SOURCE: “The Stories of Patrick White,” in Meanjin Quarterly, Vol. XXIII, No. 4, December, 1964, pp. 372-76.

In the following essay, Lindsay praises The Burnt Ones, saying White's work “shows some important advances and makes clearer than ever the need to grapple with his work in full critical seriousness.”

It is a tribute to the work of Patrick White that one is forced to judge it by the highest standards: even a qualified praise of its achievement means far more than easy superlatives evoked by writing which carries on in the closed circle of more conventionalised methods. His latest book, The Burnt Ones, shows some important advances and makes clearer than ever the need to grapple with his work in full critical seriousness. The eleven tales vary in length and value, but at their best they rank high. ‘Dead Roses’, ‘The Woman Who Wasn't Allowed to Keep Cats’, and ‘Down...