Thank you for correcting the text in this article. Your corrections improve Papers Past searches for everyone. See the latest corrections.

This article contains searchable text which was automatically generated and may contain errors. Join the community and correct any errors you spot to help us improve Papers Past.

Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image

RIPOSTE

Sir,—The few gentle'' remarks made by your courteous correspondent. "W.E.L.," "doubtless contain much wisdom, but to me it appears either that his punctuation is out of joint or that I am hopelessly over-educated, for I confess that I am unable to understand them. Would your young disciple of Lyly pleasa explain his position, and not waste time making foolish assertions regarding a" field ,of literature which he -lias imperfectly explored? "Let mo take'his letter systematically, if such a-thing ba possible in this maze of words. Firstly, lie asserts that modern literature should be taught in our colleges, even if it means 'the excliiision 'of our old friends of the eighteenth century. Far be it'from mo to;-' disagree with him. The eighteenth century has been responsible for so much torture that "wore it blotted out from .our syllabus we could not. but breathe a sigh of relief. Next, "W.E.L." desires to include a. representative list of French literature. Better still. The Englishman will nevSr understand the French, so why shouldn't he be' tausht 'to misconstrue the Gaul at school? Then, however, conceding too much to the moment, he has. not the courage to suggest the inclusion of the noblest Germans in the syllabus, but flies to the frozen fields of Bussin arid seeks to force the morbidness of his researches down our throats. Tchekov, Doistoieffski, Tolstoi, Potapenko. Why does he-not include Gogal, Gorky, and Turgeniov while lie is about it? • Can he be ignorant of those authors?.

Surely "W.E.L.," even if he cannot appreciate, the arguments of , the . modest trinity who first endeavoured to show him the error of his egotism, can sec that these "Russian realists" aro meat, far strong men, and as such not entitled to inclusion, in the' 'varsity course. And anent Ms opinion that a professor should bo, competent.:to judge what of the pre- • sent-day literature'' .will., be permanent and) lasting,- Does he -not realise that were tho schedules left, as the students are, at. the mercy of ouir irresponsible professors, a state of chaos would come again? The popular idea that, as A. G. Gardiner saya, "no one can say who the classics of this generation will be, but we know that they will not bo the favourites of to-day," is rn utte: fallacy; but I will agree with Arnold Bennett to this extent: a man would lie bold .indeed to prophesy at tho dato of publication that a work would become a class.ic; but he may) venture a safe opinion five or six years later. Even "W.E.L." must gee that the books he himself has mentioned have stood the, test of opinion from five to fifty years. We may (;ay Ariatole France is immortal as,, the creator of Pere Bonnard; 'Lot would we grant him bis laurels on "The Path of Glory," which he has written since the wair? All of. the, question hinges on that , "pathos of distance," .: s Frederich Nietzs.che saw it. So I turn once more to my old friends of tho past century, and hear no more the 'plaining voice of this soul in'pain.—l am, etc., '' C.Q.P. Wellington, February J7, 1919.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19190301.2.20

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 134, 1 March 1919, Page 3

Word count
Tapeke kupu
521

RIPOSTE Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 134, 1 March 1919, Page 3

RIPOSTE Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 134, 1 March 1919, Page 3

Help

Log in or create a Papers Past website account

Use your Papers Past website account to correct newspaper text.

By creating and using this account you agree to our terms of use.

Log in with RealMe®

If you’ve used a RealMe login somewhere else, you can use it here too. If you don’t already have a username and password, just click Log in and you can choose to create one.


Log in again to continue your work

Your session has expired.

Log in again with RealMe®


Alert