DEAD EMPIRES
BELL FROM A DISTANT TEMPLE, by Ronald Fraser; and THE GOLDEN PRIN--CESS, by Alexander Baron. Both published by Jonathan Cape, English price 15/-. {Tt is as difficult for a novelist to make the past live, as it is for politicians to make the present liveable. He must know everything, and reject most of it. He must find patterns in incidents, and bring them out incidentally. He must be moralist, historian, artist and raconteur. He must have a long nose, even for a short profile; and he needs the infinite faith of the dead in their own resurrection, It’s no wonder that historical novels so often stiffen at birth, like soulless Frankensteins suffering from their author’s necrophilia. Bel] from a Distant Temple rings sweetly over the centuries, catching the magic of ancient China in the days of Tu Fu, the poet. It is a highly stylised (continued cn next page)
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 32, Issue 813, 25 February 1955, Page 13
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151DEAD EMPIRES New Zealand Listener, Volume 32, Issue 813, 25 February 1955, Page 13
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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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