New Zealand writer Robin Hyde wrote that you “can’t be a woman writer without having a crick in your neck” (
Disputed Ground201) and that she needed “madness to survive” (
A Home in this World94). The difficulties of her life mark this prolific writer’s oeuvre, encompassing poetry, journalism, and both political and historical novels. Trying to maintain a career on a woman journalist’s wage, write poetry and fiction, raise a child as a single mother, and travel as a war correspondent were models of modernity almost impossible for a young woman from a lower-middle-class family in the 1920s and 1930s, and New Zealand’s judgmental and conformist culture compounded the dilemma. Her writing recycled the imagery of her own life, making for evocative, nuanced prose and poetry.…
2604 words
Citation: Paul, Mary. "Robin Hyde". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 15 April 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=2290, accessed 22 November 2024.]
