AND from the North

Press, 2 June 1984, Page 20

AND from the North

AND/2. Published by English Department, University of Auckland, 1983. 137 pp. $4.50.

(Reviewed by

Tom Weston)

AND is, by self-definition, another of those small literary journals; one link only in the chain of the Small Magazine. Now two issues old, it initially set itself a limit of four issues. When that limit is reached it will cease to exist (if the original intention holds) and somewhere else another small magazine will surface: many different magazines, but one overall effect. This in itself is a particularly American view of the literary journal. In many ways AND is a distinctly American product. Its concerns are local but its method, its poetic, has a distinctly American flavour. The coeditor, Leigh Davis, in his “Set up” essay (issue 1) clearly anchors the “new literature” on a horizontal axis (as opposed to the traditional vertical). In this model, writing will be only one aspect of the culture; it will exist in, and be part of, a society’s concerns, institutions and history. Recent American theory has likewise involved itself in the local. AND is different from many of the other short-lived (New Zealand) magazines. It has a certain polish and sophistication, a hardness and assurance of approach. There is even irony and humour. Emphasis is placed as much on intelligent criticism as original (as opposed to critical) work. In fact, it is not until issue 2 that we see much of this original work at all.

Some of it is particularly fine, but to single out individual efforts would be to denigrate from the wholeness of the final article: the journal itself. Some of the criticism is likewise excellent. Most, even if incompletely established (as some is), is stimulating. Almost all the writing shows an assurance of self that comes from what individually must be a strong literary maturity. This is a good sign; and it is long overdue in much New Zealand writing. There is, however, an unfortunate tendency towards jargon. As William Carlos Williams once said of another writer: “His learned terminology is putrid. But he does have something to say.” Overstated perhaps, but true enough in this case. There are a few other quibbles. One suspects that local culture is seen too much in American terms: the covers of the two issues are both stills from American movies. Documentary articles are too much influenced by American cultural imports, and so on. For a magazine wanting to focus on a New Zealand essence (among other things) one feels a wider net might have been cast. Of course, as a small country, not long established, much of our culture will be imported. Notwithstanding this scarcity, there are local essences, relevancies, and they can (or could) be translated, sans bathos, into a strong and individual literature. AND’s further development of this should be interesting.