(1979) is the last of Patrick White’s novels. It critically confronts the politics of sex and reveals White’s private, inner-world. The novel anticipated the representation of traditionally invisible and alternative models of sexuality in literature, which according to Robert Dessaix, were given topicality in the 1980s and 1990s due to a loosening of sexual repression. White however, did not intend his novel to be a piece of queer activism.
As a psychological tripartite novel, it shows the progress of an ambiguous gender-bender character who bears a new name for each part of his/her life. The protagonist is first Eudoxia (the sexual partner of an ageing Greek man), then Eddie Twyborn (who goes through a number of bisexual experiences), and finally Eadith Trist
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Citation: Vernay, Jean-François. "The Twyborn Affair". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 16 October 2006 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=8007, accessed 27 November 2024.]
