of his men. He writes a last letter to Laura asking her to marry on a spiritual basis.
Being alone, sick and left in the field of silence, we see Voss being ultimately caught by Aboriginal people. In a brutal scene, Voss is beheaded with a spear – his death witnessed by Judd, the only survivor. A comet flying across the sky foreshadows the event, which reflects the Christian symbolism and Aboriginal myths.
Laura’s Life and Recognition
The violent fate of Voss spread into the Sydney society. Years afterwards a statue of Voss is unveiled at a garden party hosted by Laura’s cousin Belle Radclyffe. Laura attends the party with Mercy and meets Judd who is now thin and forgotten.
Judd confirms Voss’s death and shares Aboriginal myths saying that the spirit of Voss still exists in the land. Laura thinks that Voss is not dead, he has become a part of Australian soul. She continues her life as headmistress with the silent prayers and spirit continuing to stay in memory of Voss.
Two Lives Intertwined by Distance
Voss and Laura barely spent time together, but the two are deeply connected in their emotional and spiritual lives. Laura’s quiet endurance and her adoption of Mercy is in direct contrast with Voss tragically dies in his grand quest.
Laura celebrates his memory over the years, and to the survivors and the colony Voss is an explorer, martyr, fool, or myth. In Laura’s calm persistence, Voss’s dream becomes something shared, even transcendent.
Critical Appreciation of the novel
The novel is based on the historical era of the mid 19th century Australia, when most of the continent was unexplored by the Europeans. The British colony was expanding rapidly and European settlers were keen to survey and claim the huge territories inside. Various expeditions were undertaken to traverse dry, arid, and lethal Australian heartland. These were both scientific missions as well as symbols of national pride.
Historical Inspiration of Voss
Voss is loosely based on the real-life story of Ludwig Leichhardt, a German naturalist and explorer, who took a number of expeditions into inland Australia in the 1840s. His last expedition in 1848 (where he made an attempt to cross the continent east-west) ended in mystery. Leichhardt and his party vanished with out trace.
This was a historical enigma that grabbed the public attention and inspired a lot of stories and speculations. This was one of the stories Patrick White utilised as a foundation for Voss, though he enhanced it with spiritual and psychological depth beyond the historical facts.
The Narrative Style of the Novel
Patrick White’s narrative style is somewhat different. The narration of the novel unfolds in two parallel tracks:
1) Voss’s Expedition
The story begins with an ambitious venture of a German explorer called Johann Ulrich Voss, who wants to cross Australia. He gathers a group of settlers and two Aboriginals guides. The expedition endures immense hardship and calamities in the forms of drought, floods, and the terrible Australian terrain.
As the journey proceeds, there is also a case of mutiny and a lot of the members die. Voss is driven to extreme both physical and mental conditions, and he starts seeing the visions and the loss of his former certainty.
2) Laura Trevelyan’s life in Sydney
Simultaneously, the narrative follows Laura Trevelyan, a young, intelligent, and cool woman who becomes the object of Voss’s affection and develops a profound and almost telepathic connection with him despite their separation. Navigating through the boundaries of the Sydney society, Laura takes care of an orphaned child named Mercy and confronts her own personal challenges and a near-fatal illness.
Major Themes in the Novel
Exploration and Inner Journey
Despite the fact that the novel traces a factual voyage, the subject matter of the novel is the inner voyage of the characters. The act of crossing the Australian continent by Voss turns into a symbol of confronting the fear and doubt as well as spiritual questions. The terrible landscape challenges not only the body but also the the soul. The novel suggests that true discovery comes through facing suffering and understanding the self.
Pride and the Search for Humility
Voss starts as a very proud and self-centered man. He feels that he is the one who is capable of conquering nature and lead people with authority. However, his journey takes away his pride. In the process of struggling he learns humility. His transformation from a haughty man to humble man is one of the key messages presented in the book, showing that strength sometimes means knowing your limits.
Faith and Spirituality
Voss explores various ideas of faith. Voss invents his own way of spirituality while Laura is less vociferous and more humane. The Aboriginal characters bring a different spiritual insight, one that is very much connected with the land. All these represent that belief could indeed be personal, diverse and frequently influenced by suffering.
The Power of the Landscape
Australian outback is not only a setting but it determines every aspect in the novel. It is big, hazardous and something spiritual. It destroys human egoism and demands respect. It is both beautiful and deadly pushing the characters to confront their true selves. White poses as it as a powerful thing that cannot be possessed, but experienced.
Voss by Patrick White Characters
Johann Ulrich Voss
The main character of the novel is Voss. He is a German-born explorer who undertakes a dangerous expedition into the Australian continent. He is an arrogant, detached and extremely self-centered. At the beginning, Voss lives in his own belief that he is great and above the people. However, as the journey becomes hard and tragic, his pride starts breaking.
He experiences a deep physical, emotional, and spiritual sufferings. His experiences in the desert and his deep, imagined connection with Laura slowly change him. Voss becomes more humble, realising his limits and the power of forces greater than himself.
Laura Trevelyan
Laura is a young intelligent woman living in Sydney. She is independent and thoughtful but also bound by the expectations of polite society. She is attracted to Voss subtly, yet strongly and they develop a strong spiritual connection with each other. They don’t spend much together but they are close to each other through their vision and thoughts.
Laura is a symbol of sensitivity, moral clarity, and emotional strength. Through the novel, she faces her own challenges such as having to take care of an orphaned child and suffering a terminal disease. Laura is a grounding force in the novel and her journey runs in parallel to Voss’s.
Judd
Judd is one of the members in the group of Voss. He is an honest, down-to-earth man who does not speak much, but his presence is strong. He is a convict but is deeply moral in his own way.
Judd is contrasted to Voss – Voss is arrogant and somewhat philosophical while Judd is practical and devoted. Judd is one of the most sympathetic characters of the novel because of his qualities such as endurance, loyalty, and simple wisdom.
Le Mesurier
Le Mesurier is another character who is a part of the expedition. He is more gentlemanly and educated than others are. He adds a touch of civilization but is not well-suited to the demands of the journey. He suffers physical and mental torture like most people on the expedition. His destiny shows the collapse of the human ideals in front of the harsh reality of nature.
Mr. Bonner
Mr. Bonner is the uncle of Laura and her guardian. He is a Sydney businessman and a wealthy patron who sponsors Voss’s expedition. He is pragmatic and somewhat narrow-minded, who focuses more on the social appearances and business than about the deeper truth. Through Bonner, the novel attacks the emptiness of colonial pride and the limitations of material prosperity.
Two Aboriginal Guides
These unnamed Aboriginal men are vital to the survival of the expedition. They embody profound spiritual understanding of the land which the white settlers are largely lack of. They are skilled, experienced and in touch with nature in a manner that the others could never understand. Their presence in the expedition demonstrates a form of wisdom, one that is not motivated by the desire to conquer the land, but based on harmony with the land.