Elitist anger

SO, the left-wing writer Jane Smiley “tapped her inner rage” to write her new book (“Good Faith Amid Bad Judgments,” by Shawn Hubler, June 17). What fuels such anger? Capitalists and conservatives.

Smiley lives in a posh Monterey ranch house, owns 12(!) horses and makes enough money from her books that she no longer has to teach -- all courtesy of a system she consistently slams. To top it off -- like demented icing on an already absurd cake -- she sees herself as a victim. It is breathtaking to observe the aggressive self-delusion of the liberal elite.

Ruth Clements

Los Angeles

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IN Peter Sellars’ smug graduation speech (“Impassioned Words for Class of ‘03,” by Scott Timberg, June 16), he claims that artists “are the only antidotes” to violence in the world. Oh? If thugs attacked him in a home-invasion robbery, would he sing an aria or call the cops, whose exercise of violence might save his life? .

Fortunately for Sellars, serious men and women in our government and military offer their time, and sometimes their lives, to keep us secure. And the corporations he mocks generate the wealth that eventually finds its way into the arts and allows him to mount his entertainments.

Sellars should be humble and grateful. Instead, he ridicules his benefactors like a spoiled brat.

Jim Bass

Thousand Oaks