Robin Hyde

From Wellington to newspaper work

Born in Cape Town, Hyde came to New Zealand as an infant and grew up in Wellington. Her writing appeared while she was at school, before she entered newspaper work. The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography follows her early employment at the Dominion and later posts in Christchurch, Wanganui and Auckland.

Sources for this section: [1]

A writer across several forms

Poetry, journalism and prose developed alongside one another. Auckland University Press identifies The Godwits Fly as autobiographical fiction and Passport to Hell and Nor the Years Condemn as documentary novels featuring Starkie. These descriptions locate different relationships to experience rather than making every narrated event a transparent autobiography.

The range of her work also included Dragon Rampant, articles and letters. Her reputation consequently depends on more than a single book or a single role as a novelist. Newspaper deadlines and sustained literary projects belonged to the same working life. Further writing appeared after her death, extending her readership.

Sources for this section: [2]

Writing in difficult circumstances

Between 1933 and 1937, as a voluntary patient at Grey Lodge, Hyde completed several books while continuing journalism. The period included Journalese, Check to Your King and Wednesday’s Children. Her writing drew on research, social observation and contacts with other writers.

In 1938 she travelled to China during the war, later reaching London. She wrote Dragon Rampant from that experience. She died in London in 1939. A brief account of this career should retain the work she made in difficult circumstances without allowing a tragic ending to replace the writing itself.

Sources for this section: [1]

The papers behind the published career

A joint archival nomination describes complementary collections at the Alexander Turnbull Library and the University of Auckland. They include drafts, annotated typescripts, notebooks, letters and photographs. The Auckland material contains work on several major prose books and a substantial body of poems.

These holdings preserve more than finished titles. They allow researchers to distinguish a draft from a published text and a later recollection from a letter written during the events. Her literary life continues through both books and the preservation of working papers.

Sources for this section: [3]