The Mail

To the Editors of the SUMMER NEWS:

Regarding an article by your Mr. John Leonard concerning one Morris, which appeared in your most recent issue: Mr. Leonard seems to be laboring under the same delusion as Mr. Frank Norris when he said, "We want life, not literature" (and probably succeeded in giving us neither). In order to affirm and support his contention regarding over-formalism in the teaching of letters at Harvard, Mr. Leonard laments the eclipse of Thomas Wolfe, who, it is affimed, had Something to Say. I am at present re-reading Look Homeward Angel: mere plot will not do! There is a prevalent cliche that writers like James, who concerned themselves deeply over this method, have less to say than the ravenous Wolfes of this world. May I suggest to Mr. Leonard that a sympathetic reading of Wings of the Dove would reveal to him much more about Human Nature, Morality, the Structure of Society, Psychology, and such like than the whole Wolfe corpus.... --Arnold M. Goldman '57