M. K. Joseph (Michael Kennedy Joseph) Biography

New Zealand poet and novelist, born in London, educated at University College, Auckland, and at Oxford University. After serving in the Second World War, he returned to New Zealand to teach at the University of Auckland where he later became Professor of English. His first novel, I'll Soldier No More (1958), an impressive exploration of service life as well as a statement of his Christian values, established his reputation. Later novels were challenging in their choice of contemporary subject matter: A Pound of Saffron (1962) focuses on a Machiavellian academic while The Hole in the Zero (1967) is set in the future. Joseph continued to be fascinated by his war experience, and his last novel, A Soldier's Tale (1976; also filmed), returned to this setting in a romance in Second World War France. A selection of Joseph's poems, collected in Inscriptions on a Paper Dart (1974), show his wide range of verse form styles and voices, and reveal particularly his talent for pastiche and parody.