Eric Hall McCormick (17 June 1906 – 23 March 1995) was a New Zealand teacher, critic, historian, university lecturer and biographer.

Life and career

McCormick was born in

Taihape Taihape is in the Rangitikei District of the North Island of New Zealand. It serves a large rural community. State Highway 1, which runs North to South through the centre of the North Island, passes through the town. History and culture Early ...

Wanganui Whanganui (; ), also spelled Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whang ...

. He attended

Wellington College, Wellington Wellington College, is a state-run boys secondary school in Wellington, New Zealand. It is situated in 12 hectares of green belt land in the suburb of Mount Victoria, in the vicinity of the Basin Reserve and Government House. The school was fo ...

, as a

boarder A boarder may be a person who: *snowboards *skateboards *bodyboards * surfs *stays at a boarding house *attends a boarding school *takes part in a boarding attack The Boarder may also refer to: * ''The Boarder'' (1953 film), a 1953 Soviet drama ...

, and then studied at the Teachers' Training College, Wellington, and

Victoria University College Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well know ...

. He continued his studies at Victoria while teaching at rural schools near

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

, eventually graduating

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Th ...

in English and Latin. In the early 1930s he studied at

Clare College, Cambridge Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the University after Peterhouse. It was refound ...

. Of McCormick's first book, ''Letters and Art in New Zealand'' (1940), the reviewer for the '' Auckland Star'' declared that of all the books published in New Zealand's centennial year of 1940, none was "so rich in information not otherwise easily accessible, or so likely to increase understanding of the social changes which the Dominion has known", and concluded that it was "an excellent piece of work of which New Zealand until now has stood much in need". The historian Keith Sinclair later described it as "a work of such discrimination and scholarship as at once to establish the author as the first of his countrymen entitled to be called critic". McCormick served with the New Zealand Army in the Middle East during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, at first as a medical orderly but later as a war archivist. He rose to the rank of captain, and on his return to New Zealand in 1945 he was appointed chief war archivist. In 1947, McCormick was appointed senior lecturer in English at

Auckland University College , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

. He resigned in 1951 to take up a two-year

University of New Zealand The University of New Zealand was New Zealand's sole degree-granting university from 1874 to 1961. It was a collegiate university embracing several constituent institutions at various locations around New Zealand. After it was dissolved in 196 ...

senior research fellowship. Later in the 1950s he became an independent scholar, living frugally in the Auckland suburb of Green Bay with his sister Myra.

Books

*''Making New Zealand: Pictorial Surveys of a Century'' (1939–40; he edited this 30-volume series) *''Letters and Art in New Zealand'' (1940) *''New Zealand, a Colony of the Mind'' (1945) *''Poetry in New Zealand'' (1947) *''The Later Novel'' (1947) *''The Expatriate: A Study of

Frances Hodgkins Frances Mary Hodgkins (28 April 1869 – 13 May 1947) was a New Zealand painter chiefly of landscape and still life, and for a short period was a designer of textiles. She was born and raised in New Zealand, but spent most of her working ...

'' (1954) *''The Voice of a Silent Land: New Zealand Writing'' (1955) *'' Eric Lee-Johnson'' (1956) *''The Inland Eye: A Sketch in Visual Autobiography'' (1959) *''New Zealand Literature: A Survey'' (1959) *''Tasman and New Zealand: A Bibliographical Study'' (1959) *''The Fascinating Folly: Dr Hocken and His Fellow Collectors'' (1961) *'' Alexander Turnbull: His Life, His Circle, His Collections'' (1974) *''

Omai Mai (c.1751-late 1779), known as Omai in Britain, was a young Ra'iatean man who became the second Pacific Islander to visit Europe, after Ahu-toru who was brought to Paris by Bougainville in 1768. Life Ma'i, born c.1751, described himself ...

: Pacific Envoy'' (1977) *''Portrait of

'' (1981) *''The Friend of

Keats John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculos ...

: A Life of

Charles Armitage Brown Charles Armitage Brown (14 April 1787 – 5 June 1842) was a close friend of the poet John Keats, as well as a friend of artist Joseph Severn, Leigh Hunt, Thomas Jefferson Hogg, Walter Savage Landor and Edward John Trelawny. He was the fat ...

'' (1989) *''An Absurd Ambition: Autobiographical Writings'' (1996; edited by Dennis McEldowney) ''Writing, a New Country: A Collection of Essays Presented to E. H. McCormick in His 88th Year'' is a 1993

festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

of 16 essays by 16 authors.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCormick, Eric 1906 births 1995 deaths Academic staff of the University of Auckland 20th-century New Zealand historians New Zealand biographers People from Taihape People educated at Wellington College (New Zealand) Victoria University of Wellington alumni Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge New Zealand military personnel of World War II New Zealand literary critics