MEANER THAN MOST
LOUISE, AND OTHER STORIES, by Viola Meynell; James Barrie, English price 10/6. ‘| HIS collection of cameos epitomises a modern trend: to make literature as mean as life. Take a few people to whom nothing ever happens, choose a time at which it looks as if it might, and then show that it doesn’t. But do it with consummate skill, to show your artistry at their expense; and the critics will talk of "precision," and "psychological penetration" as if Shakespeare and Tolstoy had somehow been superseded by being gutted, or Chekhov improved on by leaving out his major characters. Louise does so want to be loved, and is, but wants to be sure; and dies, not tragically, but pathetically, In other stories others want to be loved, and aren't; and ought to be psychoanalysed. Frankly, I have most sympathy with the characters who cislike themselves as much as I dislike their author; but they haven't enough beef on their bones to
make a good hash.
A.
V.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19550506.2.24.7
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 32, Issue 823, 6 May 1955, Page 14
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169MEANER THAN MOST New Zealand Listener, Volume 32, Issue 823, 6 May 1955, Page 14
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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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