SOURCE: McRae, Jane. “Māori Literature: A Survey.” In The Oxford History of New Zealand Literature in English, edited by Terry Sturm, pp. 1-24. Auckland, New Zealand: Oxford University Press, 1991.

In the following essay, McRae documents Maori oral and written literature as it developed in New Zealand, including brief discussions of poetry, publishing history, and cultural and political context.

Historical and Contemporary Setting

Before there was a literature of New Zealand, there was a Māori oral tradition of Aotearoa with an ancient history which began in the Polynesian homeland of Hawaiki. A Māori literary tradition has a recent history which tells of the effect on the people of the occupation of New Zealand by the European immigrants who brought the technologies of writing and print. The two traditions have become inextricably linked, although the oral tradition remains a vital part of Māori society. There has...