The Lonely One
Sir:
Your story of Boris Pasternak was a direct and inspiring piece of literature. You have never failed to give TIME readers a comprehensive report of newsmaking people. May you continue with this good reporting.
KATHLEEN T. MIGNANO
Staten Island, N.Y.
Sir:
It's a wonder the Republicans aren't trying to get Pasternak out of Russia and run him for President. He's a natural for them. He has a gift for platitudinous, humanistic twaddle designed for the female and fuzzy-male vote. As for his book, it's a conversation piece or gift for the culture snob.
E. H. LEONI New York City
Sir:
It seems a fit time to point out the rather embarrassing fact that the U.S. has really no right to look askance at Russia for her abominable treatment of Pasternak when the American Government is guilty of keeping Ezra Pound under lock and key during twelve years, for political dissension.
CHARLES MARTELL Paris
Sir:
Your cover painting showing Pasternak's loosened red tie, the thorny forest surrounding the gaunt, weathered face, the serene and snowy hair rising through the turbulence of the stormy sky portray a picture of symbolic beauty. The smallness of the figure in the corner confronting the immense forest, and the craggy jutting power of Pasternak's face convey the esteem that both Artist Chapin and America feel for the unyielding integrity of this lone man who has profoundly shaken the complacency of East and West.
JOHN MCCLOSKEY
Philadelphia
Sir:
I was shocked at the cover. The greatest kindness to Pasternak would be not to print one further word about him. He wants to stay and die in Russia.
ELEANOR HENTZ
Brunswick, Me.
Dial O for Ouch
Sir:
The news of American Telephone & Telegraph Co.'s decision [to split its stock] not only hit Wall Street like a bombshell, but it hit me the same way. All I've ever heard about A.T. & T. and New England T. & T. has been that they're losing money and rates have to go up. As a lifetime consumer, may I now expect a reduction in rates?
PAUL W. LEHMANN
Dublin, N.H.
Art Criticism
Sir:
Sculptor David McFall's statue of Winston Churchill [Dec. 15] is an impressive synthesis of the comic strip character, Alley Oop, and Churchill.
ROBERT I. ADRIANCE Orono, Me.
UNESCO's Palace
Sir:
It infuriates me to see the horrible mural by Pablo Picasso in the UNESCO headquarters in Paris [Dec. 8]. And if British Sculptor Henry Moore's Reclining Figure was carved out of travertine from Michelangelo's old quarry at Carrara, this is certainly the only possible connection it could have with real art. It might just as well have been carved out of reinforced concrete or, better still, left out altogether.
ANNE S. RITCHIE Atlanta
Sir:
I wonder if UNESCO will do a much better job, now that they have a $9,000,000 palace to house their 1,080 permanent employees and carry on their operations. U.S. taxpayers, with no voice in the approval or disapproval of the expenditure, have paid a goodly portion of the cost.
WILLIAM R. WEAVER West Trenton, NJ.
Smiling Through the Glaze
Sir: