NONE BUT THE BEST
NE of the great pleasures to be had from listening to the judgments of other people on the arts — from. music and poetry to drama and the films-is the pleasure of disagreement, and this is a pleasure which should be particularly widespread among those who listen to three programmes to be broadcast from 3YC during the next few weeks and later from other YC stations. For this time the judgment is not merely "this is good... indifferent . . . bad,"
The only qualifications are "contempary" and "English," and the fields this time are poetry, the novel and drama. Who is the greatest poet writing in English? is the first question. which David Hall has been bold enough to answer, and as he remarks at the
outset, "That is indeed a question." "My answer," says Mr. Hall, "will infallibly not be your answer. But I feel constrained to point out that I am not asked to tell you who is my favourite poet, so that my choice is one of public critical responsibility as much as of intimate personal predilection. Also, can anyone say finally that a rose is greater than a violet-or for that matter a narcissus?" With so much by way of qualification, Mr. Hall embarks on a survey which takes in poets from Britain, America and even New Zealand-from the recently dead Dylan Thomas to the poets of the thirties, from Denis Glover to Hubert Witheford, from Robert Frost to T. S. Eliot. His talk will be heard from 3YC at 8.45 p.m. on Friday, November 26. The following week Mr. Hall will, take on the novelists, with a warning that the greatest contemporary writing in English has probably never been harder to find, since (he says) our time favours talent, competence and_ skill father than the emergence of masters. Still, having twisted a laurel wreath he does his best to find a temple massive enough to wear it gracefully, The third talk is about the dramatists, and this time the speaker is John V. Trevor, who disarms criticism at the Start by confessing that he is terrified by the boldness of the adventure.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19541119.2.58
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 800, 19 November 1954, Page 27
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358NONE BUT THE BEST New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 800, 19 November 1954, Page 27
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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.
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.
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