Dear Editor
DEAR EDITOR DRAPER I want to express my gratitude for Theodore Draper's persistent and luminously probing explorations into the officially fortified and densely benighted reaches of...
...Should this go without mention...
...Simple analysis easily demonstrates this activity to be an ancient device whose obvious purpose is reproduction, and therefore perpetuation of life itself...
...Morgan's approach to the matter consists in blinding oneself to any aspect that does not neatly fit into the fossilized formulae so beloved of doctrinaire liberals...
...Dominican policies...
...The "root of the mischief" appears to be the Justice's attack upon obscenity itself...
...New York City Lewis Galantiere Charles Ruas replies: I agree entirely with Lewis Galantiere's observations...
...The fact that this decision comes to us by way of tradition, both social and religious, does not automatically condemn it...
...But why should not society decide that sexual activity shall be a private, personal matter forbidden to public scrutiny, and only legitimized within the confines of marriage...
...Yet it can be stated that in enforcing secrecy, in proscribing public display, in denying this "safety valve," society attempts to channel a powerful biological drive into a system of thinking that supports family living...
...On this occasion Draper's efforts were, quite literally, historic, for because of his work alone, liberal intellectuals came to recognize that the blame for Cuban events was not primarily Washington's...
...Yet, by some curious phenomenon, sex is experienced in human consciousness as some sort of pleasurable fun-game, a pursuit dedicated to enjoyment, a jolly birth-right which must not be denied...
...Is that not worth doing...
...Easy access does not destroy the ability of the human imagination to construct an edifice of fantasy upon a physiological need...
...Does social enforcement of rules of secrecy in sex strengthen the structure of the family...
...In the case of La Batarde, the translation from the French by Derek Coltman does excellent service to both the style and purpose of the novel...
...It is not irrational to believe that a tradition can have merit if it survived the accumulated experience of centuries of civilized living...
...A full understanding of this matter requires an elucidation of the structure and function of the human brain which is not suited to this discussion...
...The essential question here can thus be stated...
...Relief of tension can be obtained at the price of social sobriety...
...His rather different services in relation to the Dominican affair are equally historic and equally patriotic...
...It is clear from what he said that the French original must have demanded of the translator a copious English vocabulary, a sense of rhythm and style, a degree of empathy, a professional scruple, that deserved mention...
...And this dichotomy, this separation of function from consciousness, not Justice Brennan's decision, constitutes in fact the "root of the mischief...
...Avoca, N. Y. Harold Koretz TRANSLATORS Charles Ruas wrote a brilliant review in your issue of April 11 of La Batarde by Violette Leduc...
...I first encountered Draper's reportage in 1960 as a college sophomore infatuated-as were most of my politically conscious associates and politically articulate professors-with the ostensible promise of Fidel Castro's regime in Cuba...
...The translation, that is, offered no impediment to his reviewing the book as an expression of "art as a lens to focus upon (the author's) life...
...Justice Brennan's decision appears to contradict what some consider simple rules of rational discourse, but does not sex itself defy rationality...
...If reviewers praised the good ones and damned the poor ones, and did so invariably, a step would be taken towards ensuring status and livelihood for the first, and the progressive elimination of the second...
...Should not the translator, who lives by his devotion to his craft, be given the satisfaction of recognition of his capacityand public evidence to win him further commissions from publishers...
...DEAR EDITOR DRAPER I want to express my gratitude for Theodore Draper's persistent and luminously probing explorations into the officially fortified and densely benighted reaches of U.S...
...Should not the publisher be told that he employed a worthy translator, the public be told that a version by this hand is a warrant of first class work...
...The only thing seen here is the proscribing of the written or spoken word...
...The basis of our society is the teaching of discipline to the young in the family system...
...Failure here, sometimes called delinquency, can frequently be traced to defects in family life during childhood...
...Los Angeles Richard G. Watson OBSCENITY Richard Morgan's credulity is taxed by Justice Brennan's decision re obscenity, since it violates the principle of condemning speech only if it leads to anti-social action ("The Court and Obscenity," NL, April 11...
...One hears on every side complaint that translations are mostly inept, that good translators are scarcer than good writers...
...Therefore, society in defense of its values, does have the right to interest itself in what strengthens or weakens the family...
...And of course everybody knows that only the evil reactionaries want to do that...
...Sex itself must be examined...
Vol. 49 • May 1966 • No. 11
