"FOLLOW THE CALL"

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 153, 26 December 1936, Page 17

"FOLLOW THE CALL"

In an appreciative /letter,' to "Quivis" on the review, which appeared last week, of the late Frank S. Anthonys posthumous novel, "Follow the Call," Mr. A. W. Reed, of the well-known firm of publishers responsible for the issue of the book, writes:-^

'The publishing of novels in New Zealand is not to be embarked upon lightly, and, as a matter, of fact, it is only in exceptional circumstances that we even consider so doing. Allen's 'A Poor Scholar' was definitely such an instance—'Follow the Call' perhaps even more so. It has been issued with fears and hopes, with doubt and with certainty. To my mind it is of such a type that it might quite easily have been banal, yet it is so well written that it escapes that fate. ; I think your criticism adequately sums up my own mute opinion. It is written just as thousands of New Zealanders speak— and hardly one can write." To which "Quiyis" adds: The profound truth of the last sentence— which applies not only to New Zealand, but everywhere else similarly— will be appreciated by those who have listened to racy chapters of a man's life told viva voce by the man himself, and then, when- he has responded to the suggestion to write the story just as he told it, tried to read the result. For the same reason Boswell's Johnson ■talks so much better than Dr. Samuel Johnson wrote. "Follow the Call" is the rare exception to the rule.

■America has just produced—in "Gone with the Wind," a novel of the American Civil War, by Miss Margaret Mitchell—a fitting successor, in length and, judging hy the reviews, in promise of popularity, to "AnthPny Adverse." "Gone with the Wind" occupied' Miss Mitchell's literary activities for seven years, and runs to over 400,000 worat. "Anthony Adverse," now four years old, is still a best seller. It has passed its 1,000,000 sales mark, and 97,000 copies were sold in August.