Sir, – Lucy Sweeney Byrne ("Frankenstein: a postmodern novel written long before modernism", September 26th) proclaims Frankenstein to be a "postmodern" novel, avant la lettre. She may have a point, but she should consider that experiment and instability were built into the novel form from the start. Fielding's Joseph Andrews? Cervantes's Don Quixote? And how about The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, by a man from Clonmel, Laurence Sterne? All written long before Frankenstein. All of which show that period concepts like "postmodernism" need to be taken with a pinch of salt. – Yours, etc,
CONOR McCARTHY,
Monkstown,
Co Dublin.