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The Silence Beyond: Selected Writings by Michael King
The late Michael King was one of New Zealand's most respected and popular historians. The author of the bestselling The Penguin History of New Zealand and many other significant works, he was a writer of remarkable skill, sensitivity and importance.
The Silence Beyond is a wide-ranging and often personal collection of King's writings – many in print for the first time or no longer available – including essays, talks and eulogies for friends. Introduced by his daughter, Rachael King, The Silence Beyond is a timely and fitting tribute to one of New Zealand's greatest modern thinkers.
http://www.penguin.com.au/products/97...
The Silence Beyond is a wide-ranging and often personal collection of King's writings – many in print for the first time or no longer available – including essays, talks and eulogies for friends. Introduced by his daughter, Rachael King, The Silence Beyond is a timely and fitting tribute to one of New Zealand's greatest modern thinkers.
http://www.penguin.com.au/products/97...
208 pages, Paperback
First published May 30, 2011
17 people want to read
About the author
Michael King
286 books38 followersMichael King was one of New Zealand's leading historians and biographers. In 2006 he was named one of 100 most important New Zealanders that have ever lived. He published more than 34 books in his lifetime. His last, The Penguin History of New Zealand, has sold more than 200,000 copies and is widely considered to be the definitive history of New Zealand. His work in literary biography - most notably Wrestling With the Angel, on the life of Janet Frame - also received great critical acclaim. He made many level-headed contributions to race-relations debates and is sorely missed by his country.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 12, 2022
Collection of Memorable New Zealand Nonfiction Writing
Michael King is best known for his magisterial “History of New Zealand”, a weighty tome which I possess but have not yet really read fully, just dipped into. He was a thoughtful, observant and intuitive historian, who made the effort to speak te reo Māori, and studied tikanga( Māori culture), so he was well able to traverse the divide between colonisers and first peoples which dominate the history of this farflung outpost of the British Commonwealth.
He has also written well received biographies of both Janet Frame, Whina Cooper, and so many others. His books are overall regarded as extensively researched and sensitively written and indeed reviewing his output it is clear that it was prodigious.
However, I was unaware of his background in journalism and this book contains many samples of not only the best of his writing, with obituaries of James K(Jim) Baxter but also Janet Frame. Also some lectures, speeches and presentations and these are really impressive.
Overall, his extremely moving account of attending Jim Baxter’s (funeral and wake) at Jerusalem is quite simply spellbinding. It captures a very complex and unique individual amid the company of friends and family despite many difficult and fractured relationships.
Then there’s both the elegy spoken at Janet Frame’s funeral, “ Janet and the Birds” as well as the the obituary, “A Life Touched by Angels and Shadows” which, par excellence, describes a flesh and blood creature with all her innate quirkiness and creativity that caused her to nearby have a lobotomy during an extensive inpatient stay in a psychiatric ward. An example of his deft touch is the discussion about Janet’s brilliance at “Scrabble”, with the following:
TBC
Michael King is best known for his magisterial “History of New Zealand”, a weighty tome which I possess but have not yet really read fully, just dipped into. He was a thoughtful, observant and intuitive historian, who made the effort to speak te reo Māori, and studied tikanga( Māori culture), so he was well able to traverse the divide between colonisers and first peoples which dominate the history of this farflung outpost of the British Commonwealth.
He has also written well received biographies of both Janet Frame, Whina Cooper, and so many others. His books are overall regarded as extensively researched and sensitively written and indeed reviewing his output it is clear that it was prodigious.
However, I was unaware of his background in journalism and this book contains many samples of not only the best of his writing, with obituaries of James K(Jim) Baxter but also Janet Frame. Also some lectures, speeches and presentations and these are really impressive.
Overall, his extremely moving account of attending Jim Baxter’s (funeral and wake) at Jerusalem is quite simply spellbinding. It captures a very complex and unique individual amid the company of friends and family despite many difficult and fractured relationships.
Then there’s both the elegy spoken at Janet Frame’s funeral, “ Janet and the Birds” as well as the the obituary, “A Life Touched by Angels and Shadows” which, par excellence, describes a flesh and blood creature with all her innate quirkiness and creativity that caused her to nearby have a lobotomy during an extensive inpatient stay in a psychiatric ward. An example of his deft touch is the discussion about Janet’s brilliance at “Scrabble”, with the following:
TBC
November 1, 2020
Thoughtful and wide-ranging, King is at his most engaging—for the reader not plugged-in to the social sphere of '60s New Zealand writers and artists—when writing on history and culture. The fundamental, and most compelling, observation is that "pākehā" is something different to both Māori and European (British) cultures: a second indigenous New Zealand culture currently in the process of emerging from the collision between Māoridom, Britishness, and the unique landscapes and exigencies of New Zealand/Aotearoa.
This viewpoint is not articulated in order to denigrate or invalidate Māori claims to land and sovereignty, or to justify and minimise pākehā (I suppose, in King's schema, tauiwi) crimes. It is merely an observation of apparent reality—an observation that can, and at some stage must be gainfully applied to other conflicts in other parts of the world. A time comes, in the imposition of any settler regime, when the descendants of the settlers are no longer wholly settlers and the descendants of the indigenous are no longer the only indigenes. Respect must still be paid, restitution still made, justice still pursued, served and seen, but there is no success to be had in denying the basic reality that Michael King has ably laid bare.
This viewpoint is not articulated in order to denigrate or invalidate Māori claims to land and sovereignty, or to justify and minimise pākehā (I suppose, in King's schema, tauiwi) crimes. It is merely an observation of apparent reality—an observation that can, and at some stage must be gainfully applied to other conflicts in other parts of the world. A time comes, in the imposition of any settler regime, when the descendants of the settlers are no longer wholly settlers and the descendants of the indigenous are no longer the only indigenes. Respect must still be paid, restitution still made, justice still pursued, served and seen, but there is no success to be had in denying the basic reality that Michael King has ably laid bare.
March 21, 2013
A thoughtful collection of writings, ranging from high level sociological commentary on race in New Zealand, to eulogies for dear and eccentric friends.
I found the high level works most interesting. King's view point is that pakeha culture is its own entity, distinct from the European culture from which it formed. And that pakeha culture should be treasured and respected as much as Maori culture. Maori is the indigenous culture of New Zealand, and pakeha is the second indigenous culture.
The writings on individuals I found less fascinating, mostly because I am not well enough versed in NZ literary history to appreciate many of the references.
I found the high level works most interesting. King's view point is that pakeha culture is its own entity, distinct from the European culture from which it formed. And that pakeha culture should be treasured and respected as much as Maori culture. Maori is the indigenous culture of New Zealand, and pakeha is the second indigenous culture.
The writings on individuals I found less fascinating, mostly because I am not well enough versed in NZ literary history to appreciate many of the references.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews