An eclectic group of peers

IN his review of “Essential Saroyan” (Book Review, Sept. 11), Jonathan Kirsch quotes William E. Justice as asserting that William Saroyan belongs in the company of Kahlil Gibran, Dylan Thomas, J.D. Salinger, C.S. Lewis, the Brontes, Dostoevsky, Jack Kerouac and Sylvia Plath.

OK, I give up. Just what “company” encompasses Kerouac and the Brontes, much less Dostoevsky and C.S. Lewis? The company of people who have written books about stuff?

Maybe I just can’t connect the dots, but to paraphrase “Sesame Street,” at least two of these things are not like the other.

JESS WINFIELD

Hollywood