Charles Brasch Journals 1945-1957

de Charles Brasch, Peter Simpson

"This second of three volumes of Charles Brasch's journals covers 1945 to 1957, beginning with his return to New Zealand after World War II to establish a literary quarterly. The journals cover the discussions that preceded Landfall and the first decade of his distinguished editorship, a role that brought Brasch into contact with New Zealand's leading artists and intelligentsia. His frank and often detailed descriptions of these people - including Frank Sargeson, A.R.D. Fairburn, Keith Sinclair, Eric McCormick, James Bertram, John Beaglehole, Fred and Evelyn Page, Alistair Campbell, Toss and Edith Woollaston, Denis Glover, Allen Curnow, Leo Bensemann, Ngaio Marsh, Colin McCahon, James K. Baxter, Janet Frame, Ruth Dallas and many others - are among the highlights of the book. Unmarried and longing for intimacy, Brasch also writes with great candour about his relationships with Rose Archdall, Rodney Kennedy and Harry Scott, revealing a side of himself that has not been known about before. Central to Brasch's life was the vocation of poetry. He writes revealingly about his own work, and also about his love of nature and the outdoors. The book ends with his visit to Europe in 1957, which confirmed his sense that New Zealand had become for him 'a centre & a world'."--Back cover.