Obituary: Maurice Gee
For more than 50 years Gee wrote about ordinary people and ordinary lives, often with the narrator looking back at events that caused damage and unhappiness.
"I don't deliberately set out to do this, but the stories turn in that direction following their own logic," he once said.
"All I can do about it is make the narrative as interesting as I can and give those people lively minds."
Born in Whakatāne in 1931, Maurice Gee was the middle child of the three sons of Harriet Lyndahl Gee (nee Chapple) — a some-time writer whose published work included a children's picture book — and carpenter Leonard Gee.
Gee's grandfather, controversial minister James Chapple, was the inspiration for his grandson's most famous character, George Plumb.
Gee was raised in the then rural Auckland suburb of Henderson — where, thinly disguised, many of his books were set. After attending Avondale College Gee went to Auckland University, where he completed a Masters in English.
All Gee wanted to do was write — he had already had work published in magazines and journals before graduation — but, then as now, making a career as a full-time author in New Zealand was a fraught enterprise.
He became a teacher but resigned in 1956 to dedicate himself to his craft. Grants in 1960 and '61 from the New Zealand Literary Fund kept the wolf from the door and in 1962 Gee's debut novel, The Big Season, was published. An unusual mix of rugby and crime, it was well-received, and helped its author earn the 1964 Robert Burns Fellowship at the University of Otago.
During that stint in the South, Gee wrote his second novel, A Special Flower, before he trained as a librarian — his day job for several years to come.
Gee, who had a son from an earlier relationship, married Margareta in 1970, having met her four years previously at the Alexander Turnbull Library. They had two daughters.
Gee's third novel, In My Father's Den, was published in 1972 and has proven to be one of his most enduring works: in 2004 it was adapted into a successful film.
A collection of short stories, A Glorious Morning, Comrade, appeared two years later, and it went on to win Gee the first of many awards, the fiction prize at the 1976 New Zealand Book Awards.
By the late '70s Gee was at the peak of his powers. In 1978 he published Plumb, which drew on Gee's ancestors for what was the first of a trilogy about three generations of a family. It won Britain's James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction in 1979, as well as another fiction prize at the NZ Book Awards.
"I can't look at my books the way I read other books. I look at them quite differently," he once said.
"I'm intimately connected with them and probably wouldn't be able to identify my voice in them, if someone asked me to."
A year later Gee wrote Under the Mountain, his best-known and most-beloved children's work. An eerie sci-fi thriller about aliens slumbering beneath Auckland's volcanos, it was a popular book and well-remembered TV series, and was later converted into a stage play and feature film.
In 2004, Under the Mountain was the recipient of the Gaelyn Gordon Award, awarded annually to a children's book that did not win an award at the time of its publication.
"Children's writing seems to be easier than adult writing, because it's coming off a different level," he once said.
"There's still some pleasure to be got from both and I try to do each as professionally as I possibly can, but the thing that really engages me fully is adult fiction."
Whatever his level of engagement, Gee still wrote excellent work for children for many years, including a science fiction trilogy which featured The Halfmen of O, which won Children's Book of the Year.
In the late '80s Gee struck up a relationship with Victoria University, being awarded an honorary doctorate of literature in 1987 and a writing fellowship to Victoria in 1989. Three years later Gee received one of New Zealand letters most prestigious prizes, the Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship.
There Gee wrote Crime Story, a stinging critique from a life-long lefty of the policies of the Lange Labour Government of the 1980s; it was later filmed under the title Fracture.
In 1993 Gee published his most autobiographic novel, Going West, a book which has been recognised by providing the name for a long-running West Auckland literary festival. It also won Gee another NZ Book Award.
The Fat Man was another Children's Book of the Year award winner, and in 1998 adult novel Live Bodies won the Deutz Medal at the Montana New Zealand Book Awards.
In 2003 Gee began to receive awards which reflected his astonishing career. He was named as an Arts Foundation "Icon" and the following year received the rich Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement for fiction.
