Letters of Frank Sargeson
Sarah Shieff
Feb 2012 · Penguin Random House New Zealand Limited
eBook
632
Pages
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About this eBook
A rich and riveting record of both literary and social value. Frank Sargeson is one of New Zealand's best-loved and most important writers. Besides the ground-breaking short stories, he wrote memoirs, novels, and plays. He encouraged at least three generations of younger writers and, for most of his adult life, the famous bach behind the hedge at 14 Esmonde Road was at the heart of New Zealand's artistic and literary world. Sargeson was also a prolific letter writer, and this selection of 500 of the most fascinating ranges over half a century, from 1927 to 1981. The letters are immensely readable, vividly capturing his life and times, his milieu and his personality. Frank loved gossip, could be bitchy and peevish, but also kind, affectionate, funny, ribald, astute. This collection, selected, edited and annotated by Sarah Shieff, is a document of extraordinary significance for all those interested in New Zealand's literary and social history.
About the author
Sarah Shieff is a senior lecturer in English in the School of Arts at the University of Waikato. She has a PhD in English, edits the Journal of New Zealand Literature, and has written Talking Music: Conversations with New Zealand Musicians, edited Speaking Frankly: The Frank Sargeson Memorial Lectures 2003–2010, contributed a chapter to Jewish Lives in New Zealand, and written numerous articles on New Zealand writing. In selecting and editing over 500 of Frank Sargeson’s letters to over 100 recipients, in Letters of Frank Sargeson she brings together an impeccable academic training, a background in research, and a wide knowledge of New Zealand literature. Elizabeth Alley, in The New Zealand Listener, applauded Sarah Shieff’s Letters of Frank Sargeson for offering ‘an intimacy and insight that capture the writer in a way even Michael King’s biography couldn’t.’ Shieff’s editing has been critically acclaimed, North and South declaring the volume ‘a total joy. . . . Shieff’s selection appears exemplary and her editing is first-rate . . . For anyone interested in New Zealand writing, this is a gift in every sense.’ Shieff’s selection and annotation are praised not only for bringing a real sense of Sargeson the man and writer (‘Many people such as Shieff have kept [Sargeson’s] work alive and pertinent. The result of her efforts is a marvellous labour of love for a remarkable personality.’ — Bay of Plenty Times), but also for the light they shine on New Zealand’s wider literary landscape. Investigate notes that Letters of Frank Sargeson is ‘an extraordinary read for it includes letters from every notable literary figure of the Sargeson era’. ‘We get the sense of a literary life lived against the grain of the surrounding world,’ writes the Sunday Star Times, adding that ‘Sarah Shieff has given us a wonderful addition to our canon, the value of a biography, through which the most distinctive voice in our literature will always speak to us, keeping alive his extraordinary and touching existence.’ ‘Sarah Shieff has made an impeccable job of editing this book . . . this engaging book should be on the shelf of anyone with a serious interest in New Zealand writing.’ — Weekend Herald
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