Vincent O'Sullivan (poet)
Encyclopedia
Vincent Gerard O’Sullivan (28 September 1937 Auckland, New Zealand – ) is New Zealand
poet, short story writer, novelist, playwright, critic and editor.
He graduated from the University of Auckland
and Oxford University; he lectured at Victoria University of Wellington
(1963–66) and the University of Waikato
(1968–78).
He served as editor of the NZ Listener (1979–80).
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
poet, short story writer, novelist, playwright, critic and editor.
He graduated from the University of Auckland
University of Auckland
The University of Auckland is a university located in Auckland, New Zealand. It is the largest university in the country and the highest ranked in the 2011 QS World University Rankings, having been ranked worldwide...
and Oxford University; he lectured at Victoria University of Wellington
Victoria University of Wellington
Victoria University of Wellington was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a former constituent college of the University of New Zealand. It is particularly well known for its programmes in law, the humanities, and some scientific disciplines, but offers a broad range of other courses...
(1963–66) and the University of Waikato
University of Waikato
The University of Waikato is located in Hamilton and Tauranga, New Zealand, and was established in 1964. It has strengths across a broad range of subject areas, particularly its degrees in Computer Science and in Management...
(1968–78).
He served as editor of the NZ Listener (1979–80).
Awards
- 2005 Montana New Zealand Book Award for PoetryMontana New Zealand Book Award for PoetryThe Montana New Zealand Book Award for Poetry is one category of the New Zealand Post Book Awards, given out annually. The award carries a $5,000 prize for each winner of the category awards, including the award for poetry....
- 1999 Montana New Zealand Book Award for PoetryMontana New Zealand Book Award for PoetryThe Montana New Zealand Book Award for Poetry is one category of the New Zealand Post Book Awards, given out annually. The award carries a $5,000 prize for each winner of the category awards, including the award for poetry....
Poetry
- Our Burning Time (1965),
- Revenants (1969)
- Waikato-Taniwha-Rau (1971)
- Bearings (1973)
- From the Indian Funeral (1976)
- Butcher & Co. (1977)
- Brother Jonathan, Brother Kafka (1979)
- The Rose Ballroom and Other Poems (1982)
- The Butcher Papers (1982)
- The Pilate Tapes (1986)
- Selected Poems (1992)
Short Stories
- The Boy, The Bridge, The River (1978)
- Dandy Edison for Lunch and Other Stories (1981)
- Survivals (1985)
- The Snow in Spain: Short Stories (1990)
- Palms and Minarets: Selected Stories (1992).
Plays
- Shuriken, was performed at Downstage, Wellington, in July 1983.
- Billy, presented at Bats Theatre, Wellington
Editor
- Mansfield’s ‘The Aloe’ with ‘Prelude’ (1982)
- Poems of Katherine Mansfield (1988)
- Selected Letters (1989)
- An Anthology of Twentieth-Century New Zealand Poetry (1970, revised 1976 and 1987)
- New Zealand Short Stories: Third Series (1975)
- New Zealand Writing Since 1945 (1983, with MacDonald P. Jackson)
- Collected Poems: Ursula Bethell (1985),
- The Oxford Book of New Zealand Short Stories (1992),
Reviews
In print and in performance, Vincent O’Sullivan as poet reminds one of nothing so much as an antipodean Marist or Jesuit; with his trenchant mix of philosophical erudition and vernacular ease, he comes across as the defrocked priest of New Zealand literature. His poems display an irreverence that shades into reverence: God is spoken of with fondness and slight regret, as if O’Sullivan is remembering a character who belongs to a previous book (which, he might say, is what God is).
This poem is in many ways typical of O'Sullivan's strengths: it has a lyric eloquence that never shies away from, often embraces, difficult sometimes philosophical subject matter and is a good introduction – as is the volume as a whole – to his work in general.