AUSTRALIAN-N.Z. VERSE

New Zealand Listener, Volume 25, Issue 630, 27 July 1951, Page 5

AUSTRALIAN-N.Z. VERSE

Sir-TIn his review of A Book of Australian and New Zealand Verse, James Bertram writes of "the fourth edition now making its belated appearance over the editor’s dateline of April, 1949." Unfortunately, belatedness is a common and widespread condition of publishing these days. In addition to delays incidental to the business, there are industrial and economic factors special to this time, over which publishers have no control. This liability to long delay is well known in the trade and among interested persons outside it. Such lapses of time between handing in a script and publication may affect the reader’s judgment of author or editor. New poets swim into our ken and others develop their talent. Two New Zealand poets who have attracted an unusual amount of attention in the last two years published their first volumes in 1949 and 1950 respectively, after I had made my choice for the New Zealand section of the anthology. One of them is on Mr. Bertram’s list of poets whose absence he criticises. I could cite other facts bearing on these names. The other day

a friend told me he had taken up a new book on the English theatre, and immediately looked for what it had to say about Christopher Fry. There was no mention of him, My friend concluded that the book had gone to the publisher before Christopher Fry made his recent spectacular entry into fame. Finally, Mr. Bertram’s reference to "contemporary women poets" may lead some readers to conclude that I have omitted Eileen Duggan. This is not so.

ALAN

MULGAN

(Wellington),