Escape

New Zealand Listener, Volume 2, Issue 50, 7 June 1940, Page 12

Escape

CORRESPONDENT complains in this issue that some "gory stuff" was broadcast recently during an entertainment session. We get enough horrors, he argues, in the news, and, at other times, should have programmes that are "bright and cheerful." He suggests that the material. will be found in the classics. He will, of course, realise, if he takes time to consider the matter fully, that for every listener who wants brightness, there is another who wants reality, and that nothing jars more on some minds than misplaced levity. A Beethoven funeral march may depress people who have no music, or who want to forget death. To others, it may be so soothing, so ennobling, that it not only elevates the mind but braces the spirits. There is no standard by which we may gauge the effect of aesthetic things. "Full fathom five" is a meaningless jingle to some people, to others a perpetual delight. If it depresses you to read "After life’s fitful fever he sleeps well," you are not likely to be cheered by "A Lover and His Lass." The fact, however, is that the misery of the war is more than some minds can endure all the time. They must escape somewhere, into unreatity by reading detective stories, or right out of the world through fasting and prayer. Work is a sufficient distraction for those whose work is their hobby; but they are the fortunate ones. Most must anaesthetise themselves more or less, and it is only by trial that they learn how to do it. Very long books work the miracle in some cases, nature study or scientific experiment with others. It is not possible just to shut our eyes and ears and forget, but we can occasionally, if we are lucky, lose ourselves in a new excitement. If we’can do none of these things-neither turn away, nor call what we see by a sweeter name-there is nothing for it but to maintain the "stronghold of the mind" whatever beats against it. In this case, our correspondent is right in prescribing the classics.