In response to:
Picking Up the Pieces from the February 23, 1978 issue
To the Editors:
A monkey might have done a better job of reviewing my book (Refiner’s Fire: The Life & Adventures of Marshall Pearl, a Foundling, NYR, February 23) than did Roger Sale. Someone should teach him (Sale) the difference between Romance and Romanticism, the ability that I.A. Richards calls “translation,” and how to read a book without subjecting it to the aggressive frisk of his own politics. I would not, however, attempt to convert him to my idea of a decent intuitiveness anymore than I would try to resurrect the dead or teach an ant to dance. And certainly he has a right to his views, which, for all I know, may be correct. But he suggests that I am a bigot, and that my advice is to “avoid…blacks.” This is an unwarranted personal slander and a terrible lie. There is no place in my book where this is recommended, either directly or indirectly, and I would like that to go on record in your pages. It is already on record in the book.
Mark Helprin
New York City
This Issue
April 20, 1978
This Issue
April 20, 1978
