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TITLE DEED HOW THE BOOK GOT ITS NAME 'erewhon' by samuel butler

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From: The Sunday Telegraph London
Date: 20070909
Author:GARY DEXTER

Samuel Butler's utopian satire, with its Musical Banks and Hospitals for Incurable Bores, took its name from a reversal (almost) of 'nowhere': that much we know. But there may have been another influence. The book emerged from Butler's experiences in New Zealand in the early 1860s, and drew extensively on New Zealand life, particularly Maori customs and names (eg the characters 'Kahabuka' and 'Mahaina'). The name 'Erewhon' fits the Maori template. By leaving unreversed the central 'wh', Butler echoed Maori place-names such as Arowhena (on the North Island; a name also given to

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