Texts:
Grace, Patricia. Potiki (Talanoa). Waikiki: University of Hawaii Press, 1995.
Hulme, Keri. The Bone People: A Novel. London: Penguin, 1986.
Ihimaera, Witi. The Whale Rider. London: B & T, 2003.
Suggested reading:
Riemenschneider, Dieter and Janet Wilson, “New Zealand/Aotearoa” in Lars Eckstein (ed.). English Literatures Across the Globe: A Companion. Paderborn: Fink, 2007. 201-223.
Schneider, Jost. Einführung in die Romananalyse. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2003.
Sinclair, Keith. The Oxford Illustrated History of New Zealand. Auckland: Oxford University Press, 1990.
Leistungsnachweis
Participants are required to read Potiki before the beginning of term. Credit requirements are according to the study regulations of the individual module and study course involved; you will be informed in detail in the first session. There will be tests on textual knowledge during the term.
Despite its continuing appeal to European tourists, New Zealand has not managed to achieve a similar international recognition of its vibrant culture. In English postcolonial studies, however, New Zealand authors feature prominently and the country is known for its active literary scene. Maori literature, therefore, originally emerged as an English-language sub-genre of New Zealand literature. However, it certainly came into its own in the twentieth century. As a site of postcolonial cultural negotiation of tradition vs. modernity and assimilation vs. conflict, Maori fiction is certainly of critical interest and the authors this course will encounter number amongst the best contemporary writers in international English literatures. We will read Patricia Grace’s short novel Potiki (Talanoa) as an introduction to the cultural issues discussed in Maori fiction, and then move to the one Maori novel most Germans will instantly associate with its movie success, Itimaera’s The Whale Rider. Before this movie was produced, Itimaera, an author of classic standing in New Zealand, was virtually unknown outside of postcolonial literary circles. Parts of Itimaera’s writing were obviously sacrificed to ease global understanding: a question of the limitations of (trans)cultural communication. To finish, Keri Hulme’s The Bone People touches upon another aspect of this cultural success story of Maori fiction. Hulme received the Booker Prize for her controversial novel which has become a classic of New Zealand literature.
