Nicolas Reid reviews Letters of Denis Glover, an archival collection published by Otago University Press

Denis Glover (1912-1980).

Denis Glover's place in New Zealand literature is assured. Along with R.A.K. Mason, A.R.D. Fairburn and Allen Curnow, he was one of those who revitalised New Zealand poetry in the 1930s. The Magpies still takes the prize as New Zealand's most-often-reprinted poem. In founding the Caxton Press, Glover turned this country's publishing industry in a new direction, making it possible for poetry and fiction of high quality to reach a wider readership.

Denis Glover.

But regrettably, there's the negative side to the man. As Sarah Shieff makes clear in her introduction to Letters of Denis Glover, "drunkenness and a deep vein of self-destructiveness … cost him almost everything: his first wife and only child, the Caxton Press, and a subsequent job at Albion Wright's Pegasus Press." Alcoholism, erratic behaviour and his womanising were accompanied by a decline in his writing.

From an archive of 3000 letters, Shieff has chosen 500, an exemplary exercise in selection and editing. There's no denying Glover's literary brilliance. Between 1942 and 1944 he writes letters about his war experience in the Royal Navy, including his time aboard HMS Onslaught, escorting convoys to Murmansk, and his role in the D-Day landings. This is excellent, vivid, colloquial reportage, which he was later able to turn into publishable narrative.

But with his closest friends, Glover readily expresses his prejudices. He never likes Catholics — which feeds into his contempt for James K. Baxter in his Catholic phase — and makes slurs about Jewish people. He usually belittles women writers (Robin Hyde, Eileen Duggan) and appears to be particularly allergic to Katherine Mansfield, whom he calls "our much ravished clever schoolgirl".

Still, Glover was loved by many women, from his first wife Mary Granville to his last, Lyn Cameron. He also had a long relationship with Khura Skelton, as well as affairs. Shieff describes him as "without a doubt a feckless lover and an incorrigible drunk, but his letters also reveal a seductive charm. These intelligent, attractive women were clearly able to look past the grog-blossom complexion, terrible teeth and cauliflower ear".

When Glover wasn't nursing his prejudices, he was a very perceptive reader. Presented with manuscripts by the then-unknown Janet Frame, he declared "I have not seen anything quite so unaffectedly natural and at the same time incisive for a long time."

The Magpies, written by Denis Glover, pictures by Dick Frizzell.

From the 1960s onwards, however, these letters suggest that Glover was more and more out of step with recent literary developments. By the late 70s, he was telling Olive Johnson that "I avoid NZ literature; and its self-puffed poetry is a stew lacking but grease and meat."

Taking us from schoolboy notes to hearing the chimes at midnight, Letters of Denis Glover gives us, in effect, a biography of Glover almost as comprehensive as Gordon Ogilvie's Denis Glover: His Life. It certainly gives us more of Glover's own voice than any other publication has. Treat this as a reference book or a text to be dipped into. Give these letters space to breathe.

Letters of Denis Glover
Selected and edited by Sarah Shieff
(Otago University Press)

Nicolas Reid is an Auckland historian and poet. A longer version of this review is on www.anzliterature.com