AUTHORS' WEEK

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22406, 30 April 1936, Page 14

AUTHORS' WEEK

INFLUENCE OF POETRY SHORT STORY WRITERS THE PLACE OF THE DRAMA Four further addresses in the New Zealand Authors' Week series were delivered at the Art Gallery yesterday, and thero were large attendances at both the afternoon and evening sessions. The first speaker at the afternoon session, at which the Rev. W. Jellio presided, was Mr. D. W. Faigan, who dealt with aspects of the New Zealand short story. He emphasised that while the public liked short stories, it preferred them in periodicals and similar ephemeral forms. The addition of "and other stories" to the titlo of a book immediately condemned it. Although many thousands of short stories had been written in New Zealand, few were available in book form to-day. Speaking, of New Zealand's achievement in this field, ho said Katherine Mansfield, tho only Dominion author of whom it could be claimed that her works had reached tho top rank, stood easily first. Other writers had produced a wealth of children's and Maori stories, and in the latter field the woiks of James Cowan represented a real contribution to New Zealand literature, but beyond that there were only a few scattered volumes, and old files of newspapers must bo searched for the rest. Dramatic Works Attention to the small amount of dramatic work that had been published in New Zealand was drawn by Mr. J. W. Shaw, the second speaker. This was perhaps natural owing to the specialised appeal and technique of this form of literature, but it was interesting to consider whether tho Dominion could develop its own dramatic art. Past experience indicated that great periods of dramatic activity coincided with times of keen intellectualism and a certain emotional tension. He considered that energies were too scattered and lacking in adjustment to-day. There might be much brilliance, but efforts would be too diffused for the production of a major dramatic school. On one side, however, there had been a tremendous advance. The moving picture had resulted in a great reduction in the number of professional actors, but one of its effects had been enormously to increase the number of amateurs. Not long ago thero were only a few dramatic societies in tho Dominion. Now scarcely a week passed in which he did not get three or four requests about plays from new groups. It was possible that an individual New Zealand technique could bo developed. Mr. J. A. S. Goppard's "Sordid Story" was probably tho one newcontribution to stage technique as yet. Dominion's Poetry

The iniluence of poetry and the various schools which had been followed in the Dominion were dealt with by Mr. A. R. D. Fairburn, who spoke at the evening session on "New Zealand Poets." "There are signs that New Zealand poetry is at last coming down to earth," said Mr. Fairburn. The old school of poetry, which had been characterised as the "horsp-hair" type, had flooded Australia in the early days, but it did not have such a strong effect in New Zealand. That typo of poetry had been artificial and unnatural to New Zealand. It had in turn been superseded by the Georgian school of poetry and this had practically held sway until the depression. A sense of reality had been born out of the hard times and there were now indications that a real sense of values was permeating New Zealand's poetry. Mr. R. A. Singer, in hi§ address on "Auckland Authors," also dwelt at length on the influence of poetry on literature. Ho said he inclined to the belief that all persons were poets, although some people would probably deny such classification. Fie acknowledged the influence of such writers as Harris, Fairburn, and Robin Hyde, and recited several works. A song recital arranged by Mr. Trevor Sparling was also presented and included several compositions by New Zcalanders.