NEW ZEALAND LITERATURE

New Zealand Listener, Volume 15, Issue 365, 21 June 1946, Page 5

NEW ZEALAND LITERATURE

Sir-So Mr. Atkinson appears to despair of New Zealand literature! If he really wishes to read of the New Zealand scene, may I recommend subscriptions to some tourist brochures, the Mercantile Gazette, and. one or two of our more boisterous weeklies. Then, at, least, he should have a background on which to appreciate Sargeson’s vivid characters. If writing of the New Zealand scene demands that the reader be able to recognise his neighbours, then Sargeson is, I think, the most competent author on New Zealand to-day. Literature in this country may be snobbish. I don’t know, and don’t care; but surely any author who can write sufficiently well to be accepted by Pen. guin New Writing can be considered to have some merit. Mr. Atkinson’s complaint is reminiscent of a recent correspondent who complained that he could not understand modern poetry, although he, too, had sought opinions from many. I suspect that Mr. Atkinson fequires his reading to have a very high direct emotional appeal before it becomes literature, and in this respect at least, he has the company of most of New Zealand’s patrons of literature, art, and music. I am well aware that many local writers do not "ring true," but to suggest that Sargeson even appears in such company calls for more critical comment than I am justified in making.

Sir-In reply to a recent letter from W. F. R. Atkinson (Uruti) I would say, has he ever read "A Summer’s Day," by Frank Sargeson? A short, story, but how wonderfully written; so much impatted in a few words-culture and art at one’s doorstep if one can recognise it. Frank Sargeson is "tops" because hedeserves it, like Auden, that wonderful writer and poet. He is artistic; he wiil go far. I say may we read more and more of Sargeson’s works.

MOZART

(Wellington).