New Zealand literature blends two traditions. The first came from the Māori people, who settled in New Zealand more than 1,000 years ago. The second came from Europeans who began settling the country in the early 1800’s.
Ancestors of Māori arrived in New Zealand as immigrants from Polynesia. They brought with them oral stories and poetry—including waiata (songs) and haka (war chants)—that enriched their ceremonies on important religious and social occasions. Their oral tradition helped preserve their heritage in the face of the incoming wave of European culture. European settlers witnessed Māori songs and chants, spells, and ceremonial speeches and reported on them in their correspondence back to Europe. Gradually, Māori traditions became a part of the country’s literature after missionaries wrote down the Māori language.
European literature about New Zealand began with journals and books by European explorers. The Dutch sea captain Abel Janszoon Tasman explored Australia and New Zealand in the 1600’s, and the British explorer James Cook and the French explorers Jean Francois de Surville and Marion du Fresne explored the area in the 1700’s. Tasman, Cook, de Surville, and du Fresne all kept journals of their voyages of discovery.
It was not until the 1900’s, however, that New Zealanders developed a distinct literary voice. Only since 1920, and more specifically since 1960, has a substantial body of writing in the English language appeared that may be called New Zealand literature. The national literature of New Zealand belongs with the postcolonial tradition of writing in Australia, Canada, India, and South Africa that developed after these former British colonies gained their independence.
Literature before 1900
Nonfiction.
In the early 1800’s, visitors to New Zealand wrote books about the colony for British readers. One of the most important early pieces is a lively first-hand account of the early settlement years called Adventure in New Zealand (1845) by Edward Jerningham Wakefield. He was a member of the Wakefield family, who played an important part in the organized settlement of New Zealand after 1840.
Another early account of life in the colony is Samuel Butler’s A First Year in Canterbury Settlement (1863). Butler settled in New Zealand in 1860 and returned to England in 1864 after making his fortune as a sheep farmer. Back in England, he became an established author and wrote two satirical novels set in the New Zealand landscape: Erewhon (1872) and Erewhon Revisited (1901).
Only a few nonfiction books written in the late 1800’s remain fresh and readable today. Among them are Station Life in New Zealand (1870) and Station Amusements in New Zealand (1873) by Lady Mary Anne Barker, a sophisticated and well-traveled Englishwoman. In an elegant prose style, she described her life and leisure as a member of the wealthy Canterbury sheep station (farm) community. Another nonfiction book from this period is The Long White Cloud (1898), a history and social commentary by William Pember Reeves, a New Zealand-born journalist and Cabinet minister. The title helped popularize a nickname for New Zealand itself, the Land of the Long White Cloud. It is an English translation of Aotearoa, the Māori name for New Zealand.
Early novels and poetry
mostly expressed the British-born authors’ feeling of exile. This sentimental writing praised the beauty of New Zealand’s landscape and predicted a productive and influential future for the country. Many authors compared New Zealand to their homeland and described it as “the Britain of the South.”
Benjamin Farjeon emigrated from England to Australia in 1854. In 1861, he went to New Zealand and began writing while working as a journalist in Dunedin. He wrote and published two novels, Shadows on the Snow: A Christmas Story (1865) and Grif; a Story of Colonial Life (1866). Farjeon sent copies to Charles Dickens, the most famous British writer of the time. After Dickens commented favorably on Farjeon’s work, Farjeon returned to England in 1868 and became a successful popular novelist.
The most popular poet of the 1800’s in New Zealand was Thomas Bracken, an immigrant from Ireland. In the mid-1870’s, Bracken first published the verse for what became the national anthem, “God Defend New Zealand.” Another of Bracken’s verses, “Not Understood” (1879), shows the influence of the Scottish poet Robert Burns. It was a recitation piece that many New Zealanders memorized during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Bracken’s work, in imitating the verse of others, self-consciously reflected a culture insecure about its place in the world.
The first half of the 1900’s
In the early 1900’s, a distinct New Zealand literary style began to emerge. Authors created poetry, nonfiction, novels, and short stories that were much more directly relevant to local readers.
Novels.
A novel about pioneer women, The Story of a New Zealand River by Jane Mander, was published in both London and New York City in 1920. Mander was the daughter of a Northland businessman. From 1912 to 1932, she lived and worked mainly in New York City and London before returning to New Zealand. She also wrote five more novels, although none had the impact of her first book. Jean Devanny wrote socially progressive fiction with a feminist theme, notably her first novel, The Butcher Shop (1926).
