29 OCTOBER 1932, Page 42

A Radio Review .

critics. Why is it that book reviewing by radio seems to put such a deadening hand on a critic ? Even Mr. Forster is already failing to live up to expectations: His talk last week sounded as if he were addressing an audience of waxworks. Would it not be better to give up the effort of groping for an unknown audience altogether and concentrate on a frank, personal opinion 7 But I fancy Mr. Chesterton will have less difficulty in envisioning an audience ; and he can hardly fail to be provocative. On the same evening Mr. Desmond MacCarthy is to continue the lively series,

To an Unnamed Listener," by addressing himself to a day-dreamer. If this series maintains the stimulating level set by Messrs. Priestley and Nicolson, it should easily become the most popular series of the season. I liked the way in which Mr. Nicolson refrained from following Mr. Priestley's example of building up a guy out of a mass of generalizations. Scorning rudeness, he took the Low Brow seriously and concentrated on logic instead of on abuse. One other talk I would dra-w your attention to next week-L-Mr. -Vernon Bartlett's broadcast from Berlin. He is to give us his first- hand impressions of current opinion in Germany.