THE AWAKENING BEAR
EAST-WEST PASSAGE, by Dorothy Brewster; ‘Allen and Unwin, English price 21/-. ‘THis is a good book. It traces in gratifying detail the discovery of Russia and Russian literature by the English-speaking world and its effect on English and American literary practice or modes of thought. The course of these relations has been haunted by a persisting irony. It is not only in our own day that Russia has been a prime menace to our peace of mind, though "it — was not until she began to be feared that Russia came to be known." Events like the Crimean War advertised Russian authors. Dorothy Brewster shows the strength of the influence of Turgenev. "Katherine Mansfield’s work was the main channel through which the Chekhov influence flowed." Criticism of the Russians has often been as much political as aesthetic, and this is perhaps inevitable as Russian authors acknowledged a "social consciousness" theory of writing long before 1917. Nineteenth Century Russian fiction scrutinised social condi-
| tions because the rigorous censorship of | the Czar’s autocracy prevented them being described more directly. Full of fresh and interesting material, this is’a work of patient erudition by a writer who is also endowed with critical insight and a pleasant wit. She makes hay of the pretentious or the entrenched, from the "fortress of the Slav soul" to the vagaries of Congressional investigators. In 1938 Senator McCarran chailenged another Senator determined to save’ America from Red propaganda in the theatre in these words: "There are those who for ever use the bugbear of Communism to scare someone in order that they may themselves rise up and thus be held up as champions against the so-called danger of Communism." Dorothy Brewster comments: "This is an interesting prophecy of the Senator’s own later and highly successful career.’’ Let me hasten to add that she is not herself a "red"; it is just that she cannot resist a good wisecrack.
David
Hall
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19540820.2.24.6
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 787, 20 August 1954, Page 14
Word count
Tapeke kupu
323THE AWAKENING BEAR New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 787, 20 August 1954, Page 14
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Material in this publication is protected by copyright.
Are Media Limited has granted permission to the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa to develop and maintain this content online. You can search, browse, print and download for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Are Media Limited for any other use.
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.
Copyright in the Denis Glover serial Hot Water Sailor published in 1959 is owned by Pia Glover. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this serial and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the Listener. You can search, browse, and print this serial for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Pia Glover for any other use.
Log in