Mason: The Life of R. A. K. Mason

by Rachel Barrowman

The full story of the gifted but troubled R A K Mason is told for the first time in this accessible biography. The puzzling reasons after his extraordinary beginning that Mason almost completely stopped writing poetry are investigated. The legendary story of how Mason dumped 200 copies of his first book, 'The Beggar', into Auckland harbor in disappointment, disgust, or despair because no one would buy it is explored as a symbol of a time (the 1920s and 1930s) when a true, vital, native literature struggled to be written or heard in a provincial and puritanical country. Also explored are how Mason's political beliefs prompted him to turn his creative energies to left-wing theater movements in the 1930s, the impact that family pressures had on his life, and his late-in-life diagnosis with manic depression.

455 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2004

About the author

Rachel Barrowman is an award-winning historian. Her publications include, The Turnbull: a library and its world (1995), and Mason: the life of R.A.K. Mason (2003), which won the biography category of the 2004 Montana New Zealand Book Awards. This biography also received a wealth of critical praise, and Kim Worthington described it as, ‘a superbly crafted biography’. Rachel Barrowman has worked as an editor for the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, and has been awarded key research fellowships.