The South pacific Could Create A

'More Colourful Than The Wild West'

Fashion For Reading

By Olaf Ruhen

These is indeed a spate of books which, as Tolala says, :al in a quasi-scientific manner with various kinds of research, it a dearth of good fiction.

iST writers seem to regard the Territories and their inhabi (of whatever origin) as speci to be put under the microscope, r than as communities in which nterplay of character and inci- Is interesting and rewarding and >e used to fortify a theme. In words, they have not yet found the raw material for good en iment, and I feel that this is a is loss. ireover, the few writers who are nibbling the edges of this field I be materially assisted if their ers were greater. Writing is one ision in which the benefits of Jtition are not offset by any factor. example, the American Wild was never, even in its best days i 1860 to 1890), as promising 1 as New Guinea, but the con interest of thousands of s in all branches of literary made it highly acceptable to lading public. Puccini wrote an about it, G.B.S. a play of

sorts, Aaron Copland a ballet—no branch of entertainment overlooked it, and public interest became a pub lic demand.

The writer is, after all, interested mainly in the impact of circumstance upon character. New Guinea not only provides circumstance of a fresh kind, but in that locale, characters can be realistically isolated to con centrate dramatic effect, to make them occupy the centre of the stage without stretching the credibility of the audience.

Besides the writers mentioned by Tolala there are a few others. There’s Jon Cleary’s North of Thursday, for example. I’ve writen a score of short stories that have enjoyed a public in excess of a couple of hundred mil lion; Jack Lusby has written a lot of excellent stuff, and now Edward Tindall is entering the field. But New Guinea residents of promise have dropped out—Jack and Lance Wilkin son, for example.

What the field needs is an ex pectant audience waiting for produc tions to appear. And this can only be created by the efforts of hundreds more writers concerned with this area. The reception of such efforts will be improved with every book that is written.

More Itinerant Writers However, the itinerant writer must play, I think, the initial part. There are not enough Hugh Caves making brief visits and going home to in terest their circles of readers. With out the Hemingways to write of big game hunting in Africa, the huge convoy of books on that subject would never have begun to roll; the lively reception of one book creates a demand for others.

The writing of fiction not too re mote from truth is a wonderful way of dealing with time that might otherwise hang heavy in an isolated existence, and it can prove reward ing indeed. It’s been pointed out be fore that Beatrice Grimshaw had a larger income than the Administra

tor. Like Tolala, I’m unable to guess why more of it isn’t done.

One reason, though, may be the fear of criticism. This looms much larger than the criticism itself, which, if it appears at all (and in my ex perience it hasn’t) can be shrugged off.

The whole Pacific area, it seems to me, is one for which a fashion in reading could be created, and if this should happen it would be a happy situation all round, for readers, the writers, the tourist agencies, the ship ping companies and everyone else.

For the creation of interest is de monstrably followed by a huge in crease in trade and opportunity— the white hunters of Africa never had it so good as they did after the novels appeared. And their clients thereafter frequently found invest ment opportunities while they were on their travels.