This book is a linguistic and cultural exploration in the field of Maori literature written in English. The investigation focuses on the literary genre of the short story in a period roughly spanning the two decades of the 1970s and 1980s. The voices of the internationally acclaimed Maori writers Witi Ihimaera and Patricia Grace lie at the core of the book. Their role as writers is interpreted here as that of ambassadors of linguistic and cultural distinctiveness. Five of their short story collections – Ihimaera’s Pounamu Pounamu (1972) and The New Net Goes Fishing (1977), and Grace’s Waiariki and Other Stories (1975), The Dream Sleepers and Other Stories (1980) and Electric City and Other Stories (1987) – are analysed from an interdisciplinary perspective. Most significantly, the analysis sheds light on the relevance of discursive and stylistic strategies for the expression of cultural values. The study also illustrates facets of the relation between English and Maori in the narrative space of the short stories. This is achieved through a close linguistic investigation of a good number of language contact phenomena as they emerge in the fictional texts. In considering the chronological unfolding of the five collections, the book also describes a literary journey that is not devoid of political implications and one where language(s) speak(s) for and about its/their speakers.
Languages and cultures in contact: maoridom in the short fiction of Witi Ihimaera and Patricia Grace
DEGANI, Marta
2012-01-01
Abstract
This book is a linguistic and cultural exploration in the field of Maori literature written in English. The investigation focuses on the literary genre of the short story in a period roughly spanning the two decades of the 1970s and 1980s. The voices of the internationally acclaimed Maori writers Witi Ihimaera and Patricia Grace lie at the core of the book. Their role as writers is interpreted here as that of ambassadors of linguistic and cultural distinctiveness. Five of their short story collections – Ihimaera’s Pounamu Pounamu (1972) and The New Net Goes Fishing (1977), and Grace’s Waiariki and Other Stories (1975), The Dream Sleepers and Other Stories (1980) and Electric City and Other Stories (1987) – are analysed from an interdisciplinary perspective. Most significantly, the analysis sheds light on the relevance of discursive and stylistic strategies for the expression of cultural values. The study also illustrates facets of the relation between English and Maori in the narrative space of the short stories. This is achieved through a close linguistic investigation of a good number of language contact phenomena as they emerge in the fictional texts. In considering the chronological unfolding of the five collections, the book also describes a literary journey that is not devoid of political implications and one where language(s) speak(s) for and about its/their speakers.
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