Brashness is All
ET the interview has limitations, and in the BBC series We Write Novels is seen at its worst. These in particular seem scrappy; no sooner has the author his teeth into something than he is led to the next question. For one whose attitude towards the novel remains serious the first programmes were disappointing; Kingsley Amis views the purpose of the novel as entertainment; Nigel Balchin would hate to be regarded as a literary gent. But V. S. Pritchett had interesting things to say, such as lack of caste and creed making a peculiar private world for each modern novelist, and C. P. Snow buried the novel of sensibility uncer the novelist-historian of a managerial society. The one thing that emerges is the extraordinary self-de-bunking of the younger literati, which has reached its apotheosis in Colin Wilson’s rating of himself as significantly contemporary in fame with Elvis Presley, while really, one feels, cénsidering himself a second Shaw. That there is more in Kingsley Amis than he will allow is confirmed by critics; the pattern of the modern novel, and its authors, will in time emerge, but scarcely, one
thinks, by the end of this series
R.
F.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19570405.2.36.5
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 36, Issue 921, 5 April 1957, Page 21
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200Brashness is All New Zealand Listener, Volume 36, Issue 921, 5 April 1957, Page 21
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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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