Madam, - Frank Litton (March 16th) makes valid points.
My own particular bugbear is the tendency for book reviewers to use their space to take side-swipes at other books, as in the recent review of a book on the Dresden bombings where the writer stated that the critically lauded Berlin by Anthony Beevor left some readers cold because of the exhaustive military detail. How this comment added to one's understanding and appreciation of the book being reviewed was beyond me.
As for cinema reviews, long gone are the days when you could expect to find out if a film was well scripted, shot, scored, edited or directed and if the actors were up to the job. Instead one gets masses of extraneous information, none of it useful in determining if the film is actually any good. Witness the widespread praise in Ireland for In America and the lukewarm reviews elsewhere to see just how far the art of objective reviewing has been degraded.
Finally, how about a moratorium on the use of "controversial" and "masterpiece"? - Yours, etc.,
ROBERT P. CHESTER, Scholarstown Road, Dublin 16.
Madam, - Frank Litton asks if the Dr Kevin Whelan mentioned in Tom Dunne's lively book on Wexford and 1798 is the same man who, in his view, harshly reviewed the book. But, I would ask, did Frank Litton read the same review as I did?
Far from being closed and censorious, I thought Whelan's was an absorbing assessment of what is itself a fascinating book, as well as a valuable addition to an important debate on historiography and revisionism. It was the sort of involved book review which is all too rare on our island. What would Mr Litton prefer, an anodyne rapturous review that would be quickly forgotten? - Yours, etc.,
EAMON DELANEY, Pembroke Road, Dublin 4.