Blog Archives
Imported and adapted, Gavin McLean
The Chapman Legal Family Peter Spiller, Victoria University Press, $39.95 Waikato law professor Peter Spiller’s book examines the legal careers of Henry Samuel Chapman and his two sons, Frederick, the first New Zealand-born Supreme Court judge, and Martin, founder of…
The fall of a decent joker, Michael Gifkins
The Autobiography of My Father Martin Edmond, Auckland University Press, $29.95 There is an entry in the book of New Zealand literary politics which reads: Edmond, Trevor, schoolteacher, husband of Lauris, poet (late-flowering); father of (inter alia) Martin, scriptwriter, see…
Tagged with: Auckland University Press, Issue 7, Lauris Edmond, Martin Edmond, Michael Gifkins, Summer 1992, Trevor Edmond
Posted in Biography, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in Biography, Non-fiction, Review
Reading pictures, Jane Clendon
Colonial Constructs: European Images of Maori 1840-1914 Leonard Bell, Auckland University Press, $69.95 The language of art historical discourse has become more complex and demanding since Leonard Bell published his first book, The Maori in European Art, in 1980. Now,…
Tagged with: Auckland University Press, Issue 7, Jane Clendon, Leonard Bell, Summer 1992
Posted in History, Māori, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in History, Māori, Non-fiction, Review
Publisher Profiles 5, Staying alive: the house of McIndoe, Lynley Hood
There’s been a subtle change in the south. Over the past month, without any fanfare, Dunedin-based John McIndoe Ltd – the South Island’s biggest publishing house – has become McIndoe Publishers. The three women who now run the firm wanted…
Big questions: part answers, James Norcliffe
Why Things Fall Chris Else, Tandem, $24.95 Love and War Elspeth Sandys, Vintage, $24.95 Jim’s Elvis Colleen Reilly, John McIndoe, $19.95 Why Things Fall at first glance seems quite a departure from Chris Else’s earlier ficciones, Dreams of Pythagoras (1981).…
Tagged with: Chris Else, Colleen Reilly, Elspeth Sandys, Issue 7, James Norcliffe, John McIndoe, Summer 1992, Tandem, Vintage
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
Overcoming entomo‑ignorance, Dale Williams
A Houseful of Strangers Patrick Dale, Collins, $19.95 (139 pp) Insects’ lib – the author attempts to defend the smaller occupants of our home environment against what Ruud Kleinpaste calls ‘entomo‑ignorance’. Subtitled ‘Living with the common creatures of the New…
Tagged with: Auckland University Press, Bridget Williams Books, Collins, Dale Williams, Diggeress Te Kanawa, I A Hood, Issue 7, Olive Dunn, Patrick Dale, Random Century, Summer 1992
Posted in Māori, Natural History, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in Māori, Natural History, Non-fiction, Review
Cryptic crosswords and intellectual judo, Chris Else
Black Rainbow Albert Wendt, Penguin, $29.95 Octavio’s Last Invention Michael Morrissey, Brick Row, $27.95 The world of Black Rainbow is a futuristic parody based on New Zealand Pakeha values, a world without crime, poverty or unemployment founded on a comfortable,…
Tagged with: Albert Wendt, Brick Row Publishing, Chris Else, Issue 7, Michael Morrissey, Penguin, Summer 1992
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
Unique, fascinating and vulnerable, Alan Mark
Natural History of New Zealand Nic Bishop, Hodder & Stoughton, $59.95 Yet another natural history of New Zealand, I hear you say, but this one is sufficiently different, attractive and up-to-date to appeal to the wide audience that is known…
Tagged with: Alan Mark, Hodder & Stoughton, Issue 7, Nic Bishop, Summer 1992
Posted in Natural History, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in Natural History, Non-fiction, Review
Heed the tale, not the teller, Ruth Brown
One Night Out Stealing Alan Duff, Tandem Press, $24.95 Affluence, it seems, is vindicated. Whereas Once Were Warriors exposed the anguish of the dispossessed, One Night Out Stealing is more concerned with reassurances for the well-to-do that their good fortune…
Tagged with: Alan Duff, Issue 7, Ruth Brown, Summer 1992, Tandem Press
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review