NEW ZEALANDERS AS WRITERS

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21118, 20 March 1934, Page 8

NEW ZEALANDERS AS WRITERS

+ FAULTS ANALYSED PROSPECTS FOR" NOVELISTS j I "What is wrong with New Zca- ! land writers? One of the Dungs , tiiat is wrong is a lack of courage, ' of artistic courage. People here arc \ too much afraid of what their; friends and neighbours may say.'' , In these words Miss Jane Mander, j author among other works of The . Story oi a New Zealand River, yes- j terday summed up part of her im- I pressions of New Zealand writing, . and of New Zcalanders generally, j "Art of anv sort is a lonely busi- i ness. and it demands courage." she ; .-•aid. "Here the writer or the artist is crippled in all sorts of directions. There is a lack ot , stimulus—which is essential—and of understanding. So little of that is to be lound in any pioneer country, whore the artist is regarded as a nuisance or as a parasite." The national characteristics el New Zcalanders were not yet of a kind to help them in creative writing, for cultural evolution was lacking. It was interesting to compare ( the type of person in the Dominion v. ho wanted to write with the Eng- : l:sh equivalent. "The English liter- . ary aspirant is born almost with a , literary spoon in his mouth," said Miss Mander. "He is steeped in the . literature of his country without ; seeking it. There is an unconscious ; background. New Zcalanders abound in animal spirits, but that ; is not enough to make un artist, and the country is so remote. One art helps another so much, and much is to be gained merely by looking: at pictures and sculpture, and by : hearing music. That gives a standard." Character Essential Miss Mander. who has had a great deal of experience in reading manuscripts ot novels bv writers in New Zealand and elsewhere. wa< interested in the general tendencies of New Zcalanders who aspire to write novels. "There is no prejudice in London against a really well-writ-ten book from overseas, but tno publishers do not want books that are cheaply facetious. New Zcalanders who write so olten show no real insight, and the conversation recorded in their attempts 1.mci'oly "lingo.' "Their failing is really m a

ouality ol t mir.d. in a lack of ike literary temper. Thev fail to understand what is really significant—the little things that are valuable in the presentation of character—and they write obviously. "There is no real objection to scenery in a novel. but it must be used to show the e:lect ot environment on character. Such books a- Hardy's Return of the Native—the opening chapter, ier example—show what can be done with this. But. New Zealandei s who write novels keep too much to the surface. Their characters are just "plopped' on to the scenery, and are not evoked from it. Our people lack a real sense of character in art. and besides, so many of them write just because it is a 'nice' thing to do." Miss Mnnder said she thought that a good adventure story would always sell in England, and good stories of New Zealand life would be welcome. She had found an increasing interest in New Zealand when she was :n England.