Editing New Zealand literature (section)

===Early 20th century: 1914–1939===
[[File:Katherine Mansfield (no signature).jpg|thumb|[[Katherine Mansfield]]|left|upright]]
New Zealand literature continued to develop in the early 20th century, with notable writers including the poet [[Blanche Edith Baughan]] and novelist [[Jane Mander]].<ref>{{cite web |editor-last1=McLintock |editor-first1=A.H. |title=LITERATURE – FICTION: Early fiction |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/1966/literature-fiction/page-2 |website=An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand 1966 |publisher=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=16 February 2021 |archive-date=14 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210814012708/https://teara.govt.nz/en/1966/literature-fiction/page-2 |url-status=live }}</ref> New Zealand's most famous and influential writer in these years was the short-story writer [[Katherine Mansfield]], who left New Zealand in 1908 and became one of the founders of [[literary modernism]]. She published three collections of stories in her lifetime: ''In a German Pension'' (1911), ''Bliss and Other Stories'' (1920) and ''The Garden Party and Other Stories'' (1922).<ref>{{cite web |last1=Wevers |first1=Lydia |title=Katherine Mansfield – Story: Fiction |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/fiction/page-3 |website=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=16 February 2021 |archive-date=3 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210603194109/https://teara.govt.nz/en/fiction/page-3 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfn|King|2003|p=382}} She died in 1923, having (in the words of [[C. K. Stead]]) "laid the foundations for a reputation that has gone on to grow and influence the development of New Zealand literature ever since".<ref name="Brit CK"/> Another notable early writer was [[Ursula Bethell]], whose first poetry collection was published in 1929; her poetry is ascribed by the ''Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century Literature in English'' as having "a plainness and spareness (as well as freshness of image) which distinguishes it from the more ornamented verse the country had previously produced".<ref name="OCTCL">{{Cite encyclopedia |editor1-last=Stringer |editor1-first=Jenny |encyclopedia=The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century Literature in English |title=Bethell, Ursula |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780192122711.001.0001/acref-9780192122711-e-250 |access-date=14 December 2020 |date=2005 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-1917-2757-3 |archive-date=1 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210901042329/https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780192122711.001.0001/acref-9780192122711-e-250 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Edith Joan Lyttleton]], who wrote as G.B. Lancaster, was New Zealand's most commercially successful writer in this period, known for her epic colonial romances.<ref>{{DNZB|Sturm|Terry|3l18|Lyttleton, Edith Joan|23 February 2021}}</ref>{{sfn|King|2003|p=385}} [[Herbert Guthrie-Smith|Herbert Guthrie-Smith's]] ''Tutira: The Story of a New Zealand Sheep Station'' (1921) was New Zealand's first significant environmentalist publication, and remains a classic of ecological writing; [[Michael King (historian)|Michael King]] said in 2003 that it is "still the best example of this genre."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://thespinoff.co.nz/books/19-04-2017/bottom-of-the-lake-how-the-setting-for-a-classic-book-of-new-zealand-literature-became-a-toxic-swamp/|title=Bottom of the lake: How the setting for a classic book of New Zealand literature became a toxic swamp|last=Steer|first=Philip|date=19 April 2017|website=[[The Spinoff]] |access-date=5 March 2021|archive-date=7 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210307060746/https://thespinoff.co.nz/books/19-04-2017/bottom-of-the-lake-how-the-setting-for-a-classic-book-of-new-zealand-literature-became-a-toxic-swamp/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/tutira|title=Tutira|website=New Zealand History|access-date=5 March 2021|archive-date=10 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210410140238/https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/tutira|url-status=live}}</ref>

By the 1930s, New Zealand writing was starting to become established, assisted by the growth of universities and small publishers.<ref name="NZ History"/> Notable works included ''[[Man Alone]]'' (1939) by [[John Mulgan]], an influential classic describing an isolated and alienated New Zealand man (which has itself become a cultural stereotype), influenced by the [[Great Depression]], ''Show Down'' (1936) by [[Margaret Escott]], and [[Frank Sargeson]]'s short story collection, ''A Man and His Wife'' (1940).<ref>{{cite web |editor-last1=McLintock |editor-first1=A.H. |title=LITERATURE – New impulses |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/1966/literature/page-4 |website=An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand 1966 |publisher=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=16 February 2021 |archive-date=29 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140529203910/http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/1966/literature/page-4 |url-status=live }}</ref> It was common at this time for writers, like Mansfield, to leave New Zealand and establish careers overseas: including Mulgan, [[Dan Davin]], who joined the [[Oxford University Press]], and journalist [[Geoffrey Cox (journalist)|Geoffrey Cox]].{{sfn|King|2003|p=505}} [[Ngaio Marsh]], who divided her time between New Zealand and England, wrote detective fiction in the 1930s and was known as one of the [[Detective fiction#Golden Age detective novels|"Queens of Crime"]].<ref name="New">{{cite web |last1=Wevers |first1=Lydia |title=New writers after the Second World War – Story: Fiction |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/fiction/page-6 |website=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=16 February 2021 |archive-date=3 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210603082843/https://teara.govt.nz/en/fiction/page-6 |url-status=live }}</ref> After the Depression, foreign theatre companies stopped touring New Zealand, which led to the establishment of a thriving amateur dramatic scene and playwrights such as [[Isobel Andrews]] achieving success through competitions held by the New Zealand Branch of the [[British Drama League]].<ref name="NZ History"/>

Writing was still largely a Pākehā endeavour at this time; many Māori were living in rural areas and recovering from the loss of their land and language, depopulation, and educational challenges. [[Te Rangi Hīroa]] and [[Āpirana Ngata]] wrote non-fiction and collected Māori songs and chants for publication, but there were limited opportunities for Māori in written literature.<ref name="Roots"/>