INNOCENT FICTION
is many years since I read a Jeffrey Farnol novel. I had forgotten how innocent his stories were by comparison with the mishmash of sex and sadism that passes for "historical" fiction these days until I heard some episodes of John Gundry’s’ version of The Broad Highway from 1ZB. The Wardour Street dialogue, the simple picaresque story, the quaint secondary characters, the mixture of adventure, chivalry and knockabout farce place this story in the world of Maurice Hewlett and Conan Doyle rather than in the underworld of Frank Slaughter and Edison Marshall. As the athletic picaresque hero, Earl Rowle does a very good job, and there are choice little character bits for a large number of competent _ players, among whom Ernest Blair's’ wily ancient remains in the mind. Has anyone, I wonder, ever thought of adapting Rodney Stone for radio? There is enough imagination and movement in such older historical novels to put the modern soap-opera writer to shame,
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19550401.2.22.1
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 32, Issue 818, 1 April 1955, Page 10
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161INNOCENT FICTION New Zealand Listener, Volume 32, Issue 818, 1 April 1955, Page 10
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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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