A PLAY FOR SOUTHLAND
Sir.-I feel bound to add to the correspondence which has developed in this matter. I do so, not to comment on the literary or dramatic merits of the winning play, which is a legitimate field of criticism for any person who feels competent so to do, but to disclose certain matters of fact of which your readers would not normally be aware, Your Wellington correspondents, Mr Peter Harcourt and the anonymous M.W., both claim to have read the play. The Montgomeries of Glenholme has not been published. One set of the play has within a matter of days been accepted by. the British Drama League in Wellington, and is no doubt now available for hire from their library, but this was not the case when your correspondents wrote their letters. Other sets, with the stencils, are in the hands of London agents, who have shown some interest in the matter. Mrs Black considered it only courteous to Southland to take no action abroad until after the Invercargill production. All other copies of the play are in private hands, and can therefore be checked upon by the author. Mr Harcourt quotes certain phrases, mainly of an ejaculatory or exclamatory nature, from the play. If Mr Harcourt with his 10 years’ experience in dramatic criticism considers it fair to quote isolated words from an undisclosed context, one must not cavil with so venerable an opinion on a mere point of fairness. With his fellow Wellingtonian, the anonymous M.W., the position is somewhat different. M.W. purports to quote from the play the words: "And yet, somehow, I’ve got to stop you. But how? How?" These words did occur in an earlier craft of the play. They were subsequently deleted by the author, were not used in the Invercargill production, and are clearly marked out in all authorised copies of the play. Since the publication of M.W.’s letter careful steps have been taken to verify this in all known copies. It does, therefore, seem a reasonable deduction that either (a) M.W. has quoted from a pirated version of the play (if one exists), or (b) M.W. has quoted as the author’s, certain words which she has clearly and unequivocably deleted. Careless quotation is unethical, but deliberate misquotation is unpardonable.
J. C.
BLACK
(Huntly).
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19570726.2.18.2
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 37, Issue 937, 26 July 1957, Page 11
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383A PLAY FOR SOUTHLAND New Zealand Listener, Volume 37, Issue 937, 26 July 1957, Page 11
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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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