THE NEW ZEALAND SHORT STORY
Sir.-The provocative remarks of T. V. Hindmarsh on the "modern" short story (Listener, March 12) should not pass unchallenged. To plump, as he does, for writers in what might be called the de Maupassant tradition and to deride those who affect a less mechanical, more impressionistic technique displays a lack of critical balance. In recent years many short story writers, motivated by a passion to present subtle nuances of human relation-. ships clearly and truthfully, have discarded the method which too often produces only an artificial "yarn," complete with creaking mechanism. When handled skilfully, however, there is much to be said for both techniques, and perhaps the ideal lies somewhere between the two. But to label New Zealand short story writers who follow the "modern" traditions of such great artists as Tchekov, H. E. Bates, and Katherine Mansfield as a "coterie of snobs practising sham artistry" reveals only an incredible lack
of sensibility.
J. R.
COLE
(Auckland).
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 12, Issue 301, 29 March 1945, Page 5
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162THE NEW ZEALAND SHORT STORY New Zealand Listener, Volume 12, Issue 301, 29 March 1945, Page 5
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