| Telling the Real Story: Genre and New Zealand Literature Contributor(s): Mercer, Erin (Author) |
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ISBN: 177656085X ISBN-13: 9781776560851 Publisher: Victoria University Press OUR PRICE: $28.45 Product Type: Paperback Published: July 2018 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Literary Criticism | Australian & Oceanian - Literary Criticism | Modern - 20th Century |
| Physical Information: 1.3" H x 5.4" W x 8.2" (0.85 lbs) 386 pages |
| Themes: - Cultural Region - Oceania - Chronological Period - 20th Century |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Telling the Real Story: Genre and New Zealand Literature interrogates the relationships between genre, realism and New Zealand literature. What modes of writing have been deemed more appropriate than others at particular times, and why? Why have some narratives been interpreted as realist when significant aspects of them play on romance, science fiction and Gothic? What meanings are generated by the meeting points in a text where one mode meets another? What is at stake in writing, for example, a New Zealand vampire novel or an art world thriller? By rereading canonical texts and exploring writers who have been sidelined because of their use of non-realist elements, Telling the Real Story exposes the interplay of realism, Gothic, fantasy, romance and melodrama within New Zealand narratives and demonstrates that the apparently realist monolith of the national literature is infinitely more diverse and exciting than it may seem. Frank Sargeson, Sylvia Ashton-Warner, Keri Hulme, Elizabeth Knox and Eleanor Catton are among the major New Zealand writers whose work is seen in fresh and exciting ways. |