SOME BRIEF FOLLY
HOW TO RIDE A BICYCLE. A. R. D. Fairburn. The Pelorus Press. THE RAKEHELLY MAN, and Other Verses. A. R. D. Fairburn. The Caxton Press. HESE two small productions from different publishers have a common author and a common attitude of cheerful irresponsibility, though this attitude is much more marked in the first, which is sheer nonsense all the way, than in the second, which does contain a few moderately rational interludes (for example, "Hymn of Peace" and "Boarding House"). And even when he is speaking in his most frivolous vein in these verses, Mr. Fairburn occasionally injects a note into his voice which suggests that he would like you, at that point, to take him seriously. The first poem, "The Rakehelly Man," which gives the collection its title, is what is generally known as a "bawdy ballad"-not bawdy enough, of course, to be offensive, but sufficiently so to be unquotable here at any length. However, the last stanza of
his "Hymn of Peace" gives a fairly good idea of his mood throughout the collection; "Go, bind the daffodillies in your hair, And dance, ye maidens, dance, and cast-off care! Peace reigns; with one accord Nations renounce the sword And meet as brothers (All but the Big Three, and some forty others). : Well, that is not very original, and "Saggitarius" has done the same kind of thing better in The New Statesman, but the cynicism is at least genial. There are lino-cuts by Robert Brett, and the agreeable typography which we now take for granted from the Caxton Press. In How to Ride a Bicycle (in Seventeen Lovely Colours), Mr. Fairburn gets right off the chain. So does his printer, who gives the impression of having enjoyed the romp even more than the author. They toss together many varieties of text, type, colour and illustration (ancient and modern), without rhyme and with no apparent reason-except perhaps that of pulling everybody’s leg. The joke becomes a little forced towards the end; it is, on the other hand, remarkable that it remains funny as long as it does. If what is said about a little nonsense now and then still remains true, the purchasing of these two publications could perhaps be regarded as a test of wisdom.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19460830.2.38.2
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 15, Issue 375, 30 August 1946, Page 22
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378SOME BRIEF FOLLY New Zealand Listener, Volume 15, Issue 375, 30 August 1946, Page 22
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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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