The tradition of Realism—a style of literature in which authors try to represent life as it actually is—became a dominant form for New Zealand novelists. John A. Lee, a socialist politician and member of Parliament, caused a scandal with a harshly Realist novel, Children of the Poor (1934). Lee based his book on the poverty and abuse he experienced during his childhood. He continued writing novels, political essays, and autobiographical works about his political life for more than 40 years, all in a lively, down-to-earth style.
Robin Hyde, the pen name of Iris Guiver Wilkinson, began writing poetry as a schoolgirl poet in Wellington in the 1920’s. She became a successful journalist and took up fiction near the end of her short life. She completed five novels between 1935 and 1938 that established her as one of the most inventive writers New Zealand has produced. Hyde committed suicide in England in 1939 at the age of 33. Her books are still widely read today, especially The Godwits Fly (1938), a starkly Realist story of family life and colonial isolation.
In 1939, Man Alone, a short but beautifully written novel by a 27-year-old New Zealander, John Mulgan, was published. It became a classic of New Zealand literature, and its title was adapted to describe the Man Alone school of writing. These novels describe loners, often living in the bush, who represent the isolation and exile of New Zealand. Mulgan took his own life in 1945.
Ngaio Marsh won international popularity for her detective fiction. Marsh created Roderick Alleyn, an upper-class English police detective. Marsh was also active in New Zealand theater for many years.
Poetry.
The first poetry of distinction from New Zealand appeared in the 1920’s and 1930’s. Robin Hyde became a respected poet on the strength of such collections as The Desolate Star (1929) and Houses by the Sea (published in 1952, after her death).
R. A. K. Mason was an important New Zealand poet who wrote unsentimental verse with straightforward honesty. A. R. D. Fairburn slowly changed from imitating English verse to finding a more recognizably New Zealand way of expressing his feelings.
Ursula Bethell lived and gardened in Canterbury and wrote under the pen name Evelyn Hayes. Her work was not widely recognized until after her death in 1945. But her poems on domestic and gardening subjects, which often draw upon and reflect her deep religious beliefs, are now admired for their wit and sophistication.
Nonfiction.
The tradition of narrative based on experiences in a new land matured in the 1920’s. From this literature came a much-loved classic, Tutira—The Story of a New Zealand Sheep Station (1921). The author was William Guthrie-Smith, a Scottish-born sheep farmer and amateur naturalist. Guthrie-Smith wrote stylishly and with humor and compassion about his relationship with his land, his animals, his workers, and his neighbors. He paid the entire cost of publishing the first edition of Tutira, but the book later became a widespread success.
The New Zealand historian J. C. Beaglehole’s Exploration of the Pacific (1934) gained international acceptance. Beaglehole enhanced his reputation with The Life of Captain Cook (published in 1974, after his death), which continues to be an important work.
Short stories.
The short story became the form in which New Zealand writers most excelled during the first half of the 1900’s. At that time, newspapers and magazines flourished in New Zealand, creating a demand for short fiction. Many New Zealanders were avid readers who had achieved a high level of literacy through a free public school education.
Katherine Mansfield was one of the most popular and important short-story authors of the 1900’s and ranks as perhaps New Zealand’s most famous author internationally. Mansfield was born and brought up in Wellington. Between the ages of 14 and 18, she went to school in England. Soon after she finished her education, she turned her back on New Zealand. She spent the rest of her short life mainly in England and France, dying of tuberculosis in 1923 at the age of 34.
Mansfield used the emotions and scenes of her childhood to create stories that rank among the finest in English, notably such stories as “At the Bay,” “The Garden Party,” and “Prelude.” Mansfield’s fame in the United Kingdom gave the short story increased popularity back in New Zealand.
Frank Sargeson is the pen name of Norris Frank Davey, who lived for about 50 years in a small cottage on Auckland’s North Shore. He was influenced by the American short-story writer and novelist Sherwood Anderson. The many short stories Sargeson wrote in the 1930’s and 1940’s showed his talent for expressing the rhythms and characteristics of the local language. His first collection, Conversation with My Uncle and Other Sketches, came out in 1936. The collection features stories of ordinary people in ordinary situations.
