EILEEN MURPHY,
Sir, - Indirectly, your paper has given me one of the best laughs I have had during this miserably wet summer.
At the Guardian Hay Literary Festival, Poor Sebastian Barry has been telling of the trauma he has suffered from having his play Hinterland criticised by The Irish Times (obviously he is referring to Eileen Battersby's review). According to the Guardian's edition of June 8th, he actually considered "fleeing the country for safety", saying: "If I had been a Russian writer 20 years ago, I would have been stone cold dead or in Siberia in quick order".
And now the poor pet has taken his "family into self-imposed exile".
My great thanks to Ms Battersby. - Yours, etc.,
EILEEN MURPHY, Belgarve Place, Wellington Road, Cork.
... ... * ... * ... * ... ...
Sir, - Sebastian Barry is reported to have been extremely upset by the criticism in Ireland of his play Hinterland. Perhaps he may be consoled by reflecting on the words of the Finnish composer Sibelius, who observed: "Nobody ever erected a statue to a critic." - Yours, etc.,
ROBERT GREACEN, Sandymount, Dublin 4.