Pounamu, Pounamu

Witi Ihimaera

Pearson Education New Zealand Limited, 1972 - Social Science - 132 pages

"Pounamu, Pounamu' is the first collection of short stories by a Maori writer to be published. 'Pounamu, Pounamu' means 'Greenstone, Greenstone"--A lyrical phrase which conveys the haunting quality of most stories in this collection. Look through the greenstone and you will see: * An old woman searching the beach for shells to give her grandson * A young boy on a summer morning rushing happily towards manhood * An old man sitting alone in a darkening meeting house * A large sports gathering in a small Maori village * A young man approaching the meeting house to mourn his father. 'Pounamu, Pounamu' is Witi Ihimaera's distinctive view of rural Maori life. It deals with happiness and sadness, and always with aroha. It is his personal vision of Maori life as it is now (1970's) and of its values now. It has been written both with anger and with love - aroha - in the hope that such a life, the values of that life, will never be lost. Table of contents: * A Game of Cards * Beginning of the Tournament * The Makutu on Mrs Jones * Fire on Greenstone * The Other Side of the Fence * In Search of the Emerald City * One Summer Morning * The Child * The Whale * Tangi.

Contents

• A Game of Cards: 1
• Beginning of the Tournament: 7
• The Makutu on Mrs Jones: 15

About the author

Witi Ihimaera was born in Gisborne, New Zealand on February 7, 1944 into a Maori family of Mormons. After completing a B.A. in English, he worked as a journalist in New Zealand and started writing fiction. His first collection of short stories, Pounamu Pounamu, was published in 1972 and his first novel, Tangi, was published in 1973. His other works include Whanau, The Matriarch, The Whale Rider, The Dream Swimmer, Sky Dancer, The Trowenna Sea, and The Parihaka Woman. In 1982 he coedited an anthology of Maori writing, Into the World of Light, and continues to be a champion of literature in English by Maoris. In 2015 his title's Maori Boy: A Memoir and White Lies made The New Zealand Best Seller List and in 2016 it won the New Zealand Award general nonfiction award.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Pounamu, Pounamu; Stories Reprinted
• Author: Witi Ihimaera
• Editor: Witi Ihimaera
• Edition: reprint, braille
• Publisher: Pearson Education New Zealand Limited, 1972
• Original from: Indiana University
• Digitized: Jan 22, 2009
• ISBN: 0868636754, 9780868636757
• Length: 132 pages
• Subjects: Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural & Social; Social Science / Indigenous Studies