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The art of complex simplicities, Jane Stafford

How We Met Jenny Bornholdt, Victoria University Press, $19.95 Simplicity in writing – as in life – is a very complicated matter, difficult to achieve and uncertain in its effect. Simplicity in poetry is usually achieved by sacrificing content and

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Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review

Pandora’s envelope: it’s all about power, Bill Oliver

Crown Proposals for the Settlement of Treaty of Waitangi Claims Hon Douglas Graham, Department of Justice Though the text of the Crown Proposals is a good deal less euphoric in tone than the hype which accompanied their release in December,

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Posted in History, Māori, Non-fiction, Politics & Law, Review

Poem — Bill Manhire

Some screens   Japanese Pavillion Los Angeles County Museum Palace scene in downtown LA Palace scene in a snowy landscape, spring cherry, autumn maple. We stand for a while and watch the snow: the bridge at Uji crossing from spring

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Posted in Poem

Dynamically adaptive, Sir Tipene O’Regan

Painted Histories: Early Maori figurative painting Roger Neich, Auckland University Press, $79.95 In the late 1960s I slept for the first time in the meeting house Te-Poho-o-Hinekura at Te Kuha near Lake Waikaremoana. I was astonished by the faded blue

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Posted in Art, History, Māori, Non-fiction, Review

Letters – Issue 17

The value of experiment I did not respond to Jane Stafford’s review of Michele Leggott’s Dia and my The Switch in New Zealand Books when it was first printed because I think the writing should speak for itself and face

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Posted in Letters

The blinds drawn, Hamish Keith

Painted Histories: Early Maori figurative painting Roger Neich, Auckland University Press, $79.95 One April morning in 1920 the Maori King Te Rata, his kaumatua, a greeting party and 1000 or so Waikato, gathered on the platform at Ngaruawahia railway station

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Posted in Art, History, Māori, Non-fiction, Review

Poem — Jeanette Stace

Between   It is hard to tell its length, it appears to have no breadth. Between is a line of loops joining, between is a series of leaps separating, between is the arrow pointing. Between likes to give you little

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A book reader; what else? Laura Kroetsch

The Dominion of Signs Nick Perry, Auckland University Press, $34.95 A few weeks ago a debate appeared in the Times Higher Education Supplement which Colin MacCabe (head of research and education at the British Film Institute) and Graham McCann (a

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Posted in Non-fiction, Review, Sociology

Apology to C K Stead

C K Stead has taken exception to two aspects of a review of The Faber Book of Contemporary South Pacific Stories in our issue of March 1994. If Roger Robinson’s review gave readers the impression that the absence of four

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Posted in Comment

A nation’s rough habit, Piet de Jong

On A Roll: A History of Gambling and Lotteries In New Zealand David Grant, Victoria University Press, $39.95 Victoria University Press has backed a winner with this history of gambling and lotteries in New Zealand. The subject has everything. It

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Posted in Health, Non-fiction, Review, Sociology
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