NEW ZEALAND LITERATURE.

Shannon News, 14 September 1928, Page 4

NEW ZEALAND LITERATURE.

W.E.A. LBCTUEE

At Tuesday's meeting of the VV.E.A. class the lecturer (Mrs A. W. Hutchings, M.A.) took as her subject the by no means "inconsiderable contribution to English literature by New Zealand authors. There was a large attendance and the study proved very informative and interesting. Abi outline of the lecture follows: A new land—for less than a century has elapsed-since the first -efforts in the direction of colonization were made in New Zealand —a land remote from the older civilizations of the world, separated from them by "loping leagues of sea," a land that was a wilderness to be tamed by the stern toil of the pioneers -before time could be found for cultivating the graces of life, can scarcely hope to march side by side with the Motherland in Art and Literature. Yet a brief survey of the field of literary activity in poetry and prose, drama, journalism, essays and belles lettres, history and biography, scienti- ., fie and educational works will show

that the harvest is by no means insignificant. , . In New Zealand, from the beginning there was a tradition that it was a good thing to write, and strangely enough, to write verse. The country was fortunate indeed in the men who directed the first experiments in colonization—men who represented the higher culture of the old land, Edward Gibbon Wakefield, Sir George Grey, Alfred Domett (the friend of Browning, to whom the poem

"What's become of Waring Since he gave us all the slip Chose land travel or sea faring

refers), Sir Maurice O'Kourke, and many others whose brilliant wit and debating power made, the old Provincial Councils famous. The early settlers brought with them the treasures ot their libraries; schools and colleges were soo%> established, and- the education of the rising generation was made a first consideration in the development of the country. Interesting at the present stage, is the recently published life of Edward Gibbon Wakefield by A. J. Harrop, a biography that is-attracting much notice. Beviews say, "Few people in the 19th'century had a more remarkable career. Wakefield added to the British Empire the richest jewel in the Crown by his foresight, vigour, and-audacity in facing his detractors. He was a great man, as a" practical man always will be in comparison with the arm-chair politician buttressed by social tradition, but he was ahead of Mb times." This biography sets out his work without prejudice and is a worthy tribute to the history of New Zealand. , In the new land such men strove to build up a worthy tradition, they, the pioneers, and

The Lord's lone sentinels Dotted down the years— The little grey company Before the pioneers. Dreaming of Utopias Ere the, time was ripe,

of whom Miss Jessie Mackey sings in a poem that it has been thought fit to include in an English Anthology.

In considering the merit of the literary output of New Zealanders and of those who have lived long enough in our country to bear its stamp on their work, it is of importance to decide whether we shall say their work is good for New Zealand, typical, representative of the country or whether we shall say their work is good as English literature. Curiously enough, public opinion here is a factor in pushing our budding authors out into the world at large, for though many New Zealanders write poems and novels, few New Zealanders buy them. We are diffident about accepting even a monthly literary magazine; we prefer ♦ho "Home" article with the established reputation. Our playwrights have had some local success in the cities. Mr Alan Mulgan has produced a distinctive piece of work in his "Three Plays of New Zealand," but others, such as Mr Bex Hunter, have gone to America or England to find a wider scope for their work.

Miss Jane Mander whose novels, "The Passionate Puritan," and "The Story of a New Zealand River," depict a phase of back-country life in New Zealand, has found the American publie more appreciative of her talent and her latest novel deals with New York.

Rosemary Rees, who has several novels to her credit, "April's Sowing," "Heather of the South," "Lake of Enchantment," "Wild, Wild Heart," meets with favourable criticism in the English reviews for "her fresh, invigorating outlook," "her splendid sense of the open air life," "her understanding of the manly types of manhood and of lovable arid unaffected womanhood." -G. B. Lancaster has written many novels. Charles A. Allen's "Tarry Knight," according to the Times Literary Supplement, is "an unusual story, a refreshing change.'' William Satchell in his "Toll of the Bush" and "Land of the Lost" gives •us a vivid picture of the North of New Zealand, a part of a country that long felt the stir 6i the wild, lawless days of Kororareka, where the flotsam and ietsam of humanity drifted ashore at the Bay of Islands in the old whaling days before the coming-of the missionaries and the establishment of responsible government.

