Gordon Challis: Difference between revisions
No edit summary |
|||
| Line 5: | Line 5: | ||
==Poetry== |
==Poetry== |
||
Challis began writing poetry at Victoria University. His work was widely published in literary periodicals, especially [[Landfall (journal)|Landfall]], and in 1960 [[Charles Brasch]] nominated him as one of the four leading contenders for poetic fame in New Zealand in the coming decade. A poetic sequence, "The Oracle", was published in Landfall 60 (1961), the first poem of which subsequently appeared in Challis's collection, "Building" (Caxton, 1963). The intense pressures of mental health work led Challis to abandon writing poetry and, apart from translations from Spanish for Landfall. |
Challis began writing poetry at Victoria University. His work was widely published in literary periodicals, especially [[Landfall (journal)|Landfall]], and in 1960 [[Charles Brasch]] nominated him as one of the four leading contenders for poetic fame in New Zealand in the coming decade. A poetic sequence, "The Oracle", was published in Landfall 60 (1961), the first poem of which subsequently appeared in Challis's collection, "Building" (Caxton, 1963). The intense pressures of mental health work led Challis to abandon writing poetry and, apart from translations from Spanish for Landfall. After his retirement from mental health care, Challis found "to his surprise" that writing slowly began returning to him.<ref name="GB"/> He had new work published in The New Zealand Listener]] and Landfall.<ref name="Oxford1"/> In 2003 Challis published his second collection, "The other side of the brain" and in 2009, his third collection "Luck of the Bounce" appeared.<ref name="GB"/> |
||
Challis's work has been linked with |
Challis's work has been linked with [[Louis Johnson]] (the most influential), [[Peter Bland]] and [[Charles Doyle]], other immigrant English poets writing in [[Wellington]] from the mid-1950s.<ref name="Oxford1"/> These poets dealt with personal experience in a contemporary urban, often domestic, setting, and using modernist techniques.<ref name="Oxford1"/> Andrew Mason see Challis's most enduring work as more distinctive.<ref name="Oxford1"/> Such poems ("The Iceman", "The Shadowless Man", "The Thermostatic Man", "The Asbestos-Suited Man in Hell" and its sequel "The Inflammable Man") explore psychological states and the development of personal identity.<ref name="Oxford1"/> Others {"The Black One", "The Sirens" and "The Oracle") are an often ironic reworking of myths or archetypes into contemporary situations. The poems are all "Linguistically inventive" but "carefully crafted".<ref name="Oxford1"/> Challis's poetry is characterised by an "apparent distance", almost a "clinical detachment", which "subverts the immediate or expected emotional response".<ref name="Oxford1"/> "Beneath that, however, there is a deeper identification with psychological conditions that are unique to the individual yet common to humankind".<ref name="Oxford1"/> |
||
In his third collection, "Luck of the bounce" the poems have become "sometimes light and quirky, often witty, occasionally self-deprecating but always compassionate"..<ref name="GB"/> "There is a deep humanity in Gordon’s creative impulse. There is a satirical edge to some of the humour>.<ref name="GB"/> although Challis has said that it is "never his intention to hurt people".<ref name="GB"/> Challis has said: "Luck of the Bounce" is definitely part of a progression in his work with the poems being lighter and more humorous. His earlier works were "news stories from the unconscious mind but these latest ones are news stories from a more conscious kind of awareness". Challis has said that he finds poetry compelling in the intensity of its reflection and its ability to make connections with an audience in its endeavours to fathom the human condition<ref name="GB"/> |
|||
==Publications== |
==Publications== |
||
Revision as of 21:02, 19 January 2012
Gordon Challis (born 1932) is a New Zealand poet.
Background
Challis was born in a Welsh family in Birmingham, England, and raised there and in Sydney. After living for a time in Spain, he arrived in New Zealand in 1953 and worked as a postman in Wellington and studied psychology and social work at Victoria University. After working as a psychiatric social worker in Porirua Hospital 1961–62, he joined the new Hastings psychiatric unit as a psychologist. He returned to psychiatric social work in 1973, at Canberra, and retired from it in 1988, at Porirua, and moved to Nelson.[1] Challis now lives in Golden Bay.[2]
Poetry
Challis began writing poetry at Victoria University. His work was widely published in literary periodicals, especially Landfall, and in 1960 Charles Brasch nominated him as one of the four leading contenders for poetic fame in New Zealand in the coming decade. A poetic sequence, "The Oracle", was published in Landfall 60 (1961), the first poem of which subsequently appeared in Challis's collection, "Building" (Caxton, 1963). The intense pressures of mental health work led Challis to abandon writing poetry and, apart from translations from Spanish for Landfall. After his retirement from mental health care, Challis found "to his surprise" that writing slowly began returning to him.[2] He had new work published in The New Zealand Listener]] and Landfall.[1] In 2003 Challis published his second collection, "The other side of the brain" and in 2009, his third collection "Luck of the Bounce" appeared.[2]
Challis's work has been linked with Louis Johnson (the most influential), Peter Bland and Charles Doyle, other immigrant English poets writing in Wellington from the mid-1950s.[1] These poets dealt with personal experience in a contemporary urban, often domestic, setting, and using modernist techniques.[1] Andrew Mason see Challis's most enduring work as more distinctive.[1] Such poems ("The Iceman", "The Shadowless Man", "The Thermostatic Man", "The Asbestos-Suited Man in Hell" and its sequel "The Inflammable Man") explore psychological states and the development of personal identity.[1] Others {"The Black One", "The Sirens" and "The Oracle") are an often ironic reworking of myths or archetypes into contemporary situations. The poems are all "Linguistically inventive" but "carefully crafted".[1] Challis's poetry is characterised by an "apparent distance", almost a "clinical detachment", which "subverts the immediate or expected emotional response".[1] "Beneath that, however, there is a deeper identification with psychological conditions that are unique to the individual yet common to humankind".[1]
In his third collection, "Luck of the bounce" the poems have become "sometimes light and quirky, often witty, occasionally self-deprecating but always compassionate"..[2] "There is a deep humanity in Gordon’s creative impulse. There is a satirical edge to some of the humour>.[2] although Challis has said that it is "never his intention to hurt people".[2] Challis has said: "Luck of the Bounce" is definitely part of a progression in his work with the poems being lighter and more humorous. His earlier works were "news stories from the unconscious mind but these latest ones are news stories from a more conscious kind of awareness". Challis has said that he finds poetry compelling in the intensity of its reflection and its ability to make connections with an audience in its endeavours to fathom the human condition[2]
Publications
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Andrew Mason, "Challis, Gordon", in Roger Robinson and Nelson Wattie (eds), The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature, Oxford, Auckland 1998, pp. 99 and 100.
- ^ a b c d e f g Neil, Wilson, "Poet Gordon Challis rediscovers 'the young me'”, The Golden Bay Weekly, 8 April 2009 (retrieved 20 January 2012)
/Category:1932 births /Category:Living people /Category:New Zealand poets /Category:Victoria University of Wellington alumni /Category:People from the Nelson Region