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WILLIAM S. CLARK, M.D. President
The Arthritis Foundation Denver
Specter of Sylvia
Sir: The specter of my teens was that Mysterious Upstart Sylvia Plath [June 10]. 1 was one of the also-rans who copped local awards and got published on everybody's amateur page, while Miss Plath carried off the big prizes. In college we were haunted by her, too, as she plunged into print in Mademoiselle and became a Seventeen fashion editor in their annual contest. Then she won a Fulbright. She had everything except an appreciation of life, even at its worst, and of her own possibilities.
(MRS.) MYRA DECHAINE Los Angeles
Sir: For TIME to state that Sylvia Plath "adds a powerful voice to the rising chorus of American bards who practice poetry as abreaction" (aberration?) is to sanction what today is the "in" thing to dp—lift the lid off the cesspool and revel in its bad odors. Spare us the ravings of the "confessional poet": poetry is no place for psychotic self-purgation. Miss Plath is typical of those who, in the words of Poet GustaV Davidson, have "corrupted poetry by emptying it of music, magic and meaning."
FRANCESCA GULI Rochester Four, the Hard Way
Sir: TIME loads the dice inexcusably in its report [June 17] on London's reaction to Osborne's play, A Bond Honoured. Writes TIME: "London's critics cast one look at the tasteless mayhem . . . and held their noses." Of the twelve major newspaper critics, at least four held their breath. Harold Hobson in the Sunday Times said of Osborne: "He is not only our most important dramatist; he is also our chief prophet." According to Ronald Bryden of the Observer, "the effect of A Bond Honoured in performance is marvelously theatrical." Alan Brien of the Sunday Telegraph thought it "a serious, ambitious and valuable play which matures in the memory and fertilizes the imagination," while for Milton Shulman in the Evening Standard, it was "a stunning parable with a magnificent theatrical impact." Perhaps TIME will honor its bond with fair reportage by letting these voices be heard.
KENNETH TYNAN London
Stoking the Fires
Sir: Thank you for setting us straight on Leopold Stokowski [June 3]. His genius has been far more profitable to the musical world than his few past antics have been abusive. Presently, all we are asked to contend with are his Dionysian method of conducting (which is, for many, a more valuable visual aid than some are willing to admit) and certain liberties he may take with an orchestral score. Those who may feel they are not supposed to like such things need to remember what Brahms once said to Conductor Arthur Nikisch after Nikisch's fiery interpretation of the Brahms Violin Concerto: "So—it can be done that way too."
(THE REV.) ROBERT B. MERTEN First Presbyterian Church Coudersport, Pa.