New Zealand's Lost Lesbian Writers and Artists

SUMMARY

The paper discusses three New Zealand novelists, a poet, and a painter, whose identities as lesbians have been obliterated in the biographies and critical commentaries written on them. It considers whether the small and largely monocultural New Zealand literary and artistic scene made both coming out and being identified as a lesbian more difficult than in Europe or the United States. It concludes that even in the 1990s, “ghosting” the lesbians of the past is still prevalent.

Key Words:

• New Zealand
• lesbian writers
• lesbian artists