WRITERS AND READERS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 29, Issue 736, 21 August 1953, Page 5

WRITERS AND READERS

Sir,-During a discussion by poets on the reading of their own verse, T, S. Eliot is said to have remarked that a poet does at least speak the lines as he himself heard them in the process of writing. The value of that truth as applied to broadcasting seems to be slowly gaining recognition, not only in the reading of poetry, but of short stories and other scripted matter. Listening to 3YC’s’ broadcast of "Barry Simpson’s Story," by Dennis McEldowney (whose recent "A -World Regained" had whetted my appetite for more) I was struck by the remarkable way in which the author identified himself with his character without apparent effort or any of the tricks of acting. The story itself, scarcely more than an anecdote, was simple, humorous, and intensely moving; the reading of it as near perfection as one could imagine. My point is, however, not that we were

for once given an item of such rare quality, but that the same method (the author-reader idea) could well be tried more often. The Broadcasting Service appears to have at call a number of extremely able readers, and there is always the temptation to fall back on them, But listeners have acute ears for distinguishing between an assumed interest, however well simulated, and the real thing. Nevertheless, we should be grateful to 3YC for Slightly Out of True. Maybe other centres will be moved to experiment along similar lines.

E.

B.

(Auckland),