CRITICISM IN NEW ZEALAND.
' Sir,-With every statement in "Veteran’s" letter I heartily agree, except one-and in that one I think he may seem to be saying something that he does not really mean. This is his statement that for the critic "to allow personal likes and dislikes to affect his judgment is as immoral as robbing a till." But how can anyone build up a recognisable standard of taste and judgment, and so of criticism, except by liking some things and disliking others? Anything else is mere commercialism: to become a kind of blotting-paper for all the advertising agents and ballyhooartists: to accept a thing as good not because it appeals to you but because you have been told it is good. But I suspect I am doing "Veteran" an injustice. What he probably means is that the critic should not allow his judgment of a book to be affected if he happens to know the author personally and considers him to be either a saint or a scoundrel. However, it is because the other interpretation is so often forced upon us in so many subtle ways as the right onethat because a film, say, is popular, or cost a lot of money, it must therefore be good--that I think the distinction should be made clearer.
G.
M.
(Wellington).
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 10, Issue 240, 28 January 1944, Page 5
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219CRITICISM IN NEW ZEALAND. New Zealand Listener, Volume 10, Issue 240, 28 January 1944, Page 5
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