Allen Curnow

Book of the Week: The lost civilisation of New Zealand literature

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All week this week the Spinoff Review of Books celebrates the rich, fascinating history of New Zealand literature. Today: Scott Hamilton Hamilton notices something missing in the long, feverish construction of New Zealand literature – the rest of the Pacific. Near the end of his life, Jorge Luis Borges wrote a story about the reappearance of the … Read more

The Nietzsche of Lone Kauri Road: the life and verse of Allen Curnow

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Vincent O’Sullivan assesses the 1957 Chrysler of New Zealand writing, Allen Curnow, the subject of a 700-page biography by the late Terry Sturm. “A big one.” It’s a phrase you’ll come across several times in reading Allen Curnow. It could be a fish caught off Kare Kare, a talent another writer didn’t have, an implied assessment … Read more