A lifetime of
prose by celebrated New Zealand writer James K. Baxter covering over a million
words and four hefty hardback books is being released free on the internet by
Victoria University.
Baxter’s prose is now accessible through the NZETC
(New Zealand Electronic Text Centre), Victoria University’s large and
ever-growing digital resource comprising historical texts, manuscripts, and
contemporary texts.
Complete Prose was published
as a four-volume set last year by Victoria University Press. It is edited by
Baxter scholar John Weir, who began working on the publication 40 years ago.
Its publication was met with praise by scholars, critics and Baxter fans.
In his review
in the NZ Listener, Baxter scholar Paul Millar said, “Reading Baxter’s Complete
Prose en masse offers new and unexpected perspectives on his life and
work.”
The four volumes draw on Baxter’s prose writing from
his first draft of ‘Before Sunrise’ as a teenager in 1942 to his ‘Confession to
the Lord Christ’ shortly before his death in 1972. Reviews, essays, lectures,
journal articles, interviews and correspondence with friends and critics are
some of what readers will be able to browse. The volumes are a chronicle of
Baxter’s life and times, his preferences and prejudices, his crises and turbulent
occasions.
Fergus
Barrowman, publisher at Victoria University Press, says Complete Prose
is a significant addition to Baxter scholarship.
“Complete
Prose is a testament to Baxter’s huge contribution to New Zealand
literature, culture and society. In its digital form, it will be readily
accessible to many more readers, which will allow a continuing engagement with
Baxter’s work.”
James K. Baxter: Complete Prose is
now online at NZETC.
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