Newcomer to Chair of English

Professor Gordon Interviewed

Professor Gordon has not as yet seen much of New Zealand life, but apart from the difficulty of obtaining houses, the closing hours (of shops) and similar considerations, his first impressions have been extremely favourable. Someone in Sydney told him he would have to bring his own food or starve.

Wellington is very beautifully situated, but the buildings—V.U.C. is one of the best in the city. Classes and students here are very similar to those in Edinburgh, but New Zealand students are more approachable, and it is easier to converse with them.

In Edinburgh University there is no particular interest taken in politics, but social activities are emphasised. All the departments have active societies. Two people with similar interests or tastes have only to meet and talk together for a short time in order to form a new club.

At Edinburgh, Professor Gordon was particularly interested in the literary society of which he has been both President and Play Producer. Many productions were staged every year, including Elizabethan plays, for which the students themselves did all the work.

In New Zealand the standard of speech is high, and with the exception of a few vowel sounds, it differs little from the standard English spoken in Scottish and English universities.

Professor Gordon in keenly interested in modern literature, especially poetry. During this century a considerable change has taken place, and even in the last four or five years a new school has arisen. T. S. Elliot is now growing out of date. Such men as Rupert Brooke and Wilfred Owen wrote much good war poetry, hut to-day a large public is becoming more keenly appreciative of modern poetry. Many experiments are being tried and from one school we are getting works with political infiltrations, but they are not very helpful.

In drama, excellent work has been done with men such as Noel Coward and Sean O'Casey well to the fore. A great deal of our best modern literature comes from Ireland. In fact, Yeates should be Poet Laureate instead of Masefield.

With regard to the novel, Marcel Proust, a Frenchman, has been responsible for the introduction of a new psychological technique which has exercised an extremely beneficial influence. Examples are James Joyce's "Ulysses," and Galsworthy's novels.

Since 1900, Lytton Strachey has originated a new school of biography with his study of Queen Victoria. The old style of putting a man on a pedestal and eulogising his faults into oblivion has disappeared. The subject is now treated from an objective point of view with a strict attempt of impartiality.

Besides literature, Professor Gordon is very interested in music and in all forms of art—incidentally, in his travels he has visited almost every art gallery in Europe.