Latest news with #UndertheMountain
Newsroom
22-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Newsroom
An Ode to .. Maurice Gee
The death of Maurice Gee last week came as no real surprise. At 93, he had outlasted most of his contemporaries of late 20th Century New Zealand literature. But it struck me harder than I expected. I had never met Maurice Gee, never heard him speak, never seen him in real life. Yet his presence, or the presence of his work, has been with me for a very long time, locked in from when I first read his children's novel Under the Mountain. The battered cover of my long-lost copy I remember well. After 40-plus years, my original reading of the book is tangled up a little with the original TV adaptation. That version featured DIY special effects that were nonetheless highly effective at the time. I found the book compulsive reading, and I returned to it several times. I did again when I heard of Gee's death. His adult novels formed a backdrop to my later reading, but nothing quite had the same visceral sense of evil of Under the Mountain. Other books by other authors had adventures with goodies and baddies. But Gee's story, which in lesser hands could have just been a rollicking adventure with alien baddies, still leaves a chill after decades. From the opening pages, where the twins Rachel and Theo Matheson are mysteriously rescued by a strange alien force – known as Mr. Jones – there is a brooding sense of foreboding. Jones is the last of an alien race, 'The People Who Understand.' He is fading out. His only mission is to stop the remnants of another alien race, the Wilberforces, emerging from their long sleep under the dormant volcanoes of Auckland to ravage Earth and continue a trail of mindless destruction across the galaxy. As for the self-congratulatory name of his all but extinct race, Mr. Jones drily reflects, 'We suffered from pride, you see.' Gee effortlessly fills in enough to locate us in space and time for this showdown. The Hauraki Gulf, the North Shore, Rangitoto – and Lake Pupuke, the deep freshwater lake on the North Shore formed by volcanic craters. My partner grew up very close by. I asked her whether Lake Pupuke was as scary as it was in the book. Yes, apparently. There were several stories – of learning to sail in an Optimist sail-boat, of dislocated shoulders from wind surfing, of alcohol-fuelled teenage swims, even of being attacked by swans from the lake one day as a small child. Legend has it that sunken waka and unrecovered bodies lie at its bottom. Slimy logs or eels might brush your leg. Lake Pupuke, a tranquil breeding ground for nightmares. And the home base for Gee's great fantastic invention, the alien worm-slug symbiotes, the Wilberforces, the 'people of the mud, who conquer and multiply.' This picturesque harbour and suburban enclaves were the setting for a cosmic struggle. Mr. Jones describes the Wilberforces as having as much empathy as a school of sharks. The New Zealand speculative fiction writer Octavia Cade has importantly noted how they are intelligent, lethal, and amoral. 'The amorality is key – the Wilberforces have no better nature to appeal to, no pity and no kindness. Yet neither do they appear to have any malice. They kill out of instinct.' Kill or be killed. The Wilberforces seek to eliminate any threat as quickly as possible. They are implacably driven to expand and consume, to destroy, then move on. Yet Mr. Jones, using the Matheson twins and their special powers, also seeks in turn to destroy their race. This lack of standard-issue villainy gives the Wilberforces their alien nature, but a nature that is not altogether alien. 'They're creatures of tremendous will – no imagination, no conscience, no feeling. They remind me of some of the leaders of your race,' explains Mr Jones. Their shape-changing ability is compromised when a Wilberforce comes under stress. A Wilberforce trying to break into the twin's house starts to melt down from its human form (literally) when it comes up against resistance, and returns to its efficiently slug like self, piece by piece. As the struggle continues inside the house, the Wilberforce is momentarily confused and 'gives a quack of surprise.' Gee, the master at work. Anyone else would have a snarl or a roar in the mouth of the monster – but the otherness of the quack is a moment of beautiful strangeness. There is no happy ending. The Wilberforces are 'given the gift of oblivion' – utterly destroyed. And Mr. Jones, the last remnant of 'The People Who Understand' dissolves into the air after expending the last of his life energy in the desperate battle. 'His voice passed quietly through their minds. It died. They raised their heads and saw a pale flame floating over the crater. It turned into a mist. The wind broke it and flung it away.' Theo and Rachel walk back into the city of Auckland, where dormant volcanoes have erupted, creating devastation. Years later, I would come across Gee's adult novels. Plumb is the obvious masterpiece, a brilliant portrait of a moralistic Clergyman involved in the political and moral debates of the early twentieth century, whose unbending nature eventually wreaks havoc on his own family. Plumb was modelled on Gee's grandfather, the Rev James Chapple. My favourite adult novel of Gee's would have to be Going West, a psychological study of the flawed but decent Jack Skeat, recently retired archivist, and his major life relationships – his wife, his mother, his long dead father, and the complex friendship with the poet Rex Petley. In these relationships lie complexities and secrets that Jack, freed from a busy working and family life investigates, as well as examining his own life with some trepidation: 'I shine my torch back into the dark. Stupid bugger! Don't go there.' Going West threads its way through