TEACHING PACIFIC LITERATURE
Yeah, he’s the Once Were Warriors guy right?
No, that’s Duff.
Oh, I thought he was the Whale Rider guy.
No, that’s Ihimaera.
But doesn’t he do Howard Morrison’s gigs too?
He has written an operetta, and is known to sing on occasion. D
id he start way back in that TB movie with all the flies?
No. That’s Albert Wendt. The film was an adaption of his book Flying Fox in the Freedom Tree. He published his seventh novel last month.
Oh, I thought he was dead.
No, he just moved to Hawai‘i.
Oh, is that gonna be on TV?
’Scuse me.
Yes, at the back, a question?
Nah, it’s just an observation really.
Yes?
I thought Sione’s Wedding was such a good film – all my Sumowan friends are just like that.
Like what?
Y’know, happy-go-lucky and shit.
OK. Let’s do some sober realism then. Take out Figiel’s Where We Once Belonged.
We look at her in light of Trask’s ‘Writing in Captivity’.
’Scuse me. Yes?
Aren’t you running the risk of silencing the Pakeha male critic’s voice?
Yes