Mark Williams (writer)
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Clifton Mark Williams (born 12 October 1951) is a
New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
poet, writer, academic, critic, editor of contemporary New Zealand literature. He holds a MA (Hons) from the
University of Auckland The University of Auckland (; Māori: ''Waipapa Taumata Rau'') is a public research university based in Auckland, New Zealand. The institution was established in 1883 as a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. Initially loc ...
and a Ph.D (1983) from the
University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...
. He is
emeritus Professor ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...
of English at
Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington (), also known by its shorter names "VUW" or "Vic", is a public university, public research university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of New Zealand Parliament, Parliament, and w ...
."Mark Williams appointed to Emeritus Professor", ''VUW website'', 19 July 2019
(Retrieved 31 July 2019)


St Peter's College

Williams was educated at
St Peter's College, Auckland St Peter's College () is a Catholic church, Catholic secondary school single-sex education, for boys in the Edmund Ignatius Rice, Edmund Rice tradition, and dedicated to St Peter. It is located in the Auckland CBD, central Auckland area of Graft ...
. He has written about his reaction to St Peter's after his
Christadelphian The Christadelphians () are a restorationist and nontrinitarian (Biblical Unitarian) Christian denomination. The name means 'brothers and sisters in Christ',"The Christadelphians, or brethren in Christ ... The very name 'Christadelphian' was co ...
background. "To me, on coming from a radically iconoclastic Protestant sect, the holy pictures and statues the Christian Brothers had crammed on every wall seemed utterly bizarre. .... At midday we all knelt for the
Angelus FIle:Jean-François Millet (II) 001.jpg, ''The Angelus (painting), The Angelus'' (1857–1859) by Jean-François Millet The Angelus (; Latin for "angel") is a Catholic devotion commemorating the Incarnation (Christianity), Incarnation of Jesus ...
.
Mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...
involved long periods of kneeling." Although he feels he escaped "the deep imprinting on the psyche of
Catholic guilt Catholic guilt is the reported excess guilt felt by Catholics and lapsed Catholics. Guilt is remorse for having committed some offense or wrong, real or imagined. It is related to, although distinguishable from, "shame", in that the former invol ...
", Williams was captivated by "those gothic images and rigid doctrines": "An absolute scale of values and vision is insinuated into one's mind" which may account "for the number of Catholics who become writers or artists". While at St Peter's College, Williams started writing poetry and he entered a poetry contest judged by old-boy poet
Sam Hunt Sam Lowry Hunt (born December 8, 1984) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Born in Cedartown, Georgia, Hunt played American football, football in his high school and college years and once attempted to pursue a professional sport ...
, who wrote to him in response to his entry.


Academic career

Williams returned to New Zealand from his doctoral studies at the
University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...
(1983) and lectured at
Auckland University The University of Auckland (; Māori language, Māori: ''Waipapa Taumata Rau'') is a public university, public research university based in Auckland, New Zealand. The institution was established in 1883 as a constituent college of the Unive ...
and
Waikato University The University of Waikato (), established in 1964, is a public research university located in Hamilton, New Zealand. An additional campus is located in Tauranga. The university performs research in numerous disciplines such as education, socia ...
before moving to the
University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury (UC; ; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was founded in 1873 as Canterbur ...
, where he was a lecturer and associate professor.Roger Robinson and Nelson Wattie, "Mark Williams", ''The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature'', Oxford University Press, Auckland, 1998, pp. 589 and 590. He joined the English faculty at
Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington (), also known by its shorter names "VUW" or "Vic", is a public university, public research university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of New Zealand Parliament, Parliament, and w ...
in 2008, and became Professor of English there. Williams's research focused on New Zealand and modern literature. He was on the editorial boards of numerous scholarly journals, including the ''
Journal of Commonwealth Literature ''The Journal of Commonwealth Literature'' (''JCL'') is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal that covers the field of literature, especially Commonwealth and postcolonial literatures, including colonial discourse and translational studies. T ...
'' and ''
Canadian Literature Canadian literature is written in several languages including Canadian English, English, Canadian French, French, and various Indigenous Canadian languages. It is often divided into French- and English-language literatures, which are rooted in th ...
''. In 2009, he was the convenor of the judging panel for the
Montana New Zealand Book Awards The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards are literary awards presented annually in New Zealand. The awards began in 1996 as the merger of two literary awards events: the New Zealand Book Awards, which ran from 1976 to 1995, and the Goodman Fielder Wa ...
. He was one of the editors of ''The World Novel to 1950'', a volume of the
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
series ''The History of the Novel in English''. in 2019, he was engaged in writing a novel based on his youthful experience of the Christadelphian religion.


Contribution to New Zealand literature

Williams is one of the first academics to focus his publications predominantly on contemporary New Zealand writing. His work is also informed by a strong international context, which has enabled him to argue in ''Leaving the Highway: Six Contemporary New Zealand Novelists'' (1990) against the "violent dualities" of New Zealand culture and the "binary habits of New Zealand criticism" and advocate instead independence, difference, continuities, and "complex wholeness". In November 2012, with his wife and fellow Victoria academic, Jane Stafford, Williams published a major anthology of New Zealand literature.


Works


Mark Williams publications, Victoria University of Wellington (accessed 14 May 2010)


Notable student

*


References


External links


Mark Williams, Victoria University of Wellington (accessed 14 May 2010)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Mark 1951 births Academic staff of Victoria University of Wellington Anthologists New Zealand male poets People educated at St Peter's College, Auckland University of Auckland alumni Living people New Zealand academics