N.Z. Man’s ‘Original’ Novel Praised

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30269, 23 October 1963, Page 21

N.Z. Man’s ‘Original’ Novel Praised

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

SYDNEY, October 21. "The Scarecrow.” by the New Zealand author, Ronald Hugh Morrleson, has been favourably reviewed in the “Sydney Morning Herald.” “The adventurous trier is often deemed more worthy than the careful winner,” comments the "Sydney Morning Herald” critic. "This is the kind of response that this remarkable first novel from New Zealand evokes. "Uneven in quality, sometimes amateurish and rough at the edges, it is also a genuine original, richly coloured and animated by an infectious warmth and gusto. In an age of correct and undistinguished winners, this is an exhilarating trier. Mr Morrleson has taken elements of Gothic melodrama, Boys’ Own adventure story, psychological thriller, family farce, small-town saga and pantomime, and in one novel has whirled them together to produce a brilliant hallucinatory mixture distinctively his own.” The critic says: “It is difficult to analyse the singular blend of the macabre and the farcical Which Mr Morrieson

achieves—a kind of extraordinary comic fugue, with innocence answering eviL and horror answering laughter, and ugly death answering ripe youth. “It is hoped that there will be more, for this is certainly one of the most unusual and original novels published in this country for many a long day.” "The Scarecrow” has been published by Angus and Robertson, Sydney. Mr Morrieson, aged 41, is a single man living in Hawera, where he was bom and educated. "The Scarecrow" is his first novel and he is working on his second. Mr Morrieson is a music teacher.