NEW ZEALAND AUTHORS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22431, 29 May 1936, Page 4

NEW ZEALAND AUTHORS

ADDRESSES AT LYCEUM CLUB Under the auspices of the literary circle, members of the Lyceum Club bad the pleasure on Wednesday afternoon of hearing two addresses on New Zealand novels and novelists —a reflex from Authors' Week. Mrs. E. Wilson Wilson, who took pro-war novols of Now Zealand as her title, set herself to ascertain who was the first novelist and which the first novel. From the recesses of history came to light many old books and writers of which most of us to-day know little or nothing. Perhaps the most interesting and outstanding item in Mrd. Wilson's exhaustive list of early novels is that extraordinary literary surprise, "The Mystery of a Hansom Cab," by Fergus Hume, 300,000 copies of which went into circulation, bringing to the author a mere £SO! This writer, a young Dunedin lawyer who migrated to Melbourne, had intended to become a playwright. . JBy 1932 he had written 139 books, but not a single play! William Sachell's "Greenstone Door" and his first and even bettor constructed book, "The Land of the Lost," were mentioned as books that should bp read by every New Zealander. In a cleverly statistical treatise of her subject, Miss Jane Mander marshalled post-war novels. Of the 104 New Zealand novels published since 1920 ; very few, in the speaker's opinion, had advanced the true cause of New Zealand literature. A great New Zealand novel had yet to be written, We required "beautifully written fiction that interprets life in terms of disciplined art. None of our novels has yet come into the realm of high art," she said. "Our literature lacks distinction, the feeling for style and the gift of a sensitive choice of words." At the same time generous credit was accorded tp what had been don<* by Now Zealand novelists. In the long list of works~~dealt with, "A Poor Scholar," by C. R. Allen, was approved tho best for its strength and for a mentality that saw _ beyond material things in interpretative writing. Mrs. W. H. Parkes, who presided, expressed tho appreciation of those present for the delightfully informative addresses upon a subject of which New Zealand people should all know more.