A History of New Zealand Literature

A History of New Zealand Literature explores the genealogy of New Zealand writing from the colonial period to the present day.

Mark Williams (Edited by)

9781107085350, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 19 April 2016

417 pages, 2 b/w illus.
23.5 x 16.2 x 2.6 cm, 0.71 kg

'… a rewarding collection replete with the pleasure of new information that is both strange and strangely familiar.' Elizabeth McMahon, Australian Book Review

A History of New Zealand Literature traces the genealogy of New Zealand literature from its first imaginings by Europeans in the eighteenth century. Beginning with a comprehensive introduction that charts the growth of, and challenges to, a nationalist literary tradition, the essays in this History illuminate the cultural and political intricacies of New Zealand literature, surveying the multilayered verse, fiction and drama of such diverse writers as Katherine Mansfield, Allen Curnow, Frank Sargeson, Janet Frame, Keri Hulme, Witi Ihimaera and Patricia Grace. Written by a host of leading scholars, this History devotes special attention to the lasting significance of colonialism, biculturalism and multiculturalism in New Zealand literature. A History of New Zealand Literature is of pivotal importance to the development of New Zealand writing and will serve as an invaluable reference for specialists and students alike.

Introduction Mark Williams
1. A world of waters: imagining, voyaging, entanglement Ingrid Horrocks
2. Early M?ori literature: the writing of Hakaraia Kiharoa Arini Loader
3. Samuel Butler's influence Simon During
4. Maoriland reservations Jane Stafford
5. Katherine Mansfield: colonial modernist Bridget Orr
6. Colonial ecologies: Guthrie-Smith's Tutira and writing in the settled environment Philip Steer
7. Defiance and melodrama: fiction in the period of national 'invention', 1920–50 Alex Calder
8. Journalism and high culture: Robin Hyde among the cultural nationalists Nikki Hessell
9. 'Simply by sailing in a new direction': the poetics of distance Stuart Murray
10. 'Rough architects': New Zealand literature and its institutions from Phoenix to Landfall Christopher Hilliard
11. Against the social pattern: New Zealand fiction, 1950–70 Timothy Jones
12. Janet Frame: myths of authorship, 1950–90 Marc Delrez
13. Te ao hou: Te pataka Alice Te Punga Somerville
14. Out of the drawing room and onto the beach: drama, 1950–70 Mark Houlahan
15. 'Physician of society': the poet in the 1950s and 1960s Alan Riach
16. From Hiruharama to Hataitai: the domestication of New Zealand poetry, 1972–90 Harry Ricketts and Mark Williams
17. The novel, the short story and the rise of a new reading public, 1972–90 Lydia Wevers
18. 'Dbed and chocolate wheaten beaten': drama defining the nation, 1972–90 David O'Donnell
19. The M?ori renaissance 1972 Melissa Kennedy
20. 'While history happens elsewhere': fiction and political quietism, 1990–2014 Dougal McNeill
21. Anecdote in post-1990s New Zealand poetry Anna Smaill
22. From exploring identity to facing the world: drama since 1990 Stuart Young
23. From meadow to paddock: children's and young adult literature Anna Jackson
24. 'Nafanua and the New World': Pasifika's writing of Niu Zealand Selina Tusitala Marsh
25. New Zealand literature in the program era, or, the spirit of nationalism past Hugh Roberts
Index.

Subject Areas: National liberation & independence, post-colonialism [HBTR], Colonialism & imperialism [HBTQ], Australasian & Pacific history [HBJM], Literary reference works [DSR], Literary studies: general [DSB]