WINE AND LEMONADE
THE WINE OF ILLUSION, by. Ronald Fraser; Jonathan Cape, English price 13/6. I, LIBERTINE, by Frederick R. Ewing; Michael Joseph, English price 10/6 A NEST OF NIGHTINGALES, by Arlette Grebel, translated from the French by Barbara Bray; Victor Gollancz, English price 12/6. N spite of his sudden fall from the post of Minister of Agriculture and his. subsequent poverty, Golden Phoenix never loses sight of his faith that all is good in mankind. Alongside his desire for peace and a cottage life is the urge to continue to serve his country, China, in the time of the T’ang dynasty. Golden Phoenix, the poet-philosopher with public service ambitions, finds that security and politics are irreconcilable unless he desists from speaking his mind. The book is charmingly written in*the descriptive, mystical vein one might expect to find in the poems of Golden Phoenix. The tale of how J, Libertine, came to be written deserves more attention > the novel itself. Although it sold 180,000 copies in New York immediately on publication, it is doubtful if that peak sale will be kept ‘up. A disc-jockey who broadcast from New York from 1.30 a.m. to 5.30 a.m. welded his listeners into the "Night People," announced the publication of a non-existent book and left it to them to create the demand. Bookshops were flooded with orders so that I, Libertine-its name and author had been announced-had tto be written. It is claimed the novel must be the first example of a hoax that became a book. The result is a peculiar and incomprehensible _blend of the 20th and 18th centuries, A lawyer’s clerk has amoe to be a rake and an adventurer (continued on next page)
BOOKS (continued from previous page)
and yet reiterates his yearning for a decent. life. His liking for prolonged self-analysis is out of keeping with this period piece. The "nightingales" in Arlette Grebel’s book are girls in a vaudeville ballet troupe touring Europe, and the story is revealed through the egotistical and sometimes humorous meanderings of a journalist turned would-be prima _ ballerina. A Nest of Nightingales was awarded Le Prix Amar for the best book of the year "sur le music-hall ou le
cirque."
Sheila
Coombs
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19570823.2.24.4
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
New Zealand Listener, Volume 37, Issue 941, 23 August 1957, Page 17
Word count
Tapeke kupu
368WINE AND LEMONADE New Zealand Listener, Volume 37, Issue 941, 23 August 1957, Page 17
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Material in this publication is protected by copyright.
Are Media Limited has granted permission to the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa to develop and maintain this content online. You can search, browse, print and download for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Are Media Limited for any other use.
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.
Log in