Charles Brasch Journals 1945–1957

Overview

This volume of Charles Brasch's journals covers the years from late 1945 to the end of 1957, when the poet and editor was aged 36 to 48. It begins with his return to New Zealand after World War II to establish a literary quarterly to be published by the Caxton Press. The journals cover the first decade or so of his distinguished editorship of Landfall, a role that brought Brasch into contact with New Zealand's leading artists and intelligentsia. His frank and often detailed descriptions of these people – including Frank Sargeson, A.R.D. Fairburn, Keith Sinclair, Eric McCormick, James Bertram, J.C. Beaglehole, Maria Dronke, Fred and Evelyn Page, Alistair Campbell, Bill Oliver, Toss and Edith Woollaston, Denis Glover, Allen Curnow, Leo Bensemann, Lawrence Baigent, Ngaio Marsh, Colin McCahon, James K. Baxter, Janet Frame, Ruth Dallas and many others – are among the highlights of the book.

Reviews

'[T]he journals include a fascinating mix of materials, from mundane entries recording the ordinary comings and goings of his life, through beautiful short descriptions of landscape or weather, to the moving series of entries relating to the death of his sister, in which he curses himself for causing her distress in her last days [...] a major addition to our knowledge of Charles Brasch, who deserves to be appreciated as a diarist of the first order.' – Peter Whiteford, New Zealand Listener (review of Vol. 1, 1938–1945)

Author Biography

Charles Brasch was a New Zealand poet, literary editor, and arts patron. He was the founding editor of the literary journal Landfall. Peter Simpson is a writer, editor and curator who has taught at universities in New Zealand and Canada. He was director of the Holloway Press and a head of English at the University of Auckland, retiring in 2013.