Samuel Butler: New Zealand and Italy

Abstract

This thesis examines from biographical and literary-critical viewpoints Samuel Butler's experience in New Zealand and Italy. Full biographical accounts are provided and the two places are shown to be closely linked in significant ways in his lite and work. The major argument is that both countries were important sources of inspiration for Butler's most original thinking and for much of his best writing. The first chapter examines in detail Butler's settlement in Canterbury Province. The circumstances leading to his emigration are considered, and a full account given of his search for available land to start a sheep station. This narrative is extended to cover his acquisition of land on the Upper Rangitata, his establishment of a home and "run" there, and his success economically and in terms of personal adaptation to that remote and inhospitable environment. The second chapter deals with his exploits as a pioneering explorer in the Southern Alps and sets out to establish the nature of the relationship between these activities and his writings, especially in Erewhon. In both these chapters, full use is made of primary sources, and published biographical material is reviewed and evaluated. The third chapter offers a wholly new account of Butler's annual summer holiday trips to Northern Italy. His habitual "gramblings" among the remote villages of the North Italian Alps and Canton Ticino Valleys are fully established. The chapter deals with several aspects of Butlers enthusiasm for the Italian people and their way of life, as well as the landscape, habitations and art-works of the area. Alps and Sanctuaries and Ex Voto are examined in this context, and a case argued for the high literary quality and biographical significance of the former in particular. A brief final chapter deals with Butler's imaginative return to New Zealand at the end of his life in Erewhon Revisited, and completes the arguement that his experiences among the mountainous areas of both countries were creatively formative and biographically significant.