..er..POPPY syndrome.

If you know New Zealand, you’ll know the Tall Poppy Syndrome.

You can be successful.

Just don’t get TOO successful.

If you do, the media and vox populi will cut you off at the knees.

Recent case in point: Eleanor Catton won the Man Booker prize for literature in 2013 with The Luminaries.

“Yay” cheered everyone in New Zealand “WE won the Man Booker prize” In brackets “and Australia didn’t…”

Everything was rosy until Eleanor criticised New Zealand as a country led by “neo-liberal, profit-obsessed, very shallow, very money-hungry politicians who do not care about culture”in a speech at a literary convention in India  .

“WHO does she THINK SHE IS?” was the cry “A writer with an opinion! Unheard of!”

“Traitor” was the most flattering insult….

That’s the Tall Poppy Syndrome…

25 Apr This entry was published on 25 April, 2015 at 08:00. It’s filed under Botanics, Mainz and tagged Eleanor Catton, Man Booker Prize, Tall Poppy Syndrome, The Luminaries. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.