the social divisions of class, adroitly fictionalises the New Zealand literary scene (sometimes waspishly), and slowly pulls back the layers on the devastating consequences of secrecy, sexual puritanism and emotional constriction on the lives of Jack's parents. In a review in the Listener, the late Kevin Ireland (a contemporary of Gee) described Going West as 'full of cunning touches of craft and stunning insight.' To go a little further, Gee has a startling ability to describe psychological states with a physicality and acuteness. To put into words subjective experiences that are hard to describe, or rarely described. Going West was published in 1992. Society has changed a lot in the intervening years. Jack Skeat notes changes already taking place when visiting his old haunts in Loomis (West Auckland) in Going West. The world Gee writes about is Pakeha, lower middle or middle class, with occasional characters from the fringes. I suppose Gee could be consigned to irrelevance, a chronicler of the 'Old New Zealand', but it would be hard given the quality and depth of his writing. Gee was a left winger and an atheist, which comes out in the way his writing is sensitive to corruption and power relationships between people. Yet it doesn't come across as didactic, nor does it draw from an overtly religious framework. As the world sinks further into violence, genocide and the machinations of 'our leaders' (some of whom reminded Mr. Jones of the Wilberforces), his writing seems to me ever more relevant.
Scoop
15-06-2025
- General
- Scoop
Respected Kiwi Writer Maurice Gee Has Died, Aged 93
Respected Kiwi writer Maurice Gee - author of 'Plumb' and 'Under the Mountain' - has died, aged 93. Considered one of New Zealand's greatest novelists, his work extended over 50 years. He wrote about ordinary people and ordinary lives, often with the narrator looking back at events that caused damage and unhappiness. "I don't deliberately set out to do this, but the stories turn in that direction following their own logic," he said. "All I can do about it is make the narrative as interesting as I can and give those people lively minds." Maurice Gee was born in Whakatāne in 1931 and educated at Auckland's Avondale College in Auckland and at Auckland University where he took a Masters degree in English. He worked as a teacher and librarian, before becoming a full-time writer in 1975. He passed much of his childhood in what was then the country town of Henderson. The town, disguised as Loomis, and its creek are featured in many of his books. "I grew up alongside that creek in Henderson, and it seemed all sorts of exciting and dangerous things happened down there," he said. "You know, that creek I could plot its whole length pool by pool for a couple of miles even today." His reputation took an enormous leap in 1978 with the publication of 'Plumb', the first of a trilogy about three generations of a family. The novel won the British James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction in 1979. The character of Plumb was based on maternal grandfather Jim Chapple - a Presbyterian minister, who was ejected from the church, because of his rationalist beliefs and jailed for preaching pacifism during World War I. Gee inherited strong left-wing views from that side of his family and a burden of sexual puritanism, which he said caused him a tortured adolescence, although he denied claims of a strong authorial voice in his work. "I can't look at my books the way I read other books," he said. "I look at them quite differently. "I'm intimately connected with them and probably wouldn't be able to indentify my voice in them, if someone asked me to." He said his novel 'Crime Story' stemmed from his anger over the changes made in New Zealand by the Lange Labour Government in the 1980s, and politicians and businessmen are seldom portrayed favourably in his books. Gee's output included short stories and television scripts, and his children's fiction was highly regarded, although it was not his preferred genre. "Children's writing seems to be easier than adult writing, because it's coming off a different level," he said. "There's still some pleasure to be got from both and I try to do each as professionally as I possibly can, but the thing that really engages me fully is adult fiction." Written in 1979, 'Under the Mountain' was probably his best-known children's work, and was later converted into a film and TV series. He received many awards for his work, including the Burns and Katherine Mansfield Fellowships, honorary degrees from Victoria and Auckland universities, and the Prime Minister's Award for literary merit. He won the the Deutz Medal for fiction in 1998 for his novel 'Live Bodies' and the 2006 Montana New Zealand Book Award for 'Blindsight'. "Sad to hear of Maurice Gee's passing," Arts, Culture & Heritage Minister Paul Goldsmith said. "Our thoughts are with his family. "He was a prolific and graceful author. 'Plumb' is my favorite, although thousands of Kiwis will have their own." "Maurice Gee was a real giant of New Zealand literature and so many people grew up reading his stories, including me," Nelson MP and Labour arts, culture & heritage spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. "Really sad that one of our beloved constituents has passed away. He was a private person - I didn't know him well - but he made a big contribution to Nelson, not just through his writing. "He was involved in groups like Friends of the Maitai, who do a huge amount of work to protect our river that runs through inner city Nelson. "Wonderful that he was able to live such a full life, but sad when we lose someone that has made such a significant contribution to our nation." Gee is survived by wife Margareta, their two daughters, and a son from an early relationship.
