The Oxford Book of New Zealand Short Stories

by O'Sullivan, Vincent

• ISBN13: 9780195582918
• ISBN10: 0195582918
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1994-05-05
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This anthology presents 50 stories by over 40 of New Zealand's best writers. Nineteenth-century writing, which is largely unknown, is represented by Clara Cheeseman and G B Lancaster, as well as by the more familiar Lady Barker and itinerant Henry Lawson. In the early twentieth centuryKatherine Mansfield is followed by Greville Texidor as well as Frank Sargeson and Dan Davin.The middle years of the century exhibit a flowering of talent. Janet Frame, Maurice Duggan, and Maurice Gee are all fine practitioners of the genre, while Witi Ihimaera and Patricia Grace are the strong voices of Maori writing. The past dozen or so years have seen an explosion of new writing, withtalents as diverse as Owen Marshall, Keri Hulme, Barbara Anderson, and Peter Wells. The selection provides an introduction to New Zealand short fiction that readers interestd in the new literatures in English will find stimulating and surprising. The stories are accompanied by brief biographical notes and a glossary of Maori words.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Acknowledgements
From Christmas Day in New Zealand	p. 1
Married for His Money	p. 14
One Lady at Wairakei	p. 25
Stiffner and Jim (Thirdly, Bill)	p. 34
Hantock's Dissertation	p. 41
The Wind Blows	p. 45
An Indiscreet Journey	p. 49
The Perfect Mother	p. 62
Home Front	p. 75
A Great Day	p. 83
Old Man's Story	p. 90
Another Kind of Life	p. 96
Coming and Going	p. 100
School Picnic	p. 109
A Dalmatian Woman	p. 119
A Girl with Ambition	p. 123
Along Rideout Road that Summer	p. 127
Cross My Heart and Cut My Throat	p. 143
The Reservoir	p. 149
The Bath	p. 161
Up the River with Mrs Gallant	p. 168
One of the Titans	p. 176
Corrective Training	p. 181
The Morning Talk	p. 190
A Glorious Morning, Comrade	p. 196
The People Before	p. 203
A New Zealand Elegy	p. 223
An Opinion of the Ballet	p. 247
Fog	p. 250
The Silk	p. 256
Journey	p. 264
Between Earth and Sky	p. 276
Dandy Edison for Lunch	p. 280
Crocodile	p. 297
The Tennis Player	p. 304
Valley Day	p. 314
Mumsie and Zip	p. 323
Jack Kerouac Sat Down Beside the Wanganui River and Wept	p. 331
Big Brother, Little Sister	p. 338
The Poet's Wife	p. 353
The Gringos	p. 361
Jim's Elvis	p. 368
One Whale, Singing	p. 372
The Gift	p. 381
Outing	p. 392
Archaeology	p. 398
Who's That Dancing With My Mother?	p. 411
The Wife Who Spoke Japanese in her Sleep	p. 416
A Veil Dropped from a Great Height	p. 426
Baby Clare	p. 431
Biographical Notes	p. 441
Glossary of Maori and Samoan Words	p. 450
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.