Resources on NZ culture

Authors and books that provide insight into the New Zealand psyche.

Note: Books are listed in alphabetical order of book title.

Literature: Recommended novels

bone people, the

Keri Hulme

Kerewin Holmes lives alone in a tower by the sea, unable to write, alienated from her family and community. Into this solitude comes Simon, a mute child who has been damaged, physically and psychically, in some mysterious way. He leads Kerewin to Joe, a Māori whose violence and hurt seem to be part of Simon's past. Plot detail alone cannot convey the tone and power of this work, steeped in Māori myth and entwined with Christian symbols, set in a South Island landscape of drama and metaphorical resonance.

the bone people is New Zealand's best known and most highly acclaimed novel. Winner of the 1984 New Zealand Book Award, Fiction, and the 1985 Booker Prize.

Keri Hulme is of Ngai Tahu, Orkney Scots and Lanchashire ancestry. She was born in Christchurch in 1947, and was educated at Canterbury University. Among other employment she has worked in the postal service and as a director for Television New Zealand.

In a Fishbone Church

Catherine Chidgey

Gene Stilton is disconcerted when his funeral oration for his father Clifford is interrupted by Clifford's ghost. Clifford always was a domineering character, who still wants to exert influence. Gene, a more gentle man, also wants to protect his daughters from the dangers of life, hence his laboriously composed book A Short Survival Guide. Gene's wife Etta has suppressed the memories of her abusive upbringing with her devotion to a little known saint, Christina the Astonishing Virgin, while daughters Bridget and Christina negotiate family secrets and the perils of being suburban teenagers in the late 1970s and early 80s.

This stunning debut novel spanning three generations of New Zealand family life has won a number of New Zealand and international awards.

Catherine Chidgey was born in 1970 and raised in Lower Hutt, Chidgey was educated at Victoria University, and in Berlin, where she held a DAAD scholarship for post-graduate study in German literature.

Season of the Jew

Maurice Shadbolt

Season of the Jew, the first novel in the New Zealand Wars trilogy focuses on the Māori warrior Te Kooti's Poverty Bay campaigns of the 1860s when a band of dispossessed Māori identifying with the Jews of ancient Israel fought the Pākehā.

The second novel, Monday's Warriors is set in Taranaki in the 1860s and recounts the stories of Titokowaru and the rebel American, Kimball Bent. The House of Strife moves back in time to the 1845-46 rebellion of Hone Heke and completes the historical trilogy. (The latter two novels are unfortunately out of print).

One of Ben's; A New Zealand Medley is the author's much-acclaimed autobiography which mixes the myths and legends of the Shadbolt tribe with those of postcolonial Pākehā New Zealand.

Maurice Shadbolt, fiction writer and playwright, was born in Auckland in 1932. He worked as a journalist for various New Zealand newspapers and as a scriptwriter and director of documentary films for the New Zealand National Film Unit until 1957, when he left for Europe. Shadbolt's historical novels form perhaps the most important work of historical fiction yet produced by a New Zealand writer. Shadbolt's work to date now presents a distinctive version of the whole of postcolonisation New Zealand history.

Whale Rider, The: Movie Edition

Witi Ihimaera

The whale rider was Kahutia Te Rangi, ancestor of the people of Te Tai Rawhiti, who travelled from Hawaiki to the East Coast of New Zealand. There, centuries later, lives Kahu, the first great-grandchild of the whānau, loved by all her relatives except the one whose love she needs the most - her great-grandfather.

Moving between mythology and realism, pathos and comedy, The Whale Rider is one of Witi Ihimaera's best-loved books for adults and younger readers alike. It is now a major international movie.

Witi Ihimaera novelist, short story writer, anthologist and librettist, was born in Gisborne. He has the distinction of being the first Māori writer to publish both a book of short stories and a novel. He is of Te Aitanga-a-Mahaki descent, with close affiliations to Tühoe, Te Whānau-a-Apanui, Ngati Kahungunu, and Ngai Tamanuhiri, and links to Rongowhakaata, Ngati Porou, and Te Whakatohea.

Literature: Anthologies

Seven New Zealand Novellas

Peter Simpson (ed)

Novellas - the midway point between short stories and novels - have a fine tradition in New Zealand. Dr Peter Simpson, associate professor of English at Auckland University has chosen novellas that span a period of 80 years. They range from the expatriate modernism of Mansfield to the internationalized writing styles of the 1990's. Contents include Katherine Mansfield's Prelude, Frank Sargeson's That Summer, Maurice Duggan's O'Leary's Orchard, Patricia Grace's Valley, Albert Wendt's Flying Fox in a Freedom Tree, Peter Wells Memory and Desire and Elizabeth Knox's Pomare.

Travel guides

Lonely Planet: New Zealand

Paul Harding, Carolyn Bain and Neal Bedford

Lonely Planet guides are world renowned for their reliability and the volume of the information they contain. This 11th edition is divided into Fauna and Flora; Facts for the Visitor; Activities; Māori Culture; Getting There and Away; and Getting Around. It divides the country into 16 regions, including a section on the outer islands: Stewart Island, the Chatham Islands, Tokelau, the subantarctic islands and the Kermadecs. There is an interesting section on Kiwi English, a glossary, 129 maps, an index and a double-page map with highlights of the main tourist attractions. Recommended for the backpacker and independent traveller.

History

Treaty of Waitangi, The

Claudia Orange

The Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840 by over 500 Māori chiefs, and by William Hobson, representing the British Crown. To the British it was the means by which they gained sovereignty over New Zealand. But to Māori people it had a very different significance, and they are still affected by the terms of the treaty. This book covers the several treaty signings and the substantial difference between Māori and English texts; the debate over interpretation of land rights and the actions of settler governments determined to circumvent treaty guarantees; the wars of sovereignty in the 1860s and the long-standing Māori struggle to secure a degree of autonomy and control over resources.

Māori Studies: Traditions & Culture

Introducing Māori Culture

Don Stafford

First published in 1997, this simple introduction to the world of the Māori has reprinted many times. Chapters cover origins and migration, survival, settlement, culture, history, politics, education, warfare and the Treaty of Waitangi.

The end papers are maps of the North and South Islands showing the boundaries of the main tribal areas. There is also a small glossary, tips on pronouncing the Māori language and plenty of colour photographs.

Tangata Whenua: The World of the Māori

Don Stafford

An excellent introduction explaining the origins, migrations and arrival of Māori in New Zealand. It also covers Māori development before and after the arrival of Europeans. Includes maps, a glossary an index and illustrations. Recommended as a general introduction.

New Zealand Electronic Text Centre

The New Zealand Electronic Text Centre was set up by a former US Fulbright grantee under the auspices of Victoria University of Wellington in 2002. NZETC's primary goal is provide a searchable electronic archive of New Zealand texts.

Users, both within New Zealand and internationally, are able to easily access a wide range of New Zealand texts from the NZETC website from personal correspondence of prominent New Zealanders to best-selling books.

Visit the New Zealand Electronic Text Centre website.

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