In the first of a two-part series, Chris Else examines the evolutionary explanation of art argued in two recent books. In 1975 E O Wilson published Sociobiology. It initiated a debate that has raged ever since over the idea that…
Gith Chris Else Random House, $27.99, ISBN 9781869790134 Show of Hands Anthony McCarten Random House, $29.99, ISBN 9781869419950 Swimmer’s Rope Stephanie Johnson Random House, $29.99, ISBN 9781869790257 At the first look there’s not much to tie these three novels together.…
Shadow Waters Chris Baker Huia, $27.00, ISBN 1869692357 Black Earth White Bones Chris Else Random House, $27.99, ISBN 9781869418625 Overdue New Releases Matt Johnson Longacre Press, $29.99, ISBN 1877361429 Holocaust Tours Julian Novitz Vintage, $27.99, ISBN 9781869417284 Apart from the…
On River Road Chris Else Random, $26.95, ISBN 1869416236 Tarzan Presley Nigel Cox Victoria University Press, $29.95, ISBN 0864734808 Stench Mike Johnson Hazard Press, $24.95, ISBN 1877270687 Three books, all works of fiction, all by men who will not see…
Tu Patricia Grace Penguin, $35, ISBN 0143019201 Certain battles mark themselves on the popular imagination. The most evocative are often not great victories but failed assaults, especially those with a touch of futility about them: the Charge of the Light…
On Writing Hit Songs Simon Morris Four Winds Press, $14.95, ISBN 0958237573 Biography of a Local Palate David Burton Four Winds Press, $14.95, ISBN 0958237581 Under the Influence Bill Manhire Four Winds Press, $14.95, ISBN 0958237565 Reviewing three books at…
The quality question, Chris Else
New Zealand Society of Authors president Chris Else examines the options for funding a home-grown literature. In offering his radical rethink of Creative New Zealand’s policy for funding literature (NZB, December 2005), Tim Hazledine suggests the only reasonable justification for…
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