David Watt Ballantyne

Te Arawa

1924 - 1986

David Ballantyne was born in Auckland and began writing his first novel at the age of twenty-one. In 1954 he went to England where he wrote his second novel and worked in Fleet Street for eleven years. He and his wife Vivienne returned to New Zealand in 1966. Ballantyne was chief leader-writer of the Auckland Star. Lawrence Jones writes that Ballantyne was "the first of the second generation of Provincial novelists, and although he had a long stay in London, spent most of his writing life in New Zealand." He has written novels, short stories and television plays. His television plays have been produced in Britain and New Zealand. He was a member of the staff of the Southern Cross. His novel The Cunninghams was the first of what was intended to be a trilogy.

Biographical sources

  • Phone conversation and correspondence with Vivienne Ballantyne, 13 July 1998, 27 Aug. 1998 and 16 Nov. 2006.
  • The Talkback Man. London: Hale, 1978. Rpt. in Palmerston North, N.Z.: Dunmore Press, 1979.
  • The Oxford History of New Zealand Literature. Auckland, N.Z.: Oxford UP, 1991. 144, 640.
  • Evans, Patrick. The Penguin History of New Zealand Literature. Auckland, N.Z.: Penguin, 1990. 189-190.

    Fiction

  • "And the Glory." ibid. 79-90. Rpt. in Landfall Country: Work from Landfall 1947-61. Chosen by Charles Brasch. Christchurch, N.Z.: Caxton, 1962: 112-120.
  • The story of an oppressed shop assistant’s moment of triumph with the local electric power board, and the satisfaction it gives him.
  • "A Child’s Day." New Zealand New Writing 2. Ed. Ian A. Gordon. Wellington, N.Z.: Progressive Publishing, [10 Sept. 1948?]: 28-37.
  • A day in the life of young Sadie who, while caught up in her world of childhood play, is unaware of her mother’s relationship with Uncle Bill.
  • The Cunninghams. New York: Vanguard, 1948. Rpt. Christchurch, N.Z.: Whitcombe & Tombs, 1963; London: Robert Hale, 1963; Christchurch, N.Z.: Whitcoulls, 1976; and Auckland, N.Z.: Oxford UP, 1986.
  • In this novel Ballantyne writes of a working class family in Depression Gisborne awaiting the death of their tubercular father.
  • "Blood and Sand. (Extract from a novel)" Landfall 5.3 (1951): 164-172. Rpt. in And the Glory. Christchurch, N.Z.: Whitcombe & Tombs; London: Hale, 1963. 116-129.
  • A story about a young couple’s evening at the cinema and the unexpressed and unrequited emotions on either side.
  • "A Couple of Hacks." Arena 57 (1962): 2-7.
  • Ralph Benson and Murray Lawlor, two expatriates living in London meet by chance on the street and observe their different stances in living abroad.
  • "My Name was Norman Plimpton." And the Glory. Christchurch, N.Z.: Whitcombe & Tombs; London: Hale, 1963. 9-37.
  • An experimental story consisting of ten sections focusing on aspects of the life of a young man who is out of work.
  • "Success Story." And the Glory. Christchurch, N.Z.: Whitcombe & Tombs; London: Hale, 1963. 38-45.
  • The story of a fifteen-year-old boy’s initial thefts on the way to becoming a successful corporation president.
  • "A Funny Look." And the Glory. Christchurch, N.Z.: Whitcombe & Tombs; London: Hale, 1963. 46-51.
  • A brief story about a little girl’s encounter with a malevolent knife-sharpener.
  • "Parker Wolfe." And the Glory. Christchurch, N.Z.: Whitcombe & Tombs; London: Hale, 1963. 52-60.
  • The story of a young man’s obsessive and unrequited homosexual fantasy about another young man, named in the title.
  • "Girls Must Suffer." And the Glory. Christchurch, N.Z.: Whitcombe & Tombs; London: Hale, 1963. 61-69. Rpt. in Short Stories by New Zealanders Two. Comp. and with preface, notes and questions by Phoebe C. Meikle. Auckland, N.Z.: Longman Paul, 1972. 51-56.
  • This story in four parts describes the adolescent Joy Cunningham coming to terms with the death of her father, and the tedium of school life and office work.
  • "A Wrestling Yarn." And the Glory. Christchurch, N.Z.: Whitcombe & Tombs; London: Hale, 1963. 70-78.
  • The story of a young man’s disillusionment at a wrestling match, which leads him to burn down the hall it takes place in.
  • "Our Day in the Country." And the Glory. Christchurch, N.Z.: Whitcombe & Tombs; London: Hale, 1963. 91-103.
  • A six-part story about a group of men building a haystack for a cantankerous farmer called Alison.
  • "Morning Visitor." And the Glory. Christchurch, N.Z.: Whitcombe & Tombs; London: Hale, 1963. 104-115.
  • A single mother gets a surprise visit from the local priest, whom she sends away when he becomes amorous with her.
  • "The Way It Ends." And the Glory. Christchurch, N.Z.: Whitcombe & Tombs; London: Hale, 1963. 130-139.
  • A story about the rite of passage involved in leaving home life for the army, and a young soldier’s knowledge that he will never come back.
  • "The Chandler’s Boy." And the Glory. Christchurch, N.Z.: Whitcombe & Tombs; London: Hale, 1963. 151-167.
  • The story of a young man’s trip to a "sly-grog joint" and brothel; he tries to imagine what he will tell his friends about his visit in a year’s time.
  • And the Glory. Christchurch, N.Z.: Whitcombe & Tombs; London: Hale, 1963.
  • Fourteen stories about various relationships among people in both New Zealand and London.
  • The Last Pioneer. Christchurch, N.Z.: Whitcombe & Tombs; London: Hale, 1963.
  • About an English immigrant to New Zealand and his impressions of postwar New Zealand life. Vivienne Ballantyne notes that this novel was written in Auckland, N.Z.
  • "A Leopard Yarn." ibid. 140-150. Rpt. in New Zealand Short Stories 2: Along Rideout Road. Ed. C. K. Stead. Auckland, N.Z.: Auckland UP, London; Wellington, N.Z.: Oxford UP, 1966. 107-114. Rpt. in Short Stories by New Zealanders Two. Comp. and with preface, notes and questions by Phoebe C. Meikle. Auckland, N.Z.: Longman Paul, 1972. 56-63.
  • When Roy, the ten-year-old narrator, hears that a leopard has escaped from the zoo, he goes and searches for his grandfather and finds a more powerful seductive presence.
  • "Other Gardens." ibid. 168-188. Rpt. in New Zealand Short Stories 2: Along Rideout Road. Ed. C. K. Stead. Auckland, N.Z.: Auckland UP; Wellington, N.Z.: Oxford UP, 1966. 94-107. Rpt. in The Oxford Anthology of New Zealand Writing Since 1945. Chosen by MacDonald P. Jackson and Vincent O’Sullivan. Auckland, N.Z.: Oxford UP, 1983. 375-384.
  • This story composed of seven short chapters describes a day in the life of Joan and Bernard, an expatriate couple living in London. Joan, the narrator, is a sad lonely figure who is cut off from her family in New Zealand and who feels like an exile in England.
  • A Friend of the Family. Christchurch, N.Z.: Whitcombe & Tombs; London: Robert Hale, 1966.
  • The story of an ambitious young man, told in the context of his career in publishing and his relationships with women, particularly a former lover who returns to cause complications in his life.
  • Sydney Bridge Upside Down. Christchurch, N.Z.: Whitcombe & Tombs; London: Hale, 1968. Rpt. in Auckland, N.Z.: Longman Paul, 1981.
  • A story of a young boy’s initiation into an adult world of maternal loss and sexuality.
  • The Talkback Man. London: Hale, 1978. Rpt. in Palmerston North, N.Z.: Dunmore Press, 1979.
  • The story of a radio talkback host’s decline into alcoholism and paranoia, and of an anonymous caller who harasses him with details of his past.
  • The Penfriend. Palmerston North, N.Z.: Dunmore Press; London: Robert Hale, 1980.
  • The story of a drug-smuggling operation told in the context of a young small town journalist’s attempt to pin down rumours of flying saucer landings.
  • Break Down These Bars. Ed. Graham Adams with introd. by Michael King. Auckland, N.Z.: Penguin, 1987.

