To the Editors:

…The length, searching quality, and outspoken style of the reviews are all refreshing…. One can sense that each reviewer enjoyed writing his piece. I am particularly delighted by the apt and fresh titles, such as “To the Whitehouse,” “Albee Damned,” etc. Do keep it up, for there is ample room for such a mature book-review to balance the TLS

The only fault I can find is that there is somewhat too much cliquishness in the concentration of Partisan Review writers, sometimes even writing about other PR writers. They are a good bunch, but no other periodical ought to be made up so nearly exclusively of them. Before the war of 1914, the original Nouvelle Revue Francaise had an unwritten policy of not reviewing books written by its own editors, a rule from which regular contributors also suffered, I fear.

JUSTIN O’BRIEN

New York City

This Issue

June 1, 1963