"There is Always the Other Side, Always": An Exploration of Re-Writing in Witi Ihimaera's Dear Miss Mansfield.

Abstract

In Witi Ihimaera's 1989 short story collection Dear Miss Mansfield, Ihimaera addresses a number of stories written by New Zealand literary icon Katherine Mansfield, and provides Maori responses to the stories. Although Ihimaera's collection is written in homage to Mansfield, it is also an effort to decentralise her work and to contest her prominence within New Zealand's national literature, as well as the prominence of European literature in general. Through this collection, Ihimaera responds to works which speak from a fundamentally European perspective and thereby creates a space for Maori voice. In doing this, Ihimaera writes Maori into the canon of literature which is represented by Mansfield. I argue that Ihimaera utilises the very specific and powerful technique of re-writing to illustrate that representation of Maori in New Zealand literature has been unsatisfactory. Through his stories, Ihimaera shows that this European dominance in literature, and also society, has been at the expense of Maori, but resolves that the best way for Maori to confront this is to retain their own sense of culture and Maoritanga at all costs.