Under the sun: Menton, the Mediterranean and C.K. Stead

This paper will report on the influence of the Mediterranean on the writing of C.K. Stead, with a particular focus on his poetry. In 1972, Stead was the third recipient of the Katherine Mansfield Memorial Fellowship at Menton, which enabled him to spend eight months in the South of France, working at the Villa Isola Bella, once the home of Katherine Mansfield. This visit would go on to foster a certain attachment to this part of the Mediterranean, which Stead has visited almost annually since his Fellowship. During his sojourn in 1972, Stead took the opportunity of re-reading all the Mansfield primary texts published at that time, which led directly to the publication some years later of his Letters and Journals of Katherine Mansfield: A Selection (1977). In addition, his creative writing bears the stamp of his initial and subsequent visits to the area. Various poems, including ‘Under the Sun’ – the result of a traffic accident involving his entire family during his first stay at Menton – have been inspired by the region; short stories include ‘The Town’ – recognisably Menton; the thriller Villa Vittoria, is partly set in Rapallo, across the border in Italy. Incorporating unpublished poems inspired by recent visits to the area, as well as published poems from the last four decades, this paper will highlight the influence of the Mediterranean on the creativity of one of New Zealand’s most acclaimed writers