CLUB LUNCHEON TALK

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21489, 12 May 1933, Page 5

CLUB LUNCHEON TALK

THE COSMOPOLITAN OUTLOOK NECESSITY OF TO-DAY " Thought and Literature Abroad " was the subject of the luncheon talk given by Mrs. Gordon Robertson to members of the Lyceum Club yesterday. Mrs. W. H. Parkes, president, presided and welcomed the speaker, also the Mayoress, Mrs. G. W. Hutchison, Miss Nelle M. Scanlan and Mrs. Calderbank. "To have a cosmopolitan outlook upon life," said the speaker in dismissing her subject " it is vor3' necessary that we should have a knowledge of the literaturo of other countries. | More than ever is it necessary that we cultivato a knowledge of toreign thought and affairs for these are the times in which we arc making the history ol the future. In the days of the eaily Britons it took Caesar fourteen clays to reach London from Rome, 10-day \\e can reach it from the same place m eight hours or less by aeroplane, lhis great change in transport and tunc alters the whole face of things. The fact that Britain played so great a part in world affairs made it imperative that lier people should know the outlook of other nations. " To-dav," said Mrs. Robertson, "there are two opposing lines of thought dominating the world—internationalism and nationalism. By internationalism was meant that broader and larger outlook that not forgetting the interests and welfare of one s own countrv, yet worked to co-ordinate the interests of the whole. Just as warring tribes in the past bad become welded together to form the people of a nation so was it necessary that to-day the warring countries of the world should unite for the betterment of humanity as a whole. . . Mrs. Robertson pointed out that in opposition to this idea was the strong nationalism that was dominating some of the countries to-day—for instance, Japan and Germany. It was easy to see where this would lead the world it allowed to take possession of them all. The speaker pointed out how, lrt a period of approximately 75 years Japan had remoulded her national life and I outlook in obedience to a dominating j ideal. Germany too had done this, i That it could be done in so short a : l time comparatively speaking, opened I up vast possibilities for good or evil—i good when countries were dominated ! by the broader, more altruistic outlook, !ji and evil if governed by the narrower, jij less idealistic view . To counteract these nationalistic | tendencies there were certain societies !| in the world that were working to i bring about a change of thought and i to unify countries through a knowledge of their literature. . J In further elaboration of her point ;g Mrs. Robertson briefly summed up the I dominant characteristics in literature | of some of the Scandinavian countries, ! f of the Gaelic people, of France, Spam, if China and Japan, as well as the charIt aeteristics and beauty of pre-war Ger- || man literature and poetry. In concluI sion, she said the study of literature J opened a door that led to fl peaceful p future and turned the key to a treasure t liouso of untold beauty and joy.