Omar Where He Drank
[N The Steps of Omar Khayyam is a somewhat out-of-step production by the NZBS studios which I am told to my horror goes on for some fifteen halfhour instalments. The most that can be said of it is that its atmosphere (to one who has never been there) is authentically Persian, and that it provides a rich open-cast mine of quotation for students of the Rubaiyat. Omar appears as a nameless traveller, recently sacked from the Caliph’s court for too oft consorting with the fruitful grape, and when our story opens is striking a gong in approved ZB manner to rouse the faithful from their slumbers and shouting (as might be anticipated) "Awake, for morning in the bowl of night... ."’ Unfortunately, the habit of eastern metaphor has grown on Omar to such an extent that even normal questions about his life and health are likely to be answered in terms such as "The mill of Omar Khayyam’s heart still grinds the’ flour of his life." Altogether it was a great relief to me and to all listeners when Omar, realising that time was slipping underneath his feet, whipped up his camels and made haste to start for the dawn of nothing. He will, of course, be back next week,
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 20, Issue 516, 13 May 1949, Page 10
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213Omar Where He Drank New Zealand Listener, Volume 20, Issue 516, 13 May 1949, Page 10
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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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