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The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848-1954) (about)
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Cite: http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1108168
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THE 'LITTLE" MAGAZINES
BRIGHTER, BROADER, BIGGER
THE MONTH'S LITERARY
MAGAZINES are good. The general tone is livelier, less ex-
clusive.
The quarterly Meanjin Papers, founded in Brisbane, are shortly to be edited and published in Melbourne. The number just out (2/6) is of much more general interest than the last. There22' wh='23' class='S3'> is a discussion of "Personalism," a new-old doctrine to the effect that organisation and individual develop- ment sooner or later become incom- patible. There is poetry by new names and a variety of comment on literary events and products-some solid, some lively, some timely. Miles Franklin is optimistic for Australian literature. Vance Palmer contributes a fine, sharp story of Spain.
Angry Penguins, though still in the toils of editorial controversy, has found room for a lot of new verse and a new sociological section. Of its 112 very large pages (5/) l8 give verdicts on Ern Malley, ranging from the English critic, Herbert Read, to H. M. and Dorothy Green. Read's cable (there was a long following letter) runs:
I TOO WOULD HAVE BEEN DE- CEIVED BY ERN MALLEY BUT HOAXER HOISTED BY OWN PETARD HAS TOUCHED OFF UN- CONSCIOUS SOURCES INSPIRA- TION WORK TOO SOPHISTICATED BUT HAS ELEMENTS OF GENUINE
POETRY.
One Penguin has discovered five paint- ings by an unknown Australian primi- tive "HD," an apparently quite un- trained painter of city and country
scenes, all abounding m bicycles It is thought they may have been painted 10 to 30 years ago They were origin- ally owned by Professor Tipper, an ec- centric travelling showman and trick cyclist well known in many parts of Australia There are also illustrations, art criticisms, and a set of translations from the Spanish poet, Garcia Lorca
The Jindyworobak Anthology, 1944 (Georgian House, 3/6) has 60 pages of poetry representing all Australian schools, and including plenty of good reading The editor, W Hart-Smith, is against "art for art's sake" and for "art with a humanitarian object "
Poetry quarterly ((Adelaide, 2/), m policy akin to the lastnamed, has eight of its 23 pages devoted to two poems on Alcheringa (accent on the E), the aboriginal "dream-spirit of long ago still abiding in Australia," one of them22' class='S3'> a new poetical manifesto by Ingamells
In No 17 of Barjai (1/3), a small Bris- bane literary magazine for contributors from all states and the services, be- tween the ages of 14 and 21, the shadow of the war and the unknown future lies across every poem The young poet's reactions to it vary in resolution (though more widely in poetical quality) from this
So let us live and love and laugh while
still we can.
Nor cry that tumult is the doom of
22' class='S3'> man
to this
The way is clear For men is become
known
The road now rising from our grief
the stone
The mind exploring found but misery, Now has no use if we want mastery
"BUSH FIRE" is on oil painting by Russell Drysdale, from the "Society of Artists' Book, 1944" (Sydney: Ure Smith, 7/6). This ahhual has 60-odd illustrations of paintings and drawings, mostly by Australians of the "contem- porary" movement, and articles on travelling exhibitions, the Dobell case, artists' materials, sculpture, pottery, stained glass, the current revival of public interest in the arts, and the Encouragement of Art Movement. In an article,22' class='S3'> on Au tralian pointing today, Lieutenant Edgar Kaufmann, now serving wjtj^
the US forces in the SW Pacific, foimerly of the New York Museum of Modern Art, soys that to him Australian painting "seems wonderful." "But," he goes on, "both in the US and Australia we find our countries going through an heroic struggle which will for ever shape the destinies and daily, lives of our citizens - and few worthwhile painters recording the event under official auspices." Some of the painters, says Kaufmann, are trying to do what photographers can do a thousand times better. He asks where those are who
can make the misery and glory of war alive and real on canvas and paper?