The north is the scene of the book that is .most generally regarded -as a classic of New Zealand—" Old New Zealand" by a Pakeha Maori (Judge Maning). In his preface to the book Lord • Pembroke says, "-With a real love, and a considerable knowledge of literature, a keen appreciation of all intellectual excellence, and a most delightful humour, I think I never came across so charming a talker <as the man ; whom I mp.y no * te*ptt7' christen the

'Lever' of New Zealand." In this delightful narrative Mailing Asketches : the customs of a people he knew thoroughly. His style is chatty and discursive; ft takes him two chapters to get ashore and good telling it is. His analysis of his own mental processes and those of his friend "Melons" and the onlookers is amazingly modern. So, too, it is in the chapter in which the priest evokes a spirit and the Maori tragedy following is told. It is modern psychoanalysis and carries us in thought to the work of Katharine Mansfield, whose short stories are to-day esteemed as one of the most remarkable achievements of modern literature. Of her work, Mr Middleton Hurry says, " The revolution which she made in the art of the short story in England was altogether personal. It is as though the glass through which she looked upon life were crystal clear. ... She

was natural and spontaneous as was no other human being I have ever met." Some of her most arresting work is descriptive of her early life in Wellington. New Zealand was part of her being; in the old land she lived spiritually isolated and the pathos of her yearning for the sunshine of her youth and its vibrant happiness moves us deeply. As a school child of nine years she wrote a couple of studies that were printed in the Wellington Girls' College Eeporter. They show already skilful treatment of her subjects, and a promise of literary power. In the Journal for October, 1915, her brother's visit- calls up a mental picture to her of her old home. The little round pear, hard as a stone, that fell from the London tree, brings back the memory of the tree in the garden in Wellington with its masses of yellow fruit tumbled down by the southerly buster, and "the London air smells chill . . .

heaVy ... very cold." " The Garden Party" short story is set in Wellington, as is "At the Bay" and the "Prelude" to Bliss.

It would be impossible to set out a complete bibliography for New Zealand. The number of bpoks and the variety of their subjects is indeed surprising; the number printed and published in New Zealand is noteworthy. The subjects treated of include history, geography, ethnologieal study of the Maori people,the flora and fauna of New Zealand, geology, economies, sociology, law, every phase of the life of the country. One interesting feature in the treatment of these varied subjects is their literary merit. They avo in many cases not mere summaries of facLs. Wherever possible 'the writer gives a personal touch to the telling that makes the matter interesting to the general reading pub.lic. Poetry is widely represented in our New Zealand literature. The number of small volumes published is large and the work is often of real, poetie merit. An anthology of New Zealand verse, published in 1906 and recently reprinted, includes the work of Domett, Sir Charles Bowen, Alan Mulgan, Miss Jessie Mackay, Miss Colborne-Veel, Hubert Church, Thomas Bracken, Johannes Andersen, Miss Baughan, Professor Wall and many others. A country like ours with its wide range of .scenery, lofty snow-clad mountain, great lakes, thermal regions, wide plains, mighty forests, waterfalls, and rivers, blue seas and blue skies, and glowing sunshine might well be the inspiration of a school of descriptive poetry and here our writers excel. In his'epic "Ranolf and Amohia" Domett wove the legends of the Maori people in a tapestry of rich colour. Arthur Adams, in the "Coming of Te Kauparaha," sets his verse t© the music of the Maori chants and paiiits the "flaming battlements of sunset" over the whare where Hipc's soful was passing. . . .the lizard Made a greenish ripple through the darkness,

And was gone upon the long, lone

journey , . To Te Eeinga and the world of spirits. It had started with the soul of Hipe.

Professor Wall describes the quiet beauty of tlie city of^Christchurch—"Each of her streets is closed ; with shining Alps Like Heaven at the end of long, plain lives.

Thomas Bracken '3 poem '' Not Understood" is somewhat hackneyed. More poetic is his sonnet on the "Bird and the Idol." We hope that this collection may be something more thaw "little songs for little people." We are inclined at times to underestimate our own achievement and think with Bracken of —

Little churches,, little steeples; Little couls and little hearts; Little nations, little peoples, .Actors, playing little parts. After all we're very little, Very little after all. In the Temple of Creation, Brothers, we are very small.