George Grey, 1812–1898

Authors

  • John O’Leary

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26686/knznq.v7i2.657

Abstract

George Grey is chiefly remembered today as an important figure in nineteenth-century New Zealand politics. His activities as a collector, editor and above all translator of Māori myths and legends, however, have had a determining influence on New Zealand literature. Writers as various as Alfred Domett, Jessie Mackay and James K. Baxter made use of his translation of Māori mythology; poets in particular have been fascinated by his work. Grey’s version of Māori myths and legends, more generally, has profoundly shaped European New Zealanders’ perceptions of Māori mythology.

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Author Biography

John O’Leary

References

Alpers, Anthony. Maori Myths and Tribal Legends. London: John Murray, 1964.

Biggs, Bruce. "The Translation and Publishing of Maori Material in the Auckland Public Library". Journal of the Polynesian Society, 61 (1957): 177-91.

Colgan, Wynne. The Governor’s Gift; the Auckland Public Library 1880-1980. Auckland: Richards Publishing, 1980.

Kerr, Donald. ‘Sir George Grey and his Book Collecting Activities in New Zealand’. In A Book in the Hand: Essays on the History of the Book in New Zealand. Eds. Penny Griffith, Peter Hughes, and Alan Loney. Auckland: Auckland University Press, 2000, pp. 47-67.

McRae, Jane. ‘Maori Literature: a survey’. In The Oxford History of New Zealand Literature in English. Ed. Terry Sturm. Auckland: Oxford University Press, 1998, pp. 1-30.

McRae, Jane. ‘Maori Oral Tradition Meets the Book’. In A Book in the Hand: Essays on the History of the Book in New Zealand. Eds. Penny Griffith, Peter Hughes and Alan Loney. Auckland: Auckland University Press, 2000, pp. 1-16.

Meek, Allan. ‘Grey Mythologies’. Antic VIII (1990): 16-20.

O’Leary, John. ‘Translating the Ancestors: Grey's Polynesian Mythology’. In For Better or Worse: Translation as Tool for Change in the South Pacific. Ed. Sabine Fenton. Manchester: St. Jerome Publishing, 2004, pp. 63-88.

Simmons, David. ‘The Sources of Grey’s Nga Mahi a Nga Tupuna’. Journal of the Polynesian Society, 75, no. 2 (1966): 177-88.

Stocking, George. Victorian Anthropology. New York: Free Press, 1987.

Thornton, Robert. The Elusive Unity of Sir George Grey’s Library. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press, 1983. https://doi.org/10.1080/00020188308707594 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00020188308707594

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Published

2008-06-07