ABSTRACT
New Zealand’s history as a European nation begins with settlement by largely British immigrants in the decades of the nineteenth century, so it is perhaps unsurprising that the short story form was particularly suited for expressing local experience in literature written in English. Concerns associated with colonization are expressed in the ghost story; on the one hand, a literary form familiar to settlers from the European tradition, on the other hand, is singularly capable of articulating the frightening unfamiliarity inherent in settler experience. Since the New Zealand colonial ghost story is primarily concerned with issues associated with colonization, it tends to involve a series of binary oppositions between settler and indigenous cultures. The tale that the narrator tells is often about Maori, and the representation of indigenous culture involves both threat and desire. The uncanny feeling that there is “more” in the darkness that surrounds him encourages the narrator to leave the claustrophobic house for a walk in the bush.
