Potted Topics
T was a little disappointing to find that 3ZB’s interview with Ngaio Marsh, in which Miss Marsh was to answer the question "Is the Detective Novel Dying?" lasted only five minutes. This, of course, gave Miss Marsh barely time to qualify her answer; after which she skilfully dodged an invitation to mame her choice of the six best detective novels, and, when pressed further, named a first choice with obvious reluctance. The result of all this was an interview which was scarcely satisfactory’ to the listener, and which would have infuriated me if I were Miss Marsh. Later in the same Sunday evening programme we heard Public Opinion dealing with the old question of "Civilisation": is it natural, and are we any happier for it. After a number of people had given very brief opinions on the matter, the featured speaker, A. N. Prior, gave his views with great clarity and even greater caution. (All his caution, however, did not prevent Master-of-Ceremonies Al Sleeman from reducing his statement to an epigrammatic "it is natural to be artificial.") Having given civilisation the O.K., we then swept on to a lively intérview with Ran- dolph Churchill, touching on such topics as war, Communism, and American Big Business. After that I switched off and went to bed. If it is possible to suffer indigestion as a result of too much predigested material, that was what I was suffering from. In any case F was still trying to catch up with the symptoms of decline in the detective novel.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19471024.2.32.6
Bibliographic details
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 17, Issue 435, 24 October 1947, Page 17
Word count
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257Potted Topics New Zealand Listener, Volume 17, Issue 435, 24 October 1947, Page 17
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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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