Blog Archives

Watching a craftsman, Briar Lawry

Strait Men and Other Tales Murray Edmond Steele Roberts, $30.00, ISBN 9781927242988 Strait Men and Other Tales by Murray Edmond is a tricky beast. Its slim spine belies the size and style of the stories within – there’s nothing that

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Posted in Literature, Review, Short stories

Poetical philosophies, John Dennison

Song of the Ghost in the Machine  Roger Horrocks Victoria University Press, $25.00, ISBN 9780864739858 Shaggy Magpie Songs Murray Edmond Auckland University Press, $25.00, ISBN 9781869408411 Generation Kitchen Richard Reeve Otago University Press, $25.00, ISBN 9781877578922 Roger Horrocks’s Song of

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Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review

Culture wars, ancient and modern, Hugh Roberts

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.

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Posted in Essays, Non-fiction, Review

Bovver boys

What they wrote A taste of contributor comments over our first 20 years   On New Zealand Books My hope is that New Zealand Books will provide a forum for frank discussion that dares to rise above the suffocating confines

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Posted in Comment

Combing the romantic inheritance, Iain Sharp

Lives of the Poets John Newton Victoria University Press, $25.00, ISBN 9780864736284   Goya Rules Harvey McQueen HeadworX, $24.99, ISBN 9780473160401   Walls to Kick and Hills to Sing from Murray Edmond Auckland University Press, $24.99, ISBN 9781869404581   When

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Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review

Strange days in the language school, Mark Houlahan

Monkey Miss Her Now & Everything a Teenage Girl Should Know Jack Ross Danger Publications, [no price given], ISBN 047600182X Fool Moon Murray Edmond Auckland University Press, $27.99, ISBN 1869403169 Crosswind Paula Green Auckland University Press, $27.99, ISBN 186940324x Clung

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Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review

Language and loss, John Dickson

laminations Murray Edmond Auckland University Press, $19.95, ISBN 1869402227 In the poem “Can that Mango” from Murray Edmond’s latest book, the following lines are spoken (or so a note informs us) by one of two angels who are discussing a

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Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review

Light that fire, Lydia Wevers

Big Smoke: New Zealand Poems 1960-1975 eds Alan Brunton, Murray Edmond, Michele Leggott Auckland University Press, $49.95, ISBN 869402308 A thick black-and-white book with a beautiful cover illustration by Patrick Hanly taken from the second issue of Freed, Big Smoke

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Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review

The panic of O, Jane Stafford

The Switch Murray Edmond Auckland University Press, $19.95 Dia Michelle Leggott Auckland University Press, $19.95 I teach a second-year university course in modern poetry where one of the chief requirements of the lecturers is to prevent panic. It’s alright, we

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Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review

Recurring images from diverse sources, Charles Croot

From The Word Go Murray Edmond, Auckland University Press, 1992, $16.95 Small Stories of Devotion Dinah Hawken, Victoria University Press, Wellington, 1991, $19.95 Murray Edmond’s fifth collection is an uneven performance. This poet’s strength lies in his powers of observation

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Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review
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