CREATIVE WRITING IN NEW ZEALAND

New Zealand Listener, Volume 16, Issue 400, 21 February 1947, Page 5

CREATIVE WRITING IN NEW ZEALAND

Sir-I have no quarrel to find with The Listener’s constructively critical review of my Creative Writing in New Zealand, but it is otherwise with’ the truculent assertions printed in your issue of January 31 over the name of Gordon Ingham. As your correspondent criticises especially the first 30 pages of my book, and as it is there in particular that I make some attempt to fuse moral and religious values with literary ones in assessing the work of certain poets, it is not difficult to identify, Mr. Ingham as one of those to whom the mentidn of religious values is anathema. Were he to argue his case, I would attempt a rebuttal, but as he produces no facts whatever, the assertion that the type of apptoach I favour is naive, can only strike me as absurd in view of the achievements of T. S. Eliot, Herbert Read, Middleton Murry, E. I. Watkin, Charles du Bos, Francois Mauriac, and Elizabeth Monroe, to name but a few moderns. Again, Mr. Ingham characterises my work as a "digest" of its admirable predecessors, and at the same time condemhs it for its "almost uniformly destructive tone." He cannot have it both ways. He conveniently ignores the fact that many of the writers I discuss are not mentioned in pfevious surveys, and that my views on those that are mentioned often differ from ‘their surveys in basic matters. As for my book’s "destructive tone,’ I leave this preposterous statement to the judgment of readers of the work, commenting only that at least one reviewer has taken me to task for leniency with regard to the moderns! I do not know what are Mr. Ingham’s qualifications as a critic of New Zealand writing and criticism; he certainly gives no evidence of any such qualifications in his letter. But, at the risk of trumpet-blowing, I would point out that reviews of my book by many informed critics give the lie to his charges. For example, Douglas Stewart, in a lengthy appreciation in the Sydney Bulletin (January 8, 1947) writes, "Mr. Reid’s survey is not only the best the present commentator has seen, but, allowing for a few minor complaints, as good as could be asked for. ... It is the balance of his outlook that makes his book superior to all recent competitors." W. F. Alexander in the Dunedin Evening Star (December 17, 1946) said, "In Creative Writing in New Zealand, Mr. J. C, Reid has done more to show this country’s literature, and especially its poetry, in its right perspective and proportions than any writer before him." Perhaps even Mr. Inghani will concede these gentlemen some authority on the matter. In these circumstances, ‘it is hardly to be wondered at that his letter strikes me as being inspired less by a concern for New Zealand writing than by a desire to defame a book which has the temerity to pay some tribute to religious values. Mr. Ingham is welcome to the rest of his name-calling. As Kierkegaard once said, "God be praised that all this attack of vatunrnty has fallen on me."

J. C.

REID

(Auckland),

(We have received other letters, in support of Mr. .Reid. But the author has now replied to his critic, and we cannot find space at the moment to prolong the argument.-Ed, )