THE MAIL

To the Editor of the Crimson:

It gives me considerable pleasure to see that the Crimson is supporting the return of Bernard De Voto to the Harvard Faculty, now that he has left his post as editor of The Saturday Review of Literature.

As a member of the Class of 1935 who had the good fortune to study under De Voto, and as a writer who has found his counsel and advice of good service since leaving college, I can only wish your cause success. Mr. De Voto brought English composition at Harvard back to the field's great days under Barrett Wendell and Copie; in addition, he gave a vigorous treatment of contemporary American literature, which seems highly important for the Harvard undergraduate. His courses were not "aesthetic" in appeal, and he taught no sterile tradition of polite letters. . . . It would be a great pity if Harvard should ignore or reject a man whom it has helped to make one of the significant American critics of the day. Hugh Mason Wade.