People and Place: The West Coast of New Zealand’s South Island in History and Literature book cover
Literary Criticism · 2020 · en

People and Place: The West Coast of New Zealand’s South Island in History and Literature

by Len Richardson

About this book

Len Richardson explores how historians and writers have understood the West Coast of New Zealand’s South Island. He follows the relationship between a distinctive region and the stories told about it, connecting goldfields, mining communities and changing economic prospects with questions of belonging and regional identity.

Central chapters examine Philip Ross May, Patrick O’Farrell and Bill Pearson, including the historical setting and community relationships represented in Pearson’s Coal Flat. Later sections consider the writers and historians who followed them. Photographs, a regional map and a bibliography accompany this study of how people and place shape one another in historical and literary interpretation.