No Ivory Tower
A SPLENDID Portrait from Life "" (2YA) was the . autobiographical reminiscences of Sir Ronald Syme, one of the most distinguished scholars to have graduated from New Zealand. For half an hour Sir Ronald managed to convince us of the rewarding life of a scholar and for a time ancient history became a lively, robust subject, demonstratively rooted as much in the present
as in the past. It was easy to accept that the speaker’s own background as a British colonial had deepened his awareness and appreciation of the period of ancient history which is his own particular concern, the time of Tacitus when anybody who was anybody came from the colonies, and colonial was a term without a derogatory reflection. This form of portrait where the interviewer (here, Cherry Raymond) allows the subject as far as possible to draw his own picture can be very good, and this was one of the most satisfying that I have heard. Undertaken obviously with some misgivings, Sir Ronald’s excursion into his own time past succeeded to a marked degree in reducing the gap between the average New Zealander and the scholar. Besides, it gave us an opportunity to meet a most pleasing personality as well as a distinguished native son.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19591106.2.25.3
Bibliographic details
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 41, Issue 1054, 6 November 1959, Page 16
Word count
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209No Ivory Tower New Zealand Listener, Volume 41, Issue 1054, 6 November 1959, Page 16
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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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