Author(s): Vincent O'Sullivan

Short Stories

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 century Katherine 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, with talents 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.