The American Scene
S a result of Augusta Ford’s talks from 3YC on the American Novel one realises how largely the American scene looms in our consciousness. Her talks tied many loose threads into an intelligible and single skein; though in view of the amount packed into them I shall enjoy listening to them again. One of the most interesting talks in the series dealt with the themes of the deep South and saw Poe, Cabell and Faulkner as the logical branches of a single tree. Sometimes Augusta Ford’s judgments were a little difficult to understand: for example the very high praise she gave to Cabell. Jurgen deeply enthralled me, but none of his other novels which I have tried matched its brilliance. Wolfe, too, with his great juvenile gusto, hardly has the wisdom and maturity which Augusta Ford seemed to grant him, It is, nevertheless, very worth while to have the odd reading down the years _ historically focused; and it is salutary, too, to know how much one owes to a country whose negative aspects sometimes appal one.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19530410.2.20.5
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 28, Issue 717, 10 April 1953, Page 10
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179The American Scene New Zealand Listener, Volume 28, Issue 717, 10 April 1953, 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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