The Oracle
[Tt wasn’t necessary to see in Leonard Cottrell’s The Pythoness an implied comment on modern attitudes towards prophecy and divination to find this BBC programme on the Delphic Oracle a first-class radio piece. As a re-creation of history, it combined authenticity with sympathy, and the economy of its language, sketching scenes, personalities and events in a few poetically packed
sentences stimulated the imagination to conjure up the Pythoness on her tripod and the multitudes who came to question her. I had wondered how, without a straight talk of dramatisation, this remarkable _ story could be told. Leonard Cottrell’s skilful use of dialectical method, with a sceptic and a believer in debate, held together description, quotation and the voice of the Sybil herself in a consistently interesting programme, which was neither over-erudite nor over-popularised. Perhaps its most absorbing feature was its creation of a background for such famous stories as that of Croesus and the Persians. At the end, I was left with the impression that the facts about Delphi had been fairly stated, and that, despite this, important problems remained, problems easy to dismiss with astrology, teacup reading and other hokum, yet suggesting that, in the matter of precognition, there is evidence enough to suggest that there is evidence.
(C) Punch
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19570906.2.12.3
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 37, Issue 943, 6 September 1957, Page 8
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212The Oracle New Zealand Listener, Volume 37, Issue 943, 6 September 1957, Page 8
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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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