‘Maoriland’ novels made available online

victoria-university-of-wellington

Tue Nov 20 2007 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)

‘Maoriland’ novels made available online

Tuesday, 20 November 2007, 1:23 pm
Press Release: Victoria University of Wellington

MEDIA RELEASE

20 November 2007
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‘Maoriland’ novels made available online for first time

Under-read and undervalued novels from New Zealand’s literary past are being made available for the first time, thanks to a collaboration between Victoria University’s New Zealand Electronic Text Centre, the University Library’s JC Beaglehole Room and the Alexander Turnbull Library.

Associate Professor of English at Victoria University, Jane Stafford said that the collection of nineteenth century ‘Maoriland’ literature represents an important part of our cultural history.

“Although the term ‘Maoriland’ can evoke a world of saccharine fantasy in which heroic Maori warriors and seductive Maori maidens inhabit outmoded Victorian literary forms, this colonial literature is lively, complex and significant, and marks the beginnings of a self-consciously New Zealand literature,” she said.

Alison Stevenson, Director of the New Zealand Electronic Text Centre said that one of barriers to further research in this area has been that virtually everything is out of print and in some cases only survives in one or two copies, kept carefully in rare book collections.

“Over the last twelve months we have worked to create a freely available digital collection of the novels of Maoriland published prior to 1900,” she said.

“Our hope is that by increasing access to these texts, however bizarre and at times unpalatable some of the writers’ opinions might be, this project will stimulate further scholarly examination and a wider appreciation for the importance of this period of New Zealand literary history.”

The first thirty titles from the digital collection will be launched by the New Zealand Electronic Text Centre on Wednesday 21 November will be accessible at www.nzetc.org.

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