Sargeson’s full Collected Stories, 1935-1963 (1964) and his most famous novel, Memoirs of a Peon (1965), brought wide success. He was the first New Zealander writing within the country to gain the serious attention of British readers.
The second half of the 1900’s
New voices in fiction.
A new generation of writers emerged to give substance and quality to New Zealand’s literature in the mid-1900’s. Dan Davin, a New Zealand novelist who spent much of his life in England, wrote For the Rest of Our Lives (1947), a battle story about New Zealanders fighting in World War II (1939-1945), based on his service in North Africa during the war. He stayed in Oxford for a career in publishing, but his short stories and novels continued to be fond reflections on New Zealand.
From 1957 to 1960, several major New Zealand novels were published, including Ian Cross’s The God Boy (1957), Sylvia Ashton-Warner’s Spinster (1958), Barry Crump’s A Good Keen Man (1960), and Noel Hilliard’s Maori Girl (1960). First published in the United States, The God Boy is Cross’s memorable story of a troubled childhood. Ashton-Warner’s Spinster is a moving tale of an eccentric country schoolteacher. Crump’s experience as a professional deer hunter provided the basis for his first novel, a humorous story about living in the bush. He went on to write several other humorous novels and short stories. Maori Girl was the first in a set of four books by Hilliard that touched realistically on race relations with Māori. The others were Power of Joy (1965), Maori Woman (1974), and The Glory and the Dream (1978).
The New Zealand writer Janet Frame was incorrectly diagnosed as a schizophrenic and spent several years undergoing harrowing treatment, including electric shock therapy. Her experiences under treatment are reflected in her fiction. Frame’s autobiographical Owls Do Cry (1957) seems to follow closely the theme of Robin Hyde’s The Godwits Fly but it is written with much more intensity. That novel was followed by the sequels Faces in the Water (1961) and The Edge of the Alphabet (1962).
After Owls Do Cry, Frame wrote a number of other novels, stories, and poems, many of them experimental. They all display language that is rich and full of insight. Frame also wrote a distinguished cycle of autobiographical works—To the Is-Land (1982), An Angel at My Table (1984), and The Envoy from Mirror City (1985).
Literature for children.
blossomed beginning in the 1970’s. Many writers of adult novels have contributed to the field. The most accomplished was Margaret Mahy, whose books were published in the United Kingdom as well as New Zealand starting in the 1970’s. She wrote for readers ranging from infants to young adults, and her work is remarkable for its imaginative wit and vitality of language. Mahy completed her first book, A Lion in the Meadow, in 1969 and continued writing into the early 2000’s.
Other fiction writers.
Ronald Hugh Morrieson won praise for his satirical comic novels about small-town life in New Zealand from 1930 to 1950. He completed four novels. Two were published during his lifetime, The Scarecrow (1963) and Came a Hot Friday (1964). The other two appeared after his death in 1972, Predicament (1974) and Pallet on the Floor (1976).
Maurice Shadbolt wrote a number of novels that examine New Zealand’s recent history. His first collection of short stories, The New Zealanders, appeared in 1959. Shadbolt incorporated pieces of New Zealand’s history and demonstrated his strong feeling for his country in his writings. His Season of the Jew (1986), Monday’s Warriors (1990), and House of Strife (1993) are unique, humorous fictional accounts of courageous Māori resistance to European settlers’ occupation of their land.
Maurice Gee’s Plumb (1978) earned him international recognition. Plumb is the first work in a trilogy with Meg (1981) and Sole Survivor (1983). The trilogy traces the lives of three generations of a New Zealand family during the 1900’s. Gee’s Live Bodies (1998) tells the story of an Austrian who fights the Nazis, then escapes to New Zealand, only to be treated as an “enemy alien.” Gee’s works also include television plays and prizewinning children’s stories.
Maurice Duggan and Owen Marshall became widely known for their short stories. Duggan’s first collection was Immanuel’s Land: Stories (1956). The last collection published during his lifetime was O’Leary’s Orchard and Other Stories (1970). His stories won acclaim for their craftsmanship.
Owen Marshall, who worked as a small-town schoolteacher on the South Island for many years, became a major national literary figure with his subtly humorous tales of small-town life, full of vivid characters and humorous plots. A typical collection is Supper Waltz Wilson and Other New Zealand Stories (1979). Marshall also wrote works in a more serious vein, such as the novel Harlequin Rex (1999), about an epidemic of a strange new disease.
