Stonefish

Posted on by Keri Hulme
Stonefish Stonefish is a collection of short stories and poems by the only New Zealand writer to win the Pegasus Prize for M ori Literature and the Booker Prize The scallops arranged in the spider lambis were s

Stonefish is a collection of short stories and poems by the only New Zealand writer to win the Pegasus Prize for M ori Literature and the Booker Prize The scallops arranged in the spider lambis were succulently decadent A bottle of rare wine had been reduced to its essence and sprinkled over the raw bodies, and rough salt, and finely chopped redware The flush of theStonefish is a collection of short stories and poems by the only New Zealand writer to win the Pegasus Prize for M ori Literature and the Booker Prize The scallops arranged in the spider lambis were succulently decadent A bottle of rare wine had been reduced to its essence and sprinkled over the raw bodies, and rough salt, and finely chopped redware The flush of the shell echoed visually the wine and the seaweed, and although there were but five scallops, they were truly sweet meat The slices of mild green pepper were almost transparent, and they tangled artfully with shreds of young daikon, and pressure steamed fragments of ti Hot and crisp and oily melting, a challenging blend And the tea, as always, was Black Dragon tea, a hint of smoky coolness in the steam, and a consummation in the mouth People died just to get it to these islands she had learned She could think of many worse reasons to die.

  • [PDF] Stonefish | by Ç Keri Hulme
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Stonefish

  1. Keri Hulme born 9 March 1947 is a New Zealand writer Her only novel, The Bone People, won the Booker Prize in 1985.Hulme was born in Christchurch, in New Zealand s South Island The daughter of a carpenter and a credit manager, she was the eldest of six children Her parents were of English, Scottish, and M ori Kai Tahu descent Our family comes from diverse people Kai Tahu, K ti Mamoe South Island Maori iwi Orkney islanders Lancashire folk Faroese and or Norwegian migrants, Hulme told Contemporary Women Poets Her early education was at North New Brighton Primary School and Aranui High School Her father died when she was 11 years old.Hulme worked as a tobacco picker in Motueka after leaving school She began studying for an honours law degree at the University of Canterbury in 1967, but left after four terms and returned to tobacco picking.By 1972, she decided to begin writing full time, but, despite family support, was forced to go back to work nine months later She continued writing, some of her work appearing under the pseudonym Kai Tainui During this time, she continued working on her novel, The Bone People, ultimately published in February 1984 The novel was returned by several publishers before being accepted by the Spiral Collective It won the 1984 New Zealand Book Award for Fiction and the Booker Prize in 1985 Hulme was the first New Zealander to win the Booker.Hulme was a writer in residence at the University of Otago in 1978, and at the University of Canterbury in 1985 She lives in Oamaru, in North Otago Hulme has been the Patron of New Zealand Republic since 1996 She is an aromantic asexual and an atheist from

700 Reply to “Stonefish”

  3. If I had to choose one set of words to describe this book, it would be, neo literary This is not an easy read , and the faint of heart or casual reader should not pick up this book If the constant use of Maori words does not get you, she does have a useful glossary in the back , then be prepared for Hulme s esoteric style of leaving things half said, using dashes, inserting poetry, and only sketching the scene Reading Hulme is like looking at a Franz Kline painting.This is the most difficult pie [...]

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  4. Surreal, fractured, often fantastic and set like stones into their environment, this collection of shorts plus the odd poem is like a collection of little puzzles It s certainly interesting to read rising to fascinating in some cases.Though as with any short story collection, some of the included tales are better than others My particular favourites were the truly excellent Floating Words and The Eyes of the Moonfish.

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  8. Stonefish has often been called an example of exploratory writing, and in many ways there is truth to this Many of the short stories explore various states of dream, which is quite different than what most of us consider typical writing However, I am quick to point out that many of these experiments are full of Maori tradition, culture, oral stories, etc that make them worthy of reading a few times as you try to find the point of each The title itself is rather telling The stonefish synanceia is [...]

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