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Captain Cook in
the Underworld [libretto of Orpheus in Rarohenga, written with composer
John Psathas for the Orpheus Choir] / Robert Sullivan. - Auckland (New
Zealand) : Auckland university press, 2002. - 50 p. ;
23 cm.
ISBN 1-86940-281-2
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NOTE DE L'ÉDITEUR : Captain Cook in the Underworld is a book-length poem by a gifted Maori poet,
an archetypal exploration of Western mythology and legend as
it « discovers » itself in the South Pacific.
The poem was commissioned as the libretto for a new work with
composer John Psathas for the fiftieth anniversary celebration
of Wellington's Orpheus Choir. Captain Cook in the Underworld
offers fresh perspectives on the familiar story of Cook's Pacific
explorations ; it has a broad bi-cultural (European/Polynesian)
frame of references ; and Sullivan employs a bold risk-taking
approach.
The book is a highly stylised, « operatic »
account of the voyages, with similarities to the musical structure
of Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and opera.
As the poem unfolds, European myth (Orpheus, Venus, etc) has
to make space for Polynesian myth (Maui, Reinga, etc). In the
final pages, Cook is required after his death to face up to the
damage his expeditions have inflicted on the indigenous peoples
of the Pacific. This theme of European guilt and recognition
will have a strong and shocking impact.
❙ Robert Sullivan (Ngapuhi/Galway
Irish) was born in 1967 ; he has been writing poetry since 1986
and co-edits the online literary journal Trout.
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COMPLÉMENT
BIBLIOGRAPHIQUE
- « Jazz waiata », Auckland (New Zealand) : Auckland university press, 1990
- « Piki ake ! poems 1990-92 », Auckland (New Zealand) : Auckland university press, 1993
- « Maui : legends of the outcast » ill. by Chris Slade, Auckland (New Zealand) : Godwit, 1996
- « Star waka », Auckland (New Zealand) : Auckland university press, 1999
- «
Weaving earth and sky : myths & legends of
Aotearoa » ill. by Gavin Bishop, Auckland (New
Zealand) : Random house, 2002
- « Whetu
Moana : contemporary Polynesian poetry in English » edited
by Albert Wendt, Reina Whaitiri and Robert Sullivan, Auckland :
Auckland university press, 2003
- « Voice carried my family », Auckland (New Zealand) : Auckland university press, 2005
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| mise-à-jour : 2 novembre 2017 |
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