(2 of 3)
Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Sir / Given the deep-rooted hatreds in Northern Ireland, a solution to its problems within the present demographic framework seems impossible. Why not try a population transfer of either Catholics or Protestants? The transfer of Catholics to the Irish Republic would leave a small but more homogeneous and justifiable British substate in Ulster. Alternatively, the transfer of staunch Protestant Unionists to Britain would make possible a united Ireland. The difficulties would be small compared with those that have plagued Northern Ireland for the past 50 years.
JOSEPH M. CURRAN
Syracuse
Sir / TIME'S recent story on the I.R.A. is the best all-round account of the history of the current resistance in Northern Ireland. I want to commend you for not slandering the bravest men in Northern Ireland as "terrorists" or "murderers."
The Unionist Party and the Orange Order have too long exacerbated the differences between Irishmen, Catholic or Protestant. Thank you for telling the truth about the intolerable repression in Northern Ireland and the men who would end it.
RAYMOND O'KANE
New York City
Sir / British troops are in Northern Ireland solely to protect the lives of all inhabitants there, whatever their religion. This part of Ireland is British, and I feel it is time for you to realize what British means.
ARTHUR P. LYON
Coral Gables, Fla.
Sir /1 am wondering whether the Irish are going to accept a country handed to them by murderers and robbers, assuming that the I.R.A. were successful. Ireland is controlled by the church, and morality and righteousness are said to be characteristic of the Irish. To blow up people is immoral; yet the "moralistic" Irish government permits the activities of the I.R.A. by permitting its existence.
The Irish government had better redefine morality.
A.M. SMITH
Dublin
Disturbing View
Sir / Retiring Music Critic Winthrop Sargeant [Jan. 10] deserves an award of sorts for his incredible string of questionable judgments and false assumptions. His commendable lauding of Beverly Sills cannot begin to offset the remarkable prediction of future obscurity for Stravinsky and the naming of Richard Strauss as "greatest composer of the 20th century."
Needless to say, to be hated is the mark of both good and bad critics. Sargeant's black-white view of criticism is disturbing, and is as erroneous as his feeling that music criticism has not much of a future. As long as music exists, so will accompanying thought regarding its worth.
CHRISTOPHER R. PIGNOLI
Music Critic
The Pittsburgh Forum
Pittsburgh
Sir / In reading your article on Winthrop Sargeant, I was once again reminded of critics' serious misunderstanding of twelve-tone and serial music. The twelve-tone system does not merely express violence but rather expresses the value of abstraction. If we feel violent when listening to a work by Schoenberg, we are assigning meanings to that work that are not really there.
For me and a few others, the twelve-tone system offers a rational solution to the problem of creating a new and significant musical language.
THOMAS E. COOK
San Diego
The Spirits Wait