The Spinoff
15-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Spinoff
Vale Maurice Gee, 1931
The great Aotearoa writer Maurice Gee has died. Books editor Claire Mabey pays tribute. Maurice Gee has died at the age of 93. In a statement sent to media, Gee's children Nigel, Emily and Abigail Gee confirmed that their father died peacefully in his longtime home in Nelson, the inspiration for many of his stories. 'He lived a long and full life and approached death with cheerfulness and calm. He asked us not to grieve,' read the statement. 'Our father touched the lives of many through his words and leaves behind a remarkable legacy in New Zealand literature.' Since the news of Gee's death broke on Sunday June 15, there has been an outpouring of gratitude from readers and writers across Aotearoa. Gee is the author of Plumb, which in a 2018 Spinoff poll was found to be New Zealand's favourite and best novel. He is also the author of Under the Mountain, one of the most enduring children's books we have. It is rare for an author to be acclaimed for writing both for adults and for children; but Gee took both audiences seriously – he wrote truthfully and fearlessly, always – and his writing in both worlds was equally beloved. Gee's novels for adults include The Plumb Trilogy – Plumb (1978), Meg (1981) and Sole Survivor (1983) – In My Father's Den (1972), Live Bodies (1988), Crime Story (1994), and Ellie and the Shadow Man (2001). His novels for children include the fantasies Under the Mountain (1979), The World around the Corner (1980), the Halfmen of O trilogy – The Halfmen of O (1982), The Priests of Ferris (1984) and Motherstone (1985) – Salt (2007), Gool (2008), and The Severed Land (2017). He also wrote historic fiction for children including The Fat Man (1994), Hostel Girl (1999) and The Fire-Raiser (1986). Among Gee's awards and honours is the Robert Burns Fellowship in 1964; the Fiction Prize at the New Zealand Book Awards for Plumb in 1979; the Book of the Year at the AIM Children's Book Awards for The Halfmen of O in 1982; an honorary doctorate for literature from the University of Victoria in 1989; the Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement in 2004; the Deutz Medal for Fiction at the Montana New Zealand Book Awards for Live Bodies in 1998; The New Zealand Post Young Adult Fiction award for Salt in 2008; and in 2017 Gee won the Copyright Licensing NZ Award for Young Adult Fiction for The Severed Land at the Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. Gee published a collection of short stories in 1986; and in 2018 published a memoir in three parts, Memory Pieces. Gee's biographer is Rachel Barrowman who in 2015 published, Maurice Gee: Life and Work with Te Herenga Waka University Press. It is a remarkably detailed piece of work and one that reveals both the dark and the light of Gee's life. In a letter Gee wrote for the launch of Barrowman's biography, he said: 'Reading Rachel's book has been a strange experience for me. Seeing my life unroll again, or play as though on a screen, made me want to applaud myself for getting so much done, in work and relationships, and at other times had me squirming with embarrassment at my stupidities and shrinking with shame at cruelties and waste. 'It's all in the book. This is the biography I asked for when Rachel and I first spoke about it nine years ago. 'Put in whatever you can find,' I said, not quite understanding that she'd find so much. But I don't like biographies with holes in them. This one has no holes except for those Rachel has uncovered in her research and looked into with a clear eye. The research has been thorough, unrelenting, illuminating — illuminating even for me.' Many of the messages of gratitude and celebration for Gee are concerned with the sheer impact of his stories. A lot of Gee's struggles and triumphs are inside his fiction. For many, the slim, stunning children's novel Under the Mountain is a core memory. A great imaginative transference that stuck. One of the reasons Gee's story of slug-like aliens called the Wilberforces had such a tremendous effect on readers is that the danger was located in Auckland. It is difficult to look at Rangitoto without thinking of those voracious creatures turning the land to mud. Gee was always concerned with the upending of the environment and the potential for younger generations to heal such destruction. Gee is said to have described himself as 'a New Zealandy sort of writer living in a New Zealandy sort of place … writing New Zealandy sort of books.' It's this slant on home – that 'y' at the end – that both grounds his work and tilts it. Through Gee's novels we see ourselves from a fresh angle. We meet ourselves in Gee's places and in his