''Plume of the Arawas: An Epic of Maori Life'' is a 1930 novel by

Frank Acheson Frank Oswald Victor Acheson (27 June 1887 – 25 March 1948) was a New Zealand lawyer and judge of the Native Land Court. Early life He was born in Riverton, Southland, New Zealand on 27 June 1887. He gained his LLB degree at the Universi ...

. A romance novel, the story follows a

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

boy who falls in love with the daughter of a rival chief.

Plot

The novel is a romance story. Manaia is the son of a Māori chief who falls in love with Reremoa, the daughter of a rival chief. The pair's story is back-dropped by the beginning of war between the two tribes.

Development

Acheson, a citizen of

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and judge on the Māori Land Court, wrote the novel based on his own understanding of the Māori people and credited several Māori friends in the preface of the book. The novel was set to be adapted into a film by

Eric Mareo Raimund Leo Pechotsch (June 1864 – 20 January 1941) was a composer of romantic and incidental musical theatre pieces. He was a Roman Catholic who also conducted liturgical music. Life Pechotsch was born in Vienna to parents of Czechoslavakian ...

with a £20,000 budget (), however, Mareo's arrest in 1935 for the murder of his wife apparently halted those plans.

Publication history

''Plume of the Arawas'' was published in New Zealand by Whitcombe & Tombs in 1930. It received an American release that same year with an edition published by the Neale Publishing Company. In 1938, the novel was republished by Reed Publishing as part of their children's line.

Reception

''Plume of the Arawas'' received generally positive reception in the popular press upon its American release. A positive review in ''

The News & Observer ''The News & Observer'' is an American regional daily newspaper that serves the greater Triangle area based in Raleigh, North Carolina. The paper is the largest in circulation in the state (second is the '' Charlotte Observer''). The paper has be ...

'' praised Acheson's imagery and wrote that "the author has made a beautiful love story" and "a deeply moving story of noble proportions." A short review in ''

The Miami News ''The Miami News'' was an evening newspaper in Miami, Florida. It was the media market competitor to the morning edition of the ''Miami Herald'' for most of the 20th century. The paper started publishing in May 1896 as a weekly called ''The Miami ...

'' wrote positively about Acheson's treatment of Māori customs. ''The Chattanooga News'' wrote that "one cannot help but feel admiration" for the Māori after reading the novel, while ''

The Wilkes-Barre Record The ''Times Leader'' is a privately owned newspaper in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Founding Founded in 1879, it was locally owned until being purchased by Capital Cities in 1978. Early history On November 27, 1907, the ''Wilkes-Barre Times' ...

'' positively described Acheson's transitions between war scenes and romance. In a 1981 review of New Zealand literature in ''

Modern Fiction Studies ''Modern Fiction Studies'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal established in 1955 at Purdue University's Department of English, where it is still edited. It publishes general and themed issues on the topic of modernist and contemporary fiction ...

'', Shaun Hughes described the novel as falling into a common trap in early literature about Māori people, that they spent more time on explanations and exposition than on character development or plot. Richard Boast noted in his 2008 book ''Buying the Land, Selling the Land'' that the novel is "saturated with Acheson's romanticised and highly couloured vision of pre-European Maori life."

References

External links

* '' Plume of the Arawas'' at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

{{Registration required 1930 novels 20th-century New Zealand novels Neale Publishing Company books Books about indigenous peoples