Māori authors
writing in English include the groundbreaking author Witi Ihimaera. His collection of short stories, Pounamu, Pounamu (1972), was the first published book of short stories by a Māori author. His Tangi (1973), the first novel by a Māori, won him the Wattie Book of the Year, then New Zealand’s top literary prize. These first stories were gentle reflections on Māori life in the country. As Ihimaera matured, his work developed a tough Realistic style.
Following Ihimaera, a number of other Māori writers produced important work. Hone Tūwhare became one of the most popular poets in the country. Keri Hulme’s elaborate and moving novel The Bone People (1984) won the Booker Prize, the United Kingdom’s top literary award, and became an international best seller.
Alan Duff, a part-Māori author, wrote Once Were Warriors (1990), the first New Zealand novel to deal with problems facing modern urban Māori. It is a story of family violence told in the language of the city streets. Duff’s other books include the grim realistic novel One Night Out Stealing (1991); the nonfiction Maori: The Crisis and the Challenge (1993); and What Becomes of the Broken Hearted? (1996), a sequel to Once Were Warriors.
Patricia Grace is a Māori author who writes short stories and novels dealing with the lives of villagers, particularly the fishermen and women. As many Māori writers do, Grace uses plain detail to reflect traditional myths and legends. Her stories have been collected in Waiariki (1975) and Electric City (1987).
Modern poetry
has been dominated by two poets whose reputation extends beyond New Zealand: James K. Baxter and Allen Curnow. Baxter’s first work was collected in Beyond the Palisade (1944) when he was 18. By the time he died in 1972, he had a reputation as a biting social critic and an accomplished poet with a range of styles.
Curnow’s career spanned more than half a century. He first became known for his collection Not in Narrow Seas: Poems with Prose (1939). His output and his importance grew steadily from the 1950’s until his death in 2001. Curnow was distinguished for his technical skill and power. A survey of his work was published as Early Days Yet: New and Collected Poems, 1941-1997 (1997).
Denis Glover’s works were first published in the 1930’s. He continued to write poems of mainly social criticism for more than 40 years. Fleur Adcock and Lauris Edmond have both established an international reputation. Adcock has written on a broad range of subjects, from domestic themes to such public events as the fall of Communism in Romania. Edmond’s first book of poetry was not published until she was 51 years old, but she rapidly became one of the country’s most admired poets. Fiona Kidman gained recognition with such collections as Honey and Bitters (1975) and On the Tightrope (1978). She has won prizes for her fiction, in particular The Book of Secrets (1987), based on the real events of a religious sect that relocated from Scotland to Nova Scotia to New Zealand. Kidman has also won praise for her radio and television plays.
Recent New Zealand literature
During the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, poetry remained important in New Zealand literature. Sam Hunt and Bill Manhire write poetry using everyday language that makes their works especially accessible to average readers. Hunt often performs his direct, simple poems in public. The many collections of his verse include Down the Backbone (1995). Manhire’s poetry has been collected in several prizewinning volumes, including Milky Way Bar (1991), My Sunshine (1996), and What to Call Your Child (1999). His Collected Poems appeared in 2001. C. K. Stead, who is also a critic and novelist, has gathered his verse in such collections as Straw into Gold (1997). Ian Wedde’s poetry appears in The Commonplace Odes (2001) and other collections.
Māori writers continued to create major works. Hone Tūwhare produced the poetry collections Shape-Shifter (1997) and Piggy-Back Moon (2001). Patricia Grace wrote Dogside Story (2001) about a legal dispute that threatens to tear apart a small Māori community. Szabad (2001), Alan Duff’s first novel set outside New Zealand, takes place during the anti-Communist uprising in Hungary in the 1950’s.
Other important fiction included Lloyd Jones’s The Book of Fame (2000), the story of a 1905 tour of Europe by the All Blacks, New Zealand’s national rugby football team. Jones’s Here at the End of the World We Learn to Dance (2002) portrays two pairs of lovers, decades apart, who learn to dance the tango.
Eleanor Catton won the 2013 Man Booker Prize (now called the Booker Prize) for The Luminaries, a sweeping novel set in the frontier gold fields of New Zealand during 1865 and 1866. Canadian-born Catton has lived in New Zealand since childhood. At age 28, she became the youngest person ever to win the Booker Prize.
