The Auckland University Press Anthology of New Zealand Literature

This thoughtfully prepared anthology brings literary delights and insights to New Zealanders and to the rest of the world. Selections are arranged thematically in quite a precise manner. For example, under the broad theme of "contact" are two to five selections each for three subthemes: the uncultured shore; poetic projections; and missionaries, whalers and Pakeha Maori. Under the broad theme of "colonial," subthemes include treaties and declarations, imagined worlds, colonial romance, war, and preservationism. Other broad themes include Maoriland (eight subthemes); between the wars (seven subthemes); cultural nationalism (six subthemes); after the war (seven subthemes); and Kiwi culture to counter-culture (nine subthemes). The decades of the 1970s, 80s, and 90s each have their own thematic divisions. The final section is titled "How to Live Elsewhere," and selections are grouped as they pertain to being the other, Maoriland, longing, and last words, among other topics. The anthology concludes with author biographies, a select bibliography and sources, and an index of works and authors. Editors Stafford and Williams both lecture in English at Victoria University of Wellington. Annotation c2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Jane Stafford is an associate professor at Victoria University and the coeditor of Floating Worlds: Essays on Contemporary New Zealand Fiction. Mark Williams is professor at Victoria University and the author of Post-colonial Literatures in English: Southeast Asia, New Zealand and the Pacific. They are coauthors of Maoriland: New Zealand Literature 1872–1914 and coeditors of “The World Novel to 1950” volume of The Oxford History of the Novel in English.