In this episode of Fully Lit, recorded live at Gleebooks in Sydney, we turn to one of the most formidable figures in Australian literature — Patrick White.Nobel Prize–winning, fiercely private, and allergic to sentimentality, White remains both towering and divisive. But what does it mean to read him now?Writer and translator Vrasidas Karalis joins journalist and biographer Helen Trinca for a searching conversation about White’s life, art and legacy. From the quiet, enduring presence of his lifelong partner Manoly Lascaris to White’s metaphysics, irony and suspicion of tidy plots, the discussion traces both the intimate and intellectual worlds that shaped his work.They revisit the war years, White’s complicated “salvation” in Australia, his artistic obsessions, and the enduring challenge of adapting his novels for the screen.Along the way, they reflect on why Voss, Riders in the Chariot and The Vivisector still feel urgent — and unsettling.Patrick White distrusted comfort. He rejected easy narratives. He believed the novel should disturb rather than console.So how do we read him in an age that prizes clarity, speed and reassurance?VoicesProfessor Vrasidas Karalis is a writer, translator and Professor of Modern Greek Studies at the University of Sydney. A prolific scholar of modern Greek literature, culture and cinema, he has published extensively on migration, identity and modernism. Karalis is also a leading interpreter of Patrick White’s work.Helen Trinca is a journalist and literary biographer. She is the author of Madeleine: A Life of Madeleine St John and Looking for Elizabeth: The Life of Elizabeth Harrower.CreditsThis episode of Fully Lit Live was recorded on Gadigal land at Sydney's Gleebooks - for more literary events see the Gleebooks events page.Fully Lit is brought to you by Impact Studios at UTS, the Sydney Review of Books, and the UTS Writing and Publishing Program, and is produced by Regina Botros.Edited and mixed by Siobhan Moylan.Executive Producers: Sarah Gilbert and James Jiang.Find more episodes of Fully Lit wherever you get your podcasts.Further readingKaralis' On Patrick White's Dilemmas: A Personal Essay, is available at Gleebooks and other good booksellers.