LITERARY TREND

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22991, 19 March 1938, Page 25

LITERARY TREND

IMPORTANCE OF TRAVEL ■ \ BOOK CLUBS ABROAD I —-i r*"i ' FRIENDS- AMONG AUTHORS -v j. j■ "■r •* ' : ;: - ' "There ,is no • such thing as the toodera novel. , All literature in its time and .generation has been modern, just as Shakespeare, Dickens, the Brontes and all the well-known authors iff ere modem in their day. The literature of to-day is not in a class of its own but deals with the problems and fcircumstances of its day as the older literature.<3ealt with older days," said Miss Sarah Lamont, of New York, who at; Auckland yesterday by the Monterey.- Miss Lamont intended to spend three months in Australia, with four months' Btay in tho' Dominion W her retuhi journey. I With wide experience in New York, Chicago aad San Francisco as a r»Iriewer, Jliss Lamont is also a contributor to many English and American toagazineii and has written articles for geographical magazines for some years. "fhe romance of travel has only recently came into its own," she said. "To-day novels with travel as their fcheme acid biographies of comparatively utfinown people who have travelled in Other countries are really the toost popular. We demand more of a book to-day than just some pretty jtory or a description of bold and brave heroes. We want, to learn and every Hovel can teach us something of people, nations, governments and oven of iuauitry.'S; Helping Education In the United States, ns in England, touch attention was given to books, where were book clubs and societies in ; .wnost every town and city in the United States and at these clubs members could not only read the books but Blso discuss them among themselves ®nd hear lectures by authors, said Miss Lamont. There were too many People who read only one type of book ®nd scorned others without knowing •hem. The book clubs, many of them ®Mnced by the State, were becoming f n important measure of education. Miss Lamont's travels have taken lit to many countries and brought her to touch with thei, literature of many ®°ple. She thought that the English |^ tu de to the novel had changed in tho last few years. "Olle in London she had attended gPg: meetings of book societies orpiused in conjunction with public ■jWMies an d attended by hundreds of *s2P?' • $ these societies she bad heard R C. Sheriff, who wrote *i? urne /' 8 End," and who spoke on Bn d peaco, Bruce Lockhart, who \ e . a description of his experiences in to-® 81 * and other parts of the world, IRra Nichols, J. B. Priestley. H. :• 'Vella an( j Holph Graves. Successful Authoress of the well-known American were personal acquaintances of i mon t- During « long stay in SgftWa She had jtnet Margaret iVlittoj' t ®'ithoress of "(lone With thp y> whom she described ns "blonde, tei«r &n d slight with a vivid and unfe'j [ Personality." She had had considCxporienoo as a journalist before wmmb i life: '

her marriage, and was vitally interested in a great variety of topics. Her. married name was Mrs. John Marsh. "Gone with the Wind" took eight years to write. , ' T Another friend -of Miss Lamont is Sinclair ' Lewis who, she said, _ did a tremendous amount of good in the United States with various social organisations. He was one of the most discussed authbrs in that country. Walter Winehell, the fainous go§sip writer of New York, was described by Miss Lamont as "kind and charming, which hi#writing was far from bem "Perhaps when New Zealand has produced a" few authors who can write as well as tell a story, your young people will realise the tremendous scope that lies at their finger-tips, said Miss Lamont,