Theory Institute at UC Irvine

I want to thank you for your brief report on the Critical Theory Institute, which is about to be established at UC Irvine. As you indicate, it is another sign of the strong support the university administration is giving to research in the humanities and social sciences, and the fact that the institute will be located at Irvine is certainly one more indication of the strength of the faculty on our campus.

The article, however, contains one misleading statement, which you attribute to me and which I would like to correct. In response to a question on whether the Vietnam War could be used as an example of a possible practical application of theoretical investigation, I agreed that it certainly was one possible application among many, and that in fact one of the members of the group was completing a study of the way the war had been represented in fiction, the mass media and film, and of the ideological effects of the various forms of representation.

I at no time suggested that the institute as a whole was planning on focusing on this particular example.

DAVID CARROLL

Director,

Program in Critical Theory

UC Irvine