Neoliberalism and Cultural Transition in New Zealand Literature, 1984-2008 Jennifer Lawn Lexington Books, $95.00, ISBN 9780739177419 The 1984 Labour government’s legacy has been a curious Rorschach test over the years. I can recall talking to my students in classes at…
The Critic’s Part: Wystan Curnow Art Writings 1971-2013
Wystan Curnow
Adam Art Gallery/Victoria University Press, $80.00,
ISBN 9780864739322
Then It Was Now Again: Selected Critical Writing
Murray Edmond
Atuanui Press, $44.00,
ISBN 9780992245368
The editors of The Critic’s Part tell us that Curnow’s prolific but scattered art-critical writings (reviews, catalogue copy, journalism, essays etc) together reveal the “arc, progression, and continuity of Curnow’s thinking” and deliver a “general, ‘big-picture’ account of New Zealand art”. If there is some truth to the first of these claims, the second cannot be said to bear much examination. Nonetheless, anyone interested in the history of New Zealand art in the late 20th century will be grateful to Christina Barton and Robert Leonard for making these pieces available.
Elements of Modernism in Colin McCahon’s Early Work Gordon H Brown Art History Programme, Victoria University of Wellington, $15.00, ISBN 9780475122032 Toss Woollaston: Origins and Influence Tony Green Art History Programme, Victoria University of Wellington, $15.00, ISBN 9771176304001 Colin McCahon…
The Truth Garden Emma Neale Otago University Press, $30.00, ISBN 9781877578250 The Bengal Engine’s Mango Afterglow Geoff Cochrane Victoria University Press, $25.00, ISBN 9780864737618 Warm Auditorium James Brown Victoria University Press, $28.00, ISBN 9780864737649 From Manoa to a Ponsonby Garden…
The Settler’s Plot: How Stories Take Place in New Zealand Alex Calder Auckland University Press, $45.99, ISBN 9781869404882 Cosma Shalizi has proposed a useful division of non-fiction works into two categories, “works of reflection” and “works of conviction”: A…
The Invention of New Zealand: Art and National Identity 1930-1970 Francis Pound Auckland University Press, $75.00, ISBN 1869404149 Francis Pound’s The Invention of New Zealand is an uneven and often quirky work but one with which anyone interested in the…
James K Baxter: Poems Sam Hunt (ed) Auckland University Press, $29.99, ISBN 9781869404345 Doubtless: New and Selected Poems Sam Hunt Craig Potton Publishing, $29.99, ISBN 9781877333811 Googling the phrase “New Zealand’s greatest poet” finds hits evenly divided between James K…
Dream Boat: Selected Poems Tony Beyer HeadworX, $34.99, ISBN 9780473126520 Making Lists for Frances Hodgkins Paula Green Auckland University Press, $24.99, ISBN 9781869404024 Mr Maui’s Monologues Peter Bland Steele Roberts, $24.99, ISBN 9781877448270 In Continents Richard Reeve Auckland University Press,…