Robert Sullivan

Captain Cook in the underworld

Auckland university press

Auckland (New Zealand), 2002

bibliothèque insulaire

   
Nouvelle-Zélande
parutions 2002
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
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.
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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