Bricks at Bigwigs
ROFESSOR SINCLAIRE’S prejudices, as his hostile critics will call them, are calculated to annoy all those who imagine themselves at one with the spirit of the age, whatever that may mean. Like Samuel Butler whom he revisits in one of the éssays and fails to enjoy, he delights in throwing bricks through the windows of the bigwigs, He will not fall down and worship the new gods, he will not advocate the new morality or offer himself to be burnt at the stake for the new political creed. He believes in values which he associates with the past, in values which are in danger of being lost in a world given over to the pursuit of profit, the advance of science and the march of
the specialist. If the unorthodox may wish to challenge his criticisms, the orthodox would do well to be wary, for Professor Sinclaire does not show that he is anxious to encourage the self-satis-fied smirks of the conformer or what the Americans call the yes-man. He is particularly concerned with the defence of the tradition of English writing, a tradition which is well summed up by the famous phrase of Dr. Johnson, " Sir, clear your mind of cant." In these essays, with titles like Blonsky . and Blonskyism, Nephews of the World Unite, Back to Bowdler, he attacks the cant of art, the cant of music, the cant of science and scientific investigation, the cant of being unconventional, the cant of commercial ethics..-(Book Review by Winston Rhodes, 3Y A, May 12.)
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 6, Issue 154, 5 June 1942, Page 3
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257Bricks at Bigwigs New Zealand Listener, Volume 6, Issue 154, 5 June 1942, Page 3
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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