ordinary, extraordinary people. Gee's Halfmen of O series gave his home of Nelson a portal to another world suffering under a totalitarian regime oppressing the voices of the land and destroying itself only for the pursuit of wealth. Gee wrote seriously for children: his worldbuilding is vibrant, startling, textured but it is also deeply enmeshed with the realities of oppressive and violent societies. Like the best children's writers, Gee never underestimated his reader's capacity to walk with him into these dangers and work out what was going on and what to learn from them. For many years professor Kathryn Walls taught an honours level English paper called New Zealand Children's Literature at Victoria University in which students would study the children's novels of Maurice Gee and Margaret Mahy. A rare example of academia looking at children's books to see how they worked, what they said about their authors; how they might reflect their time, and influence their readers. Like Mahy, Gee was one of the greatest writers New Zealand has ever had and he did not withhold that talent from young people. Gee's body of literature is revelatory in that it expresses a pattern of invention and research across depths and genre, never subjugating one audience for the other, but oscillating between them, using them in different ways. This pattern revealed a great respect for children's writing, and for children as serious readers, that is not always present in an industry that often sees writing for children as somehow a lesser pursuit. One of my favourite of Gee's adult novels is Ellie and the Shadow Man. It has lingered in me for years because it was one of the first novels I read about a woman living as an artist. Ellie Crowther is a painter whose work rises to acclaim. Only her canvases begin to be haunted by a figure who she calls her 'shadow man'. I have vivid memories of the ways Ellie's history starts to emerge, inform and entangle with her art. It is a novel that showed me that life – ordinary, difficult, eerie, troublesome, surprising life – can make great art. Every Gee fan will have their favourite novel. New fans have 35 books to explore and discover. In an interview with The Spinoff in 2024, when asked how he feels when he looks at his body of work, Gee said: 'I feel a sense of satisfaction and a sense that, considering all things, I've done as much and as well as I could have.' It is moving, painful, to think of Gee's work from this moment of great loss. But heartening to know that the great writer left this world satisfied and with a legacy that will live on for many years, and through many readers, to come. The Spinoff will be publishing a tribute page to honour the life and work of Maurice Gee. If you would like to contribute please contact clairemabey@
Economic Times
15-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Economic Times
Maurice Gee, acclaimed New Zealand author, dies at 93
Gee wrote over 30 novels for adults and children during his long career. His notable work, Under the Mountain, was first published in 1979 and adapted into a television series in 1981 and a film in 2009. (Image credit: National Library of New Zealand) Maurice Gee, one of New Zealand's most respected and prolific writers, has died in Nelson at the age of 93. His family confirmed that the author passed away peacefully at home on the afternoon of June 12. In a statement, his children Nigel, Emily, and Abigail said, 'He lived a long and full life and approached death with cheerfulness and calm. He asked us not to grieve. Our father touched the lives of many through his words and leaves behind a remarkable legacy in New Zealand literature.' Also Read: Who is Adam Scott beyond the golf course? All you need to know about the Australian golfer chasing his second major Gee wrote more than 30 novels for both adults and children over a career spanning decades. Among his most well-known works is Under the Mountain, first published in 1979 and later adapted into a popular television series in 1981 and a film in 2009. His adult fiction included In My Father's Den (1972), which was made into a feature film in 2004, and The Plumb Trilogy (1978–1983), widely regarded as a cornerstone of New Zealand literature. Born in Whakatāne in 1931, Gee grew up in West Auckland, a region often serving as the backdrop for his fiction. His upbringing and local surroundings profoundly influenced his storytelling. Works such as Going West, Crime Story, The Burning Boy, Live Bodies, The Halfmen of O, and Blindsight showcased his range and depth as a writer. Gee received numerous awards and honours throughout his career. These included the Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and the Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship. In 2003, he was named an Arts Foundation Icon, one of the highest honours for a New Zealand artist.A major biography of Gee, Maurice Gee: Life and Work, was published in 2015 by Rachel Barrowman. The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature praised Gee's contribution, stating that his work 'bountifully gives us a rich vision of some region and aspect of New Zealand life, and of human life in general... Yet there is always an awareness of living at the edge of an abyss.'Gee was also known for his support of end-of-life choice, reflecting the calm and considered approach with which he viewed poured in following the news of his death. Nelson MP Rachel Boyack called him 'a giant of New Zealand's literary world,' adding that Under the Mountain was one of her childhood favourites. Poet Bill Manhire described Gee as 'one of the greats,' while writer Rachael King simply wrote, 'RIP you legend of children's fiction.'Publisher Fergus Barrowman, who has long associated with Gee's work, said the author has been central to his understanding of the world since reading Plumb in 1979.
Otago Daily Times
15-06-2025
- General
- Otago Daily Times
Famed Kiwi author Maurice Gee dies
Respected Kiwi writer Maurice Gee - author of 'Plumb' and 'Under the Mountain' - has died, aged 93. Considered one of New Zealand's greatest novelists, his work extended over 50 years. He wrote about ordinary people and ordinary lives, often with the narrator looking back at events that caused damage and unhappiness. "I don't deliberately set out to do this, but the stories turn in that direction following their own logic," he said. "All I can do about it is make the narrative as interesting as I can and give those people lively minds." Maurice Gee was born in Whakatāne in 1931 and educated at Auckland's Avondale College in Auckland and at Auckland University where he took a Masters degree in English. He worked as a teacher and librarian, before becoming a full-time writer in 1975. He passed much of his childhood in what was then the country town of Henderson. The town, disguised as Loomis, and its creek are featured in many of his books. "I grew up alongside that creek in Henderson, and it seemed all sorts of exciting and dangerous things happened down there," he said. "You know, that creek I could plot its whole length pool by pool for a couple of miles even today." His reputation took an enormous leap in 1978 with the publication of 'Plumb', the first of a trilogy about three generations of a family. The novel won the British James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction in 1979. The character of Plumb was based on maternal grandfather Jim Chapple - a Presbyterian minister, who was ejected from the church, because of his rationalist beliefs and jailed for preaching pacifism during World War I. Gee inherited strong left-wing views from that side of his family and a burden of sexual puritanism, which he said caused him a tortured adolescence, although he denied claims of a strong authorial voice in his work. "I can't look at my books the way I read other books," he said. "I look at them quite differently. "I'm intimately connected with them and probably wouldn't be able to identify my voice in them, if someone asked me to." He said his novel 'Crime Story' stemmed from his anger over the changes made in New Zealand by the Lange Labour Government in the 1980s, and politicians and businessmen are seldom portrayed favourably in his books. Gee's output included short stories and television scripts, and his children's fiction was highly regarded, although it was not his preferred genre. "Children's writing seems to be easier than adult writing, because it's coming off a different level," he said. "There's still some pleasure to be got from both and I try to do each as professionally as I possibly can, but the thing that really engages me fully is adult fiction." Written in 1979, 'Under the Mountain' was probably his best-known children's work, and was later converted into a film and TV series. He received many awards for his work, including the Burns and Katherine Mansfield Fellowships, honorary degrees from Victoria and Auckland universities, and the Prime Minister's Award for literary merit. He won the the Deutz Medal for fiction in 1998 for his novel 'Live Bodies' and the 2006 Montana New Zealand Book Award for 'Blindsight'. "Sad to hear of Maurice Gee's passing," Arts, Culture & Heritage Minister Paul Goldsmith said. "Our thoughts are with his family. "He was a prolific and graceful author. 'Plumb' is my favorite, although thousands of Kiwis will have their own." Gee is survived by wife Margareta, their two daughters, and a son from an early relationship.
