As New Zealand short fiction’s chief architect of cultural decolonisation, Frank Sargeson established a tradition of his own. The collections Conversation with My Uncle and Other Sketches (1936), A Man and His Wife (1940), and That Summer and Other Stories (1946) elevated him to iconic status within Auckland’s literary circles. In celebration of his fiftieth birthday the literary journal Landfall published a letter of appreciation endorsed by sixteen fellow writers, some of whom would later be termed the “sons of Sargeson”. The “school” included G. R. Gilbert, A. P. Gaskell, O. E. Middleton, John Reece Cole, David Ballantyne and Maurice Duggan, a generation of writers whose prose …
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Citation: Gwynne, Joel. "Frank Sargeson". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 October 2006 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=3936, accessed 24 November 2024.]