Alan Duff, Both Sides of the Moon

Otto Heim (University of Hong Kong)

Ed. by Jennifer Lawn, Massey University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 9.1.2: New Zealand Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Doreen D'Cruz (Massey University), Jennifer Lawn (Massey University), John C. Ross (Massey University), Mark Williams (Victoria University of Wellington)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1998

Places

New Zealand (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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Although he is best known for his first novel,

Once Were Warriors

, and the films and sequels it inspired, Alan Duff has published four other novels that demonstrate his ambition to go beyond the fictional world of the Heke family and claim a broader literary reputation. Of these four novels,

Both Sides of the Moon

is by far the most interesting and challenging. Announced as his third novel as early as 1992, the book was eventually published as Duff's fifth novel in 1998, two years after the first sequel to

Once Were Warriors

What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?

. The intervening years had seen a hardening of Duff's stance on problems facing Maori in the 1990s and while his popularity was undiminished, critical interest in his writing had begun to wane after the publication of his polemical…

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1038 words

Citation: Heim, Otto. "Both Sides of the Moon". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 19 March 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=23262, accessed 19 April 2024.]

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