More award-winning novels (Blindsight, Salt) followed, and in 2015 he was the subject of a biography by Rachel Barrowman, a book whose subject described it as "illuminating even for me".
Three years later, Gee wrote his own memoir, Memory Pieces, a work which was shortlisted for the non fiction prize at the 2019 Book Awards.
In 2020 Gee and Margareta settled in Nelson, as the author of many of New Zealand's favourite books retired from writing.
Maurice Gee died on June 12, aged 93. — APL/RNZ
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After attending Avondale College Gee went to Auckland University, where he completed a Masters in English. All Gee wanted to do was write — he had already had work published in magazines and journals before graduation — but, then as now, making a career as a full-time author in New Zealand was a fraught enterprise. He became a teacher but resigned in 1956 to dedicate himself to his craft. Grants in 1960 and '61 from the New Zealand Literary Fund kept the wolf from the door and in 1962 Gee's debut novel, The Big Season, was published. An unusual mix of rugby and crime, it was well-received, and helped its author earn the 1964 Robert Burns Fellowship at the University of Otago. During that stint in the South, Gee wrote his second novel, A Special Flower, before he trained as a librarian — his day job for several years to come. Gee, who had a son from an earlier relationship, married Margareta in 1970, having met her four years previously at the Alexander Turnbull Library. They had two daughters. Gee's third novel, In My Father's Den, was published in 1972 and has proven to be one of his most enduring works: in 2004 it was adapted into a successful film. A collection of short stories, A Glorious Morning, Comrade, appeared two years later, and it went on to win Gee the first of many awards, the fiction prize at the 1976 New Zealand Book Awards. By the late '70s Gee was at the peak of his powers. In 1978 he published Plumb, which drew on Gee's ancestors for what was the first of a trilogy about three generations of a family. It won Britain's James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction in 1979, as well as another fiction prize at the NZ Book Awards. "I can't look at my books the way I read other books. I look at them quite differently," he once said. "I'm intimately connected with them and probably wouldn't be able to identify my voice in them, if someone asked me to." A year later Gee wrote Under the Mountain, his best-known and most-beloved children's work. An eerie sci-fi thriller about aliens slumbering beneath Auckland's volcanos, it was a popular book and well-remembered TV series, and was later converted into a stage play and feature film. In 2004, Under the Mountain was the recipient of the Gaelyn Gordon Award, awarded annually to a children's book that did not win an award at the time of its publication. "Children's writing seems to be easier than adult writing, because it's coming off a different level," he once said. "There's still some pleasure to be got from both and I try to do each as professionally as I possibly can, but the thing that really engages me fully is adult fiction." Whatever his level of engagement, Gee still wrote excellent work for children for many years, including a science fiction trilogy which featured The Halfmen of O, which won Children's Book of the Year. In the late '80s Gee struck up a relationship with Victoria University, being awarded an honorary doctorate of literature in 1987 and a writing fellowship to Victoria in 1989. Three years later Gee received one of New Zealand letters most prestigious prizes, the Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship. There Gee wrote Crime Story, a stinging critique from a life-long lefty of the policies of the Lange Labour Government of the 1980s; it was later filmed under the title Fracture. In 1993 Gee published his most autobiographic novel, Going West, a book which has been recognised by providing the name for a long-running West Auckland literary festival. It also won Gee another NZ Book Award. The Fat Man was another Children's Book of the Year award winner, and in 1998 adult novel Live Bodies won the Deutz Medal at the Montana New Zealand Book Awards. In 2003 Gee began to receive awards which reflected his astonishing career. He was named as an Arts Foundation "Icon" and the following year received the rich Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement for fiction. More award-winning novels (Blindsight, Salt) followed, and in 2015 he was the subject of a biography by Rachel Barrowman, a book whose subject described it as "illuminating even for me". Three years later, Gee wrote his own memoir, Memory Pieces, a work which was shortlisted for the non fiction prize at the 2019 Book Awards. In 2020 Gee and Margareta settled in Nelson, as the author of many of New Zealand's favourite books retired from writing. Maurice Gee died on June 12, aged 93. — APL/RNZ
