Hard Centre
HAVE never taken very kindly to short stories read on the radio, largely, I suspect, because the average one is much on the same level as the average magazine story — inoffensive lowermiddle brow stuff, cut to a fairly orthodox pattern. But Arnold Wall, who has for so long been the brightest thing (often the only bright thing) on Book Shop drove a horse-and-cart through the walls of my prejudice with his reading of his own short story, "Dear Child" (1YA). This tale of a man’s befriending a neglected child, her death and its relationship to the we!l-known Westminster Abbey "Dear Child" plaque, might easily have been sentimental. But this confection had a hard, not a soft, centre, Mr. Wall’s dry understatement and admirably polished reading made the story a quite moving experience, its tone reminding me a little of a Scott Fitzgerald story whose title I’ve forgotten, about another neglected child.
J.C.
R.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19550211.2.20.6
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
New Zealand Listener, Volume 32, Issue 811, 11 February 1955, Page 11
Word count
Tapeke kupu
155Hard Centre New Zealand Listener, Volume 32, Issue 811, 11 February 1955, Page 11
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