W.E.A. Lecture On Political Novels And Discussion

Grey River Argus, 20 September 1949, Page 3

W.E.A. Lecture On Political Novels And Discussion

A discussion on the influence of the political novel was held at a meeting of the Workers’ Educational Association, in St John’s Hall las' evening. The speaker was Mr H. O. Jefcoate, M.A., of the Greymouth Technical High School. Mr Jefcoate outlined briefly the progress of the political novel from the time of Charles Dickens, Kingsley, and other contemporary writers, who were working on the same theme. Dickens’ books, said Mr Jefcoate, were chiefly written to expose the shameful conditions to which the lower classes ii\ England were subjected. •“I know I will shock the Charles Dickens’ Fellowship in Christchurch when I express the opinion that, his claim to greatness lies net in his flowery verbage but in his brilliant / eporting and enlightenment on tne social evils that existed in his day.” Dickens had been misinterpreted by his admirers, who recognised in him owy one ouality—his mastery of the English language. Dickens, went on Mr Jefcoate, was one of the first social writers to restore an evangelical note to proletarian literature. Speaking of modern American and European social writers Mr Jefcoate said readers should try to avoid taking a too personal view of their realistic writings. There were the class of readers who disliked onscenity and small doses of profanity in the reading. Such an attitude was merely an expression of conservative moralty, which, produced an uncompromising realism between author and reader. The reader did not consider that these Qualities were vitally necessary if the author was to portray faithfully all he had heard and seen. The author had a special job to do. to write vividly of true life, and only by working along these lines, could a proper solution be found to social evils. Mr Jefcoate asked whether the same people would approach such writings as broadmindedly as they would concentration camps. Readers, he warned, should refrain from looking at a subject subjectively, they should regard it objectively as most great authors did. The discussion then moved onto the question as to whether the press had greater influence in the changing of social systems than the political novel, Several present expressed the view that it had, “but their point was less emphasised when it was pointed out that people who took the trouble to read thoughtful works dealing with political and social grievances, would, possessing that knowledge, have a stronger urge to cure social ills than would newspaper readers.