  • Non-fiction

  • "Outlook for Writing." Art in New Zealand 15.1 (1942): 9-10.
  • An argument that the New Zealand writer’s task is to write about the "common man", and that American writers are the proper models for the proletarian writer.
  • New Zealand Magazine 28.1 (1949): 40-64
  • "The International Symposium on the Short Story: New Zealand." Kenyon Review 32 (1970): 97-104.
  • "An American Influence." Islands 8.4/9.1 (1981): 40-64.
  • An account of the influence of the American writer James T. Farrell on Ballantyne’s early career, including some of the letters the two writers exchanged during the early postwar period.

    • Other

  • "New Zealand Writing." New Zealand Listener 5 Nov. 1943: 3.
  • Ballantyne takes issue with the New Zealand Listener review of New Zealand New Writing No. 2.

    Other

  • "Charges Denied that NZ Writers Get ‘Raw Deal.’" Southern Cross 17 Aug. 1949.
  • Reid, Bryan. After The Fireworks: A Life of David Ballantyne. Auckland, N.Z.: AUP, 2004.
  • Stead, C. K. "Whimsical Losers: A Reconsideration Of The Fiction Of David Ballantyne." Landfall 33.4 (1979): 351-359.
  • Stead, C. K. "Hard Luck Stories." Sunday Star Times 3 Oct. 2004: C.7.
  • Thomson, John. New Zealand Literature to 1977: A Guide to Information Sources. Vol. 30 in the American Literature, English Literature, and World Literatures in English Information Guide Series. Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1980. 34, 202.
  • Sturm, Terry. The Oxford History of New Zealand Literature in English. Auckland, N.Z.: Oxford UP, 1991. 640.