BBC "REFINEMENT"
Sir-TI'll make a third with "Glorf. ana" and G. C. Stevenson. Everyone knows how boring it is to eat a large salad all alone. But not on Tuesdays so long as Gloriana reigned at 1.30 p.m, Not that the eating process was speeded up. Gloriana had the same effect on me that Jane Austen has on E. M. Forster -TI listened with my mind shut and my mouth open. The gusto of the acting along with the movement of the play made me forget all about culture. Not so some BBC features. I’ve listened to scenés from Hamlet, The Merchant of Venice, and Romeo and Juliet and been so unmoved-except by Juliet -as to be compelled to write myself off as a barbarian. Well, mayn’t I be one more often? Must we have so much BBC refinement? If I tune in to Blake, An English Eccentric, at 8.0° p.m. to-morrow night am I t6 hear again what I heard some two months ago: "Oh dear tie no, my good fellow, don’t take that tale too seriously . . ." (or sore such); and then the speaker discountenances the story of Blake and his wife admitting a friend into their summer-house while they were sitting there acting Adam and Eve (before the Fall) in character. I bet that story’s true. Or if it isn’t it is in character. Who could read Blake and expect him to have the slightest qualm in going naked wherever and whenever he thought fit? Though I don’t doubt he’d pay some respect to the 11th Commandment, the world being what it was. I could name a few New Zealanders (but I won’t) who in the heat of the day stage Paradise (also before the Fall) in their gardens. Maybe New Zealand could provide a few -eccentrics?
E.P.
D.
(Mt. Maunganui). ~ :
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19461101.2.14.6
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 15, Issue 384, 1 November 1946, Page 5
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303BBC "REFINEMENT" New Zealand Listener, Volume 15, Issue 384, 1 November 1946, Page 5
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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.
Copyright in the Denis Glover serial Hot Water Sailor published in 1959 is owned by Pia Glover. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this serial and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the Listener. You can search, browse, and print this serial for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Pia Glover for any other use.
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