Irish Annals of New Zealand - Paperback

by Michael O'Leary (Author)

The Irish Annals of New Zealand is essentially a Joycean tour-de-force through New Zealand's history from the Irish rather than the usual English point of view. However, as well as historical facts the novel incorporates many other linguistic and language conceits and concepts. The story begins with the main character falling from a train, having opened the wrong door because he is drunk. He lies dying alone in the falling snow of the central North Island. During the course of the novel he is visited by several of his ancestors, Irish and Maori, who tell him about his life. He also turns into other life forms.

Author Biography

Michael O'Leary was born in Auckland, New Zealand 20th October 1950. He is the author of over 20 books, including poetry, novels & non-fiction. As a publisher he has published over 150 books by other writers. O'Leary is also an artist. In recent times several of his poems have been recorded by musicians as songs. His Masters thesis was on the subject of small press publishing and his Doctorate discussed the social and literary constraints on women writers. O'Leary is from Irish ancestry on both sides of his family and the Fitzgerald side of the family spent a lot of time around Te Arawa regions, especially Rotorua. This whakatauki is a mixture of two works: the first tells of the importance of knowledge and wisdom as life-affirming aspects of being a human in this world, the second comes from Te Arawa and tells of the natural world, and how we must celebrate both the natural and human worlds in song and dance, and most writers, academic or otherwise, often ask the question: 'How far will my voice and words travel?'