"A private history": towards a biography of James courage expatriate New Zealand writer

Abstract

This thesis examines the life and writings of James Francis Courage (1903-1963), a New Zealand born writer who lived most of his adult life as an expatriate in London. It follows two main linked biographical threads - Courage as an expatriate writer, separated from but deeply concerned with the people and land of his early years, and Courage as one whose written work reflects his life and whose writing was the focus of that life. The thesis has an explicitly biographical focus in the belief that it can help us to understand not only the man and his work, but also the historical times and the cultural milieu in which he lived. The principal sources of information are his literary manuscripts, held in the Hocken Library in Dunedin, letters from Courage to other New Zealanders, held in various libraries around New Zealand, as well as some personal correspondence and published texts from both New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The Introduction provides a brief background to his position in New Zealand writing and to the connections between his life and art. Subsequent sections deal with his life and writing in broadly chronological order, divided into three main parts: 1903-1922, The Formative Years in New Zealand; 1922-1945, Finding a Fictional Voice; and 1945-63, A Writer's Life. A final Post-Script considers some responses to his work since his death. Where it seems fruitful, his fictions are discussed during the period from which they seem to draw but at other times they are discussed at the period of their publication. Critical comments on his work are presented at the time of their publication. Appendix A is a selection of seventeen of his poems in a probable chronological order. His manuscripts contain more than fifty original poems in all, very few of which were ever published. Appendix B is a selection of four of his unpublished short stories. In 1952 he had unsuccessfully sought publication for eleven short stories, including three printed here, in a proposed collected edition. Appendix C is a letter written by Denis Glover to the Evening Post shortly after Courage's death in 1963. Appendix D is a poem by Courage's friend, Charles Brasch, dedicated to J.F.C.