Frank Sargeson

Joel Gwynne

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 9.1.2: New Zealand Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Doreen D'Cruz (Massey University), Jennifer Lawn (Massey University), John C. Ross (Massey University), Mark Williams (Victoria University of Wellington)

Dates

Born 21 Apr 1903
Died 1 Apr 1982
Activity 1923-1982

Places

Born in New Zealand
Active in New Zealand

Activities

Primary

Novelist
Story-writer

Resources

Sargeson's Works

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As New Zealand short fiction’s chief architect of cultural decolonisation, Frank Sargeson established a tradition of his own. The collections

Conversation with My Uncle and Other Sketches

(1936),

A Man and His Wife

(1940), and

That Summer and Other Stories

(1946) elevated him to iconic status within Auckland’s literary circles. In celebration of his fiftieth birthday the literary journal

Landfall

published a letter of appreciation endorsed by sixteen fellow writers, some of whom would later be termed the “sons of Sargeson”. The “school” included G. R. Gilbert, A. P. Gaskell, O. E. Middleton, John Reece Cole, David Ballantyne and Maurice Duggan, a generation of writers whose prose operated within, and in some cases extended, Sargeson’s influential textual paradigm. The…

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2478 words

Citation: Gwynne, Joel. "Frank Sargeson". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 October 2006 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=3936, accessed 24 November 2024.]