Teller of Tales
NE of A. P. Herbert’s most inspired flights of fancy is "The Human Henj’ recently told by Tusitala. It is, like so much of the best humour, very close to pathos, with its ironical finger pointed at the limitations of our civilisation, The inspired hero of this story-madman, if, you must-is arrested for running along a crowded pavement armed with a motor-horn with which to clear his passage. Admittedly this is an odd pastime, but he has some good reasons for it. Although he cannot be proved to have done any damage, a long. list of charges is brought against him-culminating in a recommendation that he shall be exemined by a mental specialist, The man’s defence is a masterpiece of logical nonsense, capped by the magistrate’s sympathetic summing-up. It was an original trifle, and told with Tusitala’s consummate skill, an impressive one. To the (continued on next page) |
RADIO VIEWSREEL
(continued from previous page) listener, this skill of Tusitala’s in storytelling seems to resolve itself into the complete effacement of the speaker. One is not conscious of the voice as a voice: there are no tricks or mannerisms of speech, and yet no monotony. From the Start one is completely and solely aware of the story. And that, I suppose, is the very highest attribute of a good storyteller.
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 18, Issue 454, 5 March 1948, Page 13
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222Teller of Tales New Zealand Listener, Volume 18, Issue 454, 5 March 1948, Page 13
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