Contrasting Maori tales

Press, 9 May 1981, Page 17

Contrasting Maori tales

Fhe Dream Sleepers and Other Stories (Reviewed by Richard Corballis) Our two foremost Maori prose-writers wv rt ® t . orics °f very different kinds. Um Ihimaera. who is just beginning to write again after a six-vear lay-off, prefers stories which have a clearly articulated plot and theme. 9££ as \°, n ?. ( as ’ n .fh at delightful piece. The Makutu on Miss Jones.” which can be found in his first collection. ‘'Pounamu. Pounamu he will linger over the portrayal of character, atmosphere and other slices of life.” but usually he gives the impression that his primary intention is to make a point and that the storv has been contrived to make that point as clearly and as forcefully as possible. Even his collections of stories have a clear over-riding purpose: "Pounamu. Pounamu chronicles the delights and (to a lesser extent) the frustrations of rural Maori life; “The New Net Goes Fishing” focuses on the urban Maori, for whom, it contends, the frustrations outweigh the delights. Mr Ihimaera's clarity and sense of purpose, coupled with his lively prosestyle, have made him a very popular author. And his reputation has benefited from the support of two key New’ Zealand institutions: the secondary schools (which make widespread use of his books—especially in the lower forms) and the television channels (which have so far screened versions of two of his stories —

“Big Brother Little Sister” and “Against the Lights” — and are planning a further series). Patricia Grace, whose second collection, “The Dream Sleepers and Other Stories,” has just appeared, is a spirit of an altogether different sort. Whereas Mr Ihimaera writes at a frenetic pace, she gives the impression that she writes slowly, savouring every word and phrase. Whereas he writes organised stories, she writes what might be described as organic sketches — pieces which (like Katherine Mansfield's) often do not go anywhere or say anything very specific, but which delight by virtue of the richly textured slices of life which they convey. In some of the stories in’ her first collection. “Waiariki.” she attempted to evoke Maori ways by using a literal translation — rather than an idiomatic English paraphrase — of Maori idiom. (This technique is known by some critics as "foreignisation"). “The Dream Sleepers” rejects this device and concentrates instead on reproducing (and heightening) the accents of Englishspeaking Maoris. The result is a portrait of the Maori which is as rich as ever, but more accessible than before. The book is divided into two parts. Part One is a collection of unrelated stories, including “The Dream Sleepers” itself and two fine pieces — "Mirrors” (which might almost be called a prose-poem) and “Journey”.— which Miss Grace has read aloud with great success at a number of gatherings over the last few’ years. Part Two consists of five sketches devoted to a single family and loosely connected by a rudimentary strand of narrative. There is some fine writing here, but there are also occasional flat patches, and it is tempting to conclude that Miss Grace’s genius is not suited to extended forms of fiction. Her novella, “Mutuw’henua” (1978), is also rather uneven in quality and loose in structure. Like Katherine Mansfield, she is, I think, essentially a miniaturist. Witi Ihimaera, on the other hand, may w’ell go down in hitory as a novelist rather than a short story writer. He already has two successful novels, "Tangi” and “Whanau,” to his credit and has plans for two more. His structural sense, while it often militates against the sort of richness which Miss Grace achieves in her stories, will enable him to organise the diverse materials of which novels are made.