Classics Catch-up – Kāpiti and Coast Independent

Turned out to be one of the greatest books I have ever read. Leslie on Jane Eyre

By Leslie Clague

Finding classics on the home shelves

On my home book shelves I have stored books — some classics, some recommended, some gifted – that I’ve saved for “when I have time to read them.” Despite the busyness of retirement I have been finding time now to read some of these preserved items.

Two classics read in the last few months are Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and Erewhon by Samuel Butler.

Blush. Hard to admit, to confess, being a history major at university with a minor in English not to have read Jane Eyre – especially being a girl. I did read Wuthering Heights, but I don’t know, I was pulled towards Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky and American stuff rather than classic Bronte literature.

The wonders of Jane Eyre

So I came to Jane Eyre politely and sort of out of a sense of duty. I was blown away.

Turned out to be one of the greatest books I have ever read. It gives good moral ground in the story. The character development is superb. Plus it provides some edge of the seat, what’s going to happen next stuff, rather like a great who-dun-it than a romance. Some bits made me cry, which tells me I am reading something special.

My apologies to all Bronte enthusiasts for being so slow in discovering this masterpiece.

Warmed by this experience and after a non-fiction selection or two, I moved to Erewhon. I was keen to read this classic that takes place in New Zealand, now my home country.

Trying to connect with Erewhon

It opened well in its description of the land travelled to, the journey over the Alps to meet these strange peoples, the Erewhonians. (I love that Erewhon is nowhere spelled backwards.) And then I lost it.

I know Butler was writing a satire on 18^th century thought in England. I was expecting something maybe like Gulliver’s Travels, but I simply couldn’t connect with this book. “The Book of the Machines” chapters probably touched me the most as our current culture confronts some of the outlined issues. But, no, sorry Mr. Butler, I didn’t get it.

There is a 70’s saying: “Expectation leads to upset.” Perhaps this is what happened here. I expected ‘ho-hum” from Bronte and fun with Butler; I experienced the opposite.

The joy of discovery through reading

Still, the joys of reading, the art of reading, the journey of reading – growing, learning, experiencing – may it never end. And so very special to be able to cross centuries and connect. Or not. Both novels can be downloaded free from the internet, or if you are like me and prefer paper, your local library should be able to assist.

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100 Years Ago — and the Maori Long March begins

Māori politics was dominated by the influential MPs (and sometime Cabinet ministers) Māui Pōmare ( Waitara statue photo above) and Apirana Ngata.

The 1920's also saw the rise of Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana’s religious movement, and the emergence of Te Puea Hērangi in Waikato.

Ngata worked hard to foster Māori scholarship and education and preserve traditional arts and culture.

He convinced the government to establish a Board of Maori Ethnological Research (1923), a Maori Purposes Fund Control Board (1924) and a School of Maori Arts and Crafts in Rotorua (1927).

The Reform government also took the first, tentative steps towards settling longstanding Māori grievances.

Agreements with Te Arawa in 1922 and Ngāti Tūwharetoa in 1926 recognised their respective rights over the Rotorua lakes and Lake Taupō, and led to the establishment of trust boards with some government funding.

Commissions of inquiry which examined Ngāi Tahu grievances (1920–21) and the Waikato and Taranaki confiscations (1926–27) recommended that modest compensation be paid.