Coal Flat

by Bill Pearson

Genres: Fiction

421 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

Bill Pearson was a fiction writer, essayist and critic. His influential essay, ‘Fretful Sleepers: A Sketch of New Zealand Behaviour and Its Implications for the Artist’, appeared in Landfall in 1952 and outlined many themes Pearson explored in his first novel, Coal Flat. This book was received as the most important New Zealand novel of its time, yet Pearson published no more fiction, concentrating instead on literary criticism and scholarship. Pearson helped define the themes of New Zealand critical realism and as a university lecturer was among the first to teach a course in New Zealand literature.

Reviews

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating novel about a small mining town in New Zealand in 1947. Pearson apparently took more than a decade to write and publish this, with numerous rewrites. The story has several different threads, which combine to paint a complex picture of life in a working class community, and wider NZ society at the time. I think I have a better idea of the period after reading Coal Flat, than I got from a number of NZ history books and articles.

Not all the characters are totally convincing: Paul is quite puzzling. Apparently Pearson originally intended to write him as a closeted gay man, but then decided not to, which in itself says a lot about the puritan culture that dominated NZ in the 1950s. Anyway, Paul's romance with Flora never really rings true.

On the other hand, there are some brilliantly drawn characters, especially Mrs Palmer, the woman who runs the pub with her husband. Also the teacher Miss Dane, the embodiment of a sheltered middle class woman, who has to confront the crude world of the mineworkers.

In other ways, the story is quite frank in the way it treats sex, and the prejudices and witch-hunting atmosphere that take hold of the town. The more overtly political elements are also interesting: the novel conveys the growing disillusionment with the Labour government, and sympathy for the Soviet Union and communism among many workers at the time. The book also tells you something about the controversies in the NZ education system, and the nature of the trade unions at the time.

[Kathryn Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

It read as peculiarly unbalanced, to me, but this is probably due to changes in what's shocking and what's conventional - so much violence towards children, both emotional and physical, just taken for granted by most of the characters as part of life, and then so much fuss over adults transgressing some social mores... I'm guessing this is what the author was trying to illustrate.

Anyway there's some amazing portraits of New Zealand and its people in this, some beautiful and elated parts as well as the darkness, and at least it didn't all get as completely dark as I thought it might at one point.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

A postcard from post WW2 West Coast NZ. The well built characters depict the social, class, political, and racial struggles in a small town. Slow to build and a quick finish with a understated climax in a Kiwi way.