Mapping the Godzone: A Primer on New Zealand Literature and CultureWilliam Schafer read, and dreamed, about New Zealand before his first visit in 1995. Mapping the Godzone grew out of that visit and his attempts, as an American, to focus his impressions of New Zealand's literary culture and relate its mental and moral landscape to that of the United States. Through an idiosyncratic selection of contemporary novels and films, Schafer opens up a complex and compelling world. Readers will encounter internationally celebrated writers such as Witi Ihimaera, Fiona Kidman, Ronald Hugh Morrieson, Maurice Shadbolt, Albert Wendt, Alan Duff, Keri Hulme, Patricia Grace, Ian Wedde, and Janet Frame; and the emerging New Zealand film industry and the handful of directors (among them Jane Campion, Peter Jackson, Vincent Ward, and Geoff Murphy) who have created a vital cinema renaissance since the 1970s. Stimulating and highly original in its approach, Mapping the Godzone is an eloquent reflection on a remote island nation. |
Contents
Where on Earth Is Aotearoa? | 14 |
Whalers Sailors Sealers | 37 |
The Last Big Islands | 56 |
Once Were Crusaders | 93 |
The Bildungsroman at the End of the World | 116 |
Aotearoa Gothic | 137 |
Falling through the Hole in the Godzone | 160 |
Aotearoa at the Movies | 175 |
Other editions - View all
Mapping the Godzone: A Primer on New Zealand Literature and Culture William J. Schafer Limited preview - 1998 |
Mapping the Godzone: A Primer on New Zealand Literature and Culture William J. Schafer No preview available - 1998 |
Common terms and phrases
adventure American ancient Aotearoa artist Auckland basic beach become beliefs Bildungsroman bush canoes century character comedy comic complex created Crusader dark dead described developed Dick Dunedin earth epic European experience exploration Fairweather Falesea feeling fiction film frontier ghosts gothic haunted Hawaiki Heberley Heke hero horror House of Strife human idea Ihimaera imagination Janet Frame Johnson Kiwi Kooti Kupe land landscape literary living looking Maori and pakeha matriarch Maurice Shadbolt Melville Mirror City Monday's Warriors Morrieson movie myth narrator North Island novel Once Were Warriors Pacific pakeha settlers paradise past Polynesian Porano powerful Ricky Ronald Hugh Ronald Hugh Morrieson sense settlement settlers sexual Shadbolt small-town social society South story Symmes Hole tale Taranaki Te Kooti Te Kooti's war tion Titokowaru traditional Tui Porano vision Wedde's whaling writing young Zealand cinema Zealand literature Zealand Wars