MORE THAN A GOOD READ?

Buchwald’s autobiography, “Leaving Home,” may be all that W. P. Kinsella says it is (Book Review, Feb. 6)--but is it Art?

AL HIX, HOLLYWOOD

A SHADOWY PORTRAYAL

In his featured article, “Shadowlands: A Bookish Film” (Book Review, Jan. 23), William Griffin takes a poke at author J. R. R. Tolkien that is undeserved. In 20 years of reading books by and about the author, I have yet to come across this so-called “oft-expressed view” of Tolkien’s that any book written faster than his own books couldn’t possibly be good.

It is no secret that privately Tolkien disliked Joy Davidman Gresham. But to depict him in the movie (in the guise of the fictional Christopher Riley) as being publicly rude to Joy is a gross distortion by the filmmakers of the kind of man Tolkien was. Humphrey Carpenter, Tolkien’s biographer, wrote of the man’s “natural courtesy,” which extended well beyond Tolkien’s circle of family and friends to include myriad devoted fans of his books who appeared, uninvited, on his doorstep at all hours of the day.

Tolkien’s friendship with C. S Lewis was extraordinarily complex. But the friendship did have its ups and downs, and when it cooled, there were distinct reasons for it. To again quote Carpenter’s biography: “Some of (Tolkien’s) feelings may be explained . . . by (his) resentment of Lewis’s expectation that his friends should pay court to his new wife--whereas in the (1930s) Lewis, very much the bachelor, had liked to ignore the fact that his friends had wives to go home to. But there was more to it than that. It was almost as if Tolkien felt betrayed by the marriage, resented the intrusion of a woman into his friendship with Lewis--just as Edith (Tolkien) had resented Lewis’s intrusion into her marriage. Ironically it was Edith who became friends with Joy Davidman.”

The complexities of the friendship, not only between Tolkien and Lewis, but among all of the members of the Inklings, are barely touched upon in “Shadowlands.” Any exploration of the various relationships within the group would itself require an entire film--perhaps two. That being the case, I think the filmmakers, as well as Mr. Griffin, should have foregone the potshots at Tolkien if they had no intention of explaining his association with Lewis beyond a surface level.

PAULA DISANTE, GLENDALE

RACISM’S DEEP ROOTS

Regarding Richard Eder’s review of “Brazil” by John Updike (Book Review, Feb. 6). This review is a perfect example of how deeply rooted racism is in American society. In writing about the black Tristao who has been turned white by magic, the reviewer writes: “His primal energy recedes into a neurotic brooding.” Again, the black male is portrayed as some beast. I don’t know if the perpetrator is your reviewer or Mr. Updike, and I don’t care.

And how about this? Isabel, the white girl, turned black by the same magic: “Isabel’s erotic adoration gives way to a matter-of-fact raunchiness.”

PATRICK SUMLIN, LOS ANGELES

THE HISTORICAL EYE

Regarding your Feb. 6 In Brief review by Erika Taylor of “The Inner Quarters”: Your reviewer chose to criticize the author of “The Inner Quarters” for “trying to look at Chinese culture during the Sung Period without the framework of contemporary Western ideas.”

(Taylor quoted the author urging readers to “set aside these modern readings of the symbolism of foot binding and to try to see how . . . both men and women . . . could have seen tiny bound feet as symbols of beauty rather than subjection.”)

Far from being a criticism, this should be a description of a professional historian. The goal of history is not to smugly judge another time but to try to understand how it really was. It is a mortal sin, and the certain mark of bad historical writing, to insist upon viewing another period through the distorting prism of our “superior” ideas and knowledge. Yet Taylor goes further. She does not merely wish the author to be judge. She wants the past condemned for its ignorance of our beliefs.

WILLIAM M. PLACHY, SAN MARCOS

EQUAL TERMS

To answer Donna M. Wilson’s letter of Feb. 6 on the term for the male equivalent of nymphomaniac. The term is satyr, which is one who has satyriasis , which is excessive or abnormal sexual craving in the male.

There is an equal term for both male and females who have excessive sexual feelings. No sexism at all.

WILLIAM HUNT, BALDWIN PARK

INFORMATION SOUGHT

For the authorized biography of Julia Child, I am looking for any documents, letters, personal experiences and anecdotes about Julia McWilliams Child and/or her husband, Paul Cushing Child.

NOEL RILEY FITCH, 11829 MAYFIELD AVE., LOS ANGELES 90049

For a study of early 20th-Century women instrumental musicians, I would like to make contact with former students or anyone with reminiscences or documents concerning Fanny Bloomfield-Zeisler (1863-1927) or Ethel Leginska (1886-1970).

BETH MACLEOD, 525 SOUTH FANCHER, MT. PLEASANT, MI. 48858