Jane Mander
| Jane Mander | |
|---|---|
| Born |
9 April 1877 Ramarama, New Zealand |
| Died | 20 December 1949 (aged 72) Whangarei, New Zealand |
| Occupation | novelist, essayist, journalist |
| Nationality | New Zealand |
| Period | 1920—1928 |
| Genre | fiction |
| Subject | New Zealand |
| Relatives | The Hon. Francis Mander (father) Mander family |
Mary Jane Mander (9 April 1877 – 20 December 1949) was a New Zealand novelist and journalist.
Born in the small community of Ramarama south of Auckland, she had little schooling, yet was teaching at primary school while being tutored for a high school education. Her father, the Hon. Francis Mander, was member for the Marsden electorate in the Parliament of New Zealand and of the Legislative Council, and a descendant of the Mander family of Midland England. He was a pioneer sawmiller and later purchased The Northern Advocate newspaper where she honed her skills as a journalist.
Mander became editor of the Dargaville North Auckland Times in 1907. In 1910 she went to Sydney, where she met and became friends with William Holman, who later become premier of New South Wales. While there she worked as a freelance journalist, submitting articles to the Maoriland Worker under the pseudonym Manda Lloyd.
In 1912 she moved to New York City to study at Columbia University where she excelled in studies despite having numerous part-time jobs. Her poor health forced her to abandon studying after just three years. She joined the suffrage movement in New York, campaigning for the state referendum on women's franchise. She worked for the Red Cross when the United States entered World War I.
During this time she also worked on her most well-known and highly praised novel The Story of a New Zealand River (1920), which tells the story of an Englishwoman who has to adjust to living in an isolated timber-mill settlement. Despite being popular in both the U.S. and the United Kingdom, it received a somewhat hostile response back in New Zealand, where critics disapproved of the novel's unconventional themes. They also took offence at her alteration of geography and population to suit the story. Alistair Fox has argued that The Story of a New Zealand River was a significant influence on the film The Piano (1993) by Jane Campion.
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