RETREAT AND RETURN
THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT, by Jean BlochMichel; Longmans, English price 13/6. DON’T GO NEAR THE WATER, by William Brinkley; Jonathan Cape, English price 16/-. THE MASTER, by T. White; Jonathan Cape, English price 15/-. SUMMER SHOCK, by Thorne Lee; AbelardSchuman, English price 15/6. WE are all familiar with the problem of war’s refugees, but The Flight Into Egypt brings it down to its most intense level-where it affects the family.. The author is careful to avoid setting his story in an exact time and place, and so succeeds in giving it a symbolic power which takes it beyond the limitations of a simple narrative. A family are driven from their home by invasion, and eventually find refuge in a deserted village, where they subsist, peasant fashion, to the end of the war. The father finds’ that family love is threatened with extinction by the decisions which he ‘makes for the security of the others. There is a material security in their isolation, but inward tensions almost destroy the family. Return to civilisation ends the struggle to give life meaning-an enigmatic end to the story, but utterly convincing. In Don’t Go Near the Water we are given a look at the war from the "public relations angle" (to borrow the jargon). All the goings on of a vast paper empire, safely established on a salubrious Pacific Island, are recorded here. The book is not without humour, but is spoiled by a Hollywood approach to plot and description. Situations are so heavily under-lined and over-emphasised, even for a farce, that the veriest idiot, be he patron or prospective producer, cannot fail to respond. The Master is a.clever science fiction story about a mastermind who lives in Rockall (not on it)) and aims to set the world right with a fiendish device. All right if you like these things.
Summer Shock is about murder at a Shakespearian Summer Festival, and it falls far short of the author’s preten-
sions.
Edmond
Malone
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19570607.2.24.4
Bibliographic details
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 36, Issue 930, 7 June 1957, Page 13
Word count
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331RETREAT AND RETURN New Zealand Listener, Volume 36, Issue 930, 7 June 1957, 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.
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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