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Anthologies - Literary

Literary pieces - historical snapshots; accounts penned by travellers, witnesses, explorers and pioneers; journalistic pieces: the field here is wide!

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Literary Anthologies

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Titles to Look Out For:
[in alphabetical order, dated to earliest edition. Each listing includes later editions and printings]
1991. The Minerva Collection of 20th-Century Women's Fiction. Volume I edited by Judy Cooke and introduced by Deborah Moggach
2004. Writers in Residence: A Journey with Pioneer New Zealand Writers by Jenny Robin Jones



Cooke, Judy (ed.); Moggach, Deborah. 'The Minerva Collection of 20th-Century Women's Fiction', published in 1991 in Great Britain by Quality Paperbacks Direct in paperback, 559pp, No ISBN. Condition: Very good, but with some very slight edge wear and some creasing to the cover corners. Price: £7.20, not including post and packing (which is Amazon's standard charge (currently £2.80 for UK buyers; more for overseas customers)
1991, Quality Paperbacks Direct, pbk
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  • The Minerva Collection of 20th-Century Women's Fiction [top]
    Edited by Judy Cooke; with an introduction by Deborah Moggach
    First published in 1991 in Great Britain by Quality Paperbacks Direct, in paperback, 559pp, No ISBN
    Cover illustration: Henri Matisse 'Femme assise, le dos tourné vers la fenetre ouverte', 1921-3, oil on canvas, 73*92.1cm

About this book/synopsis: This volume includes short stories, novellas and extracts from the work of many of the finest women novelists and short story writers of this century [20th Century]. The 20th century saw some of the best of female fiction from authors such as Virginia Woolf, Colette, Margaret Atwood, Jean Rhys, Sylvia Plath, Elizabeth Bowen, and many more. These extracts and stories, arranged alphabetically, span the century and introduce writing from many different generations and perspectives, reflecting years of extraordinary change in the lives of women. Both volumes conclude with brief biographies of the authors, and the whole anthology is edited by Judy Cooke, formerly editor of Fiction Magazine

Contents of Volume 1:
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Margaret Atwood's Cats' Eye
Elizabeth Bowen: The Death of the Heart
Anita Brookner: The Latecomers
Angela Carter: The Magic Toyshop
Colette: The Cat
Anita Desai: Clear Light of Day
Margaret Drabble: The Millstone
Daphne du Maurier: The Birds
Marguerite Duras: The Lover
Buchi Emecheta: Second Class Citizen
Zoe Fairbairns: Daddy's Girls
Nadine Gordimer: Blinder
Georgina Hammick: People for Lunch
Patricia Highsmith: Something You Have to Live With
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
How I Became the Holy Mother
Rosamond Lehmann: Invitation to the Waltz
Doris Lessing: The New Man
Olivia Manning: The Spoilt City
Biographical Notes

 

Jones, Jenny Robin. 'Writers in Residence: A Journey with Pioneer New Zealand Writers', published in 2004 in New Zealand by Auckland University Press, in paperback, 314pp, ISBN 1869403029. Condition: Very good, well looked-after. Price: £13.99, not including post and packing, which is Amazon UK's standard charge (currently £2.80 for UK buyers, more for overseas customers)
2004, Auckland University Press, pbk

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  • Writers in Residence: A Journey with Pioneer New Zealand Writers [top]
    Collated and written by Jenny Robin Jones
    First published in 2004 in New Zealand in paperback by Auckland University Press, 314pp, ISBN 1869403029
    Cover design: Christine Hansen. The cover design shows William Packes' 'Samuel Butler's Homestead at Mesopotamia', c.1868. A-196-015, Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington

About this book: This book about twenty 19th Century New Zealand writers presents in human terms what it meant to be a writer in a strange new land. Unexpected people took to the pen; travellers recorded their adventures; soldiers, judges, civil servants burst into print; poets blossomed. While the book required considerable research; it aims to take these talented, entertaining and courageous characters out of the exclusive possession of the scholars by recreating them as ordinary people excited by their experiences and surprised to find themselves making history. As the author says, 'I hope to have captured something of the reality of the lives lived and to create a sense of this country as one inhabited by writers.' An engaging and unusual book, Writers in Residence shows writing as a way in which a new place is explored and understood.

The author, from a trip to the Dublin Writers Museum, came to understand and be enlightened by how figures such as Jonathan Swift, Oscar Wilde, James Joyce, Brendan Behan, Samuel Beckett, G. B. Shaw, and W. B. Yeats contributed to Irish literature - they lived, loved and wrote in Ireland - they were shaped by it and in consequence also shaped it. Jenny Robin Jones understood them from that in a different way - she understood the connection between these writers and Ireland itself. This led to the writing and publication of this book on New Zealand because history offers two main routes to understanding ourselves better - firstly, the opportunity to learn from the past; and secondly, to give us psychological grounding. We find out where we came from, how we got here and what has given our society its unique character It gives us context, richness, depth, continuity and perspective.

Books about New Zealand's early literature were mostly (prior to this book) focused on aspects of the writing itself, such as:
1. E. H. McCormick's invaluable 1959 'New Zealand Literature: A Survey'
2. 'Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature'
3. Terry Sturm's 'Oxford History of New Zealand Literature'
The author felt these books did not mesh historical context with the writer as a human being in enough depth (or even at all), and therefore 'Writers in Residence: A Journey with Pioneer New Zealand Writers' focuses on the writings of real people and looks at what their connection with New Zealand was - what did they feel, see, hope and dream of as a real person in New Zealand?

Most of the writers in this book were not writers before they came to New Zealand: the majority were young, single, trained in a trade or profession, and in some sense looking for new territory and adventure. They often did not take to writing until some circumstance within their life in New Zealand suggested it; and adoption of their new country took place by stealth. There was the inevitable hunter of good fortune - in search of a quick buck and a return home loaded with wealth, such as Samuel Butler, who doubled his money and headed home. Some made their fortunes and stayed because New Zealand had become their home.
The writers whose stories comprise this book cover the first century of New Zealand writing - the selection being based on those whose work, though often deeply flawed, contained moments of enduring liveliness and insight and which was influential in the development of a literature. They cover the range fo the country geographically and in terms of class. Women writers are underrepresented because much of their writing consisted of letters home that were never published or did not appear in print until many years later and therefore cannot be said to have influenced the developing literary tradition or body

Contents:
Preface and Acknowledgements; Foreword
1. Three Men in a Boat: John Nicholas, Samuel Marsden & Thomas Kendall
2. Brewer at the Bay of Islands: J. S. Polack (1807-1882)
3. Tireless in Napier: William Colenso (1811-1899)
4. Lording It at Wanganui: Edward Jerningham Wakefield (1820-1879)
5. Trader of the Hokianga: F. E. Maning (1811-1883)
6. Father of Auckland: John Logan Campbell (1817-1912)
7. Of Hero-Worshippers and Heroes: Alfred Domett (1811-1887)
8. Handel by the Rangitata: Samuel Butler (1835-1902)
9. Tenacity Among the Tussock: Lady Barker c.1831-1911
10. Old Identities and New Iniquities in Dunedin: John Barr, Thomas Bracken, Alexander Bathgate & Vincent Pyke
11. Thrice Lord Mayor of Cromwell: William Jackson Barry (1819-1907)
12. Residents of Emptiness: Edward Tregear (1846-1931) & William Pember Reeves (1857-1932)
13. Made in New Zealand: Jessie Mackay (1864-1938) & Blanche Baughan (1870-1958)
Epilogue; Notes; Bibliography; Index

 

New Zealand Literature

 



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