Frank Sargeson

Short-story writer and novelist, born in Hamilton, Waikato, New Zealand. He qualified as a lawyer but did not practise. He took various menial jobs, but his main energy was devoted to writing novels and short stories. He made his name with collections of short stories such as Conversation with My Uncle (1936), A Man and His Wife (1940), and That Summer and Other Stories (1946), satirizing the provincial attitudes of his surroundings. His novels include I Saw in My Dream (1949), The Hangover (1967), and Man of England Now (1972).

Frank Sargeson (21 March 1903 – 1 March 1982) was the pen name of Norris Frank Davey. He is considered one of New Zealand's foremost short story writers. Like Katherine Mansfield, Sargeson helped to put New Zealand literature on the world map.

Born in Hamilton, Sargeson has been credited with introducing New Zealand English into short stories.

Although Sargeson became known for his literary depiction of the laconic and unsophisticated New Zealand male, his upbringing had in fact been comfortable albeit puritanical.

When Janet Frame was released in 1955 from eight years of involuntary commitment in New Zealand psychiatric hospitals, Sargeson converted a garden shed on his property into a bedroom and invited her to live in it. He then urged her to write every day, read her draft work closely, and introduced her to New Zealand's literati, such as it was. Thus Sargeson played a crucial role in educating and nurturing one of New Zealand's greatest writers.

During the 1930s and 40s, Sargeson experienced considerable economic hardship, as his literary output earned him very little money. For example, he quietly advocated closer relations between New Zealand and Maoist China. King (1995) believes that this trial explains why Sargeson adopted a pen name and never practiced the profession for which he had trained.

Sargeson died in Auckland. Frank Sargeson: A Life.