Dennis Haskell: “A Lady Only by Adoption” — Civilization in A Fringe of Leaves

IN TESTING the concept of “civilization” Patrick White's A Fringe of Leaves deals with perhaps the major concern of all his work: the gap between instinctive thought or action and socially acceptable, “civilized” behaviour. However, critical discussions suggest uncertainty about the value set on “civilization” in the novel. On the one hand Leonie Kramer has seen A Fringe of Leaves presenting: “a theory that selfrealization may be achieved through liberation from civilized constraints into a life of instinctive physical passion (even though experienced in circumstances of the utmost degradation)”. On the other hand Veronica Brady, in her first analysis of the novel, found that “the destructiveness of life in the wilderness” means that Ellen Roxburgh gratefully re-enters “the rational world of civilized beings”, for only there may she find “those brief moments of companionship, kindness and self-knowledge which give life purpose and dignity”. Thus a fringe of leaves is “all we may have ...to protect us from savagery but this protection is necessary, even vital”.