Abstract
This paper examines the work of one of New Zealand’s most acclaimed writers, Maurice Gee, and the use of his children’s fiction as an experimental ground for postmodernist techniques further developed in his writing for adults. In particular, it considers Gee’s borrowings of his own and others’ non-fictional and fictional material, to produce richly literary, historical novels. The paper argues that realist and postmodernist features are woven into the children’s and adult books, but that the balance is differently skewed in each. It thus addresses an area largely atypical of the children’s novel, but one that should be of concern to children’s literature critics.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Williams believes that these ordering structures typify Gee’s humanist realism. He sees Gee as belonging to a tradition of New Zealand humanist realism that includes the writings of Frank Sargeson (who dominated New Zealand short fiction from 1936 to 1954), and John Mulgan’s classic Man Alone (1939).
All subsequent references to The Fire-Raiser and Prowlers are to the 1986 and 1987 editions respectively.
References
Abrams, M.H. (1985). A Glossary of Literary Terms. Orlando: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Baigent, L.E.H. (1957). An Early Incident. Journal of the Nelson Historical Society, 1(2), 14–15.
Gee, Maurice. (1986). The Fire-Raiser. Auckland: Puffin Books.
Gee, Maurice. (1978). Nelson Central School: A History. Nelson: Nelson Central School Centennial Committee.
Gee, Maurice. (1987). Prowlers. London: Faber and Faber.
Hutcheon, Linda. (1989). A Poetics of Postmodernism: History, Theory, Fiction. London: Routledge.
Hutcheon, Linda. (1985). A Theory of Parody: The Teachings of Twentieth-Century Art Forms. London: Methuen.
Keats, John. (1990/1818). Endymion. In Elizabeth Cook (Ed.). John Keats: A Critical Edition of the Major Works (pp. 60-163). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Longfellow, H. W. (1888/1839). Hyperion. In The Prose Works of H. W. Longfellow: Outre-Mer, Hyperion and Kavanagh (pp. 171–320). London: Cassell.
Mann, Shonadh. (1977). F. G. Gibbs: His Influence on the Social History of Nelson, 1890–1950. Nelson: The Nelson Historical Society.
Milton, John. (2000/1667). Paradise Lost. London: Penguin Books.
O’Brien, Gregory. (1988). Moments of Invention: Portraits of 21 New Zealand Writers (pp. 112–118). Auckland: Heinemann Reed.
Our Empire Day. (1917). Held in Maurice Gee’s files at the Arthur Turnbull Library. Wellington, New Zealand: Molesworth Street.
Shakespeare, William. (1989/1623). Cymbeline. In Howard Staunton (Ed.), The Complete Illustrated Shakespeare (Vol. II, pp. 705–71). Bombay: Lalvani Publishing House.
Shelley, Percy. (n.d./1819). Song to the Men of England. In The Literature Network. Retrieved from 23 September 2011, from http://www.online-literature.com/shelley_percy/673/
Van Rij, Vivien. (2003). Interview with Maurice Gee. Unpublished, Wellington.
Welch, Dennis. (2001, May 12). Gee Gee: Maurice Gee’s Brilliant Plagiarisms of Maurice Gee. New Zealand Listener, pp. 58–9.
Williams, Mark. (1990). Leaving the Highway: Six Contemporary New Zealand Novelists. Auckland: Auckland University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Vivien van Rij wrote her doctoral thesis on the children’s fiction of award-winning New Zealand writer Maurice Gee. She is a lecturer in pre-service teacher education at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand where she teaches children’s literature and literacy. She has also taught courses in education, and has an interest in the interconnections between academic and pedagogical features of literature.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
van Rij, V. Maurice Gee’s Brilliant Borrowings of Maurice Gee and Significant Others: Realism and Postmodernism in Gee’s Books for Children and Adults. Child Lit Educ 44, 208–221 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10583-012-9185-0
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10583-012-9185-0