The White Hotel

The White Hotel is a novel written by the English poet, translator and novelist D. M. Thomas. It was first published in January 1981 by Gollancz in Great Britain and in March 1981 by The Viking Press in the United States. It won the 1981 Cheltenham Prize. It was also short-listed for the Booker Prize in 1981, coming a close second, in the view of some.

Summary

The book's first three movements consist of the erotic fantasies and case history of one of the novelist's conception of Sigmund Freud's female patients, overlapping, expanding, and gradually turning into almost normal narrative. But then the story takes a different course with the convulsions of the century, and becomes a testament of the Holocaust, harrowing and chillingly authentic. Only at the end does the fantasy element return, pulling together the earlier themes into a kind of benediction.

The book begins with a long poem, full of erotic imagery and near-incoherent description. Following this is a prose version of the story that we learn is written by a young woman who is a semi-successful opera singer who comes to Sigmund Freud for analysis as she suffers from acute psychosomatic pains in her left breast and her womb. Her character and the pseudonym Anna G. might draw on examples of real case studies (Freud's "Wolfman" also appears as a peripheral character in the novel), but the novel is indeed fictional. Thomas lets the reader in on Freud's analysis, as well as his ambiguous feelings towards his patient. At several stages, Freud is ready to throw up his hands and tell her that he won't continue his treatment as he feels she is not forthcoming enough to make any real progress. He always relents, however, because he senses that "Lisa" (the opera singer's real name) has enough redeeming attributes to warrant his time.

White (disambiguation)

White is a colour.

White(s) or The White may also refer to:

Animals

Arts

Adrian Caesar

Adrian Caesar (born 1955) is an Australian author and poet.

Caesar was born in Manchester, United Kingdom and emigrated to Australia in 1982. He studied at Reading University and has held appointments at various Australian universities, including the Australian National University and the University of New South Wales' School of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Writing

Caesar is the author of several books, including the prize-winning non-fiction novel The White based on the Antarctic exploration of Robert F. Scott and Douglas Mawson from 1911 to 1913. His poems have been widely published and his 2005 poetry collection High Wire was shortlisted for the 2007 Judith Wright Prize.

Bibliography

Novels

Collected poetry

Non Fiction

Age of the Five

Age of the Five is a trilogy of fantasy novels by Trudi Canavan, an Australian writer born in 1969. The fictional series recounts the story of Auraya, a young priestess who, after rising to the highest rank in her world's religious hierarchy, subsequently discovers that the gods she worships are significantly different entities from those in whom she was originally taught to believe.

Plot synopsis

Age of the Five is set in a universe overseen by a pantheon of five gods (the Five) who are the only apparent survivors of the War of the Gods. Before this war, it is understood that hundreds of gods existed on Earth. The Five control the destiny of the northern half of the world through a priesthood known as the White (the Five's five representatives in the human world, Ithania). In southern Ithania live opponents of the White, who claim to worship five different gods (known as the Voices of the Gods). Both factions vie for control over their opponents, and eventually engage in war.

White Hotel (film)

White Hotel is a documentary film produced by American filmmakers Dianne Griffin and Tobi Solvang. It was shot in Eritrea. The film focuses on the issue of HIV/AIDS infection in Eritrea.

The "White Hotel" is the tourist residence where Griffin and Solvang begin their journey in Eritrea. UNAFF, ‘White Hotel’

When two women with a video camera follow an American HIV research team to Eritrea, Africa, they are seduced by a land of joy and repression, of sensuality and sexual mutilation. White Hotel is the tourist residence where Griffin and Solvang begin their journey but their journalistic objectivity is shattered by the circumstances they encounter turning their documentary into an intimate investigation of their own capacities to love, suffer and forgive.

White Hotel was picked up for distribution by Jane Balfour Films in 2003. It was released on VHS in 2004

reference DianneGriffin.com for further information.

References

External links