In response to:

Down There on a Visit from the June 28, 1979 issue

To the Editors:

While Frank Kermode [NYR, June 28] has every right to describe the book he would like to have written about decadence, he has no right at all to reproach me for not having written it for him.

Richard Gilman

New York City

Frank Kermode replies:

I didn’t mean to reproach Mr. Gilman, simply to explain why his book was so disappointing.

This Issue

September 27, 1979