Dear Editor
Dear Editor PLO Every American must be grateful lo Bayard Rustin ("Black-Jewish Relations," NL, September 10) for his effort to show the artificiality of the cleavage between American Blacks and...
...Rather, one should ask: Is the theme large enough and weighty enough to justify a lifelong engagement with it...
...Literary history, however, tells us another story...
...Peace with the Arabs cannot be obtained unless the Palestinians cooperate in its establishment...
...Thematic obsessions and art are not mutually exclusive...
...Newark, N.J...
...The Palestinians will cooperate only under the leadership of the PLO...
...New York City Andrew Goslow Obsessions Daphne Merkin criticizes Philip Roth for not developing themes that "engage him beyond the obsessional" ("Roth's Promise," NL, October 8...
...While I don't quarrel with the author's account, I do think the adverse reaction to Miss Lilian's statement, plus the "subsequent national media atten-ion," was unfortunate and unfair—a clear case of blaming the messenger for the bad news...
...General Accounting Office's recommendation that the deficit-ridden Postal Service shut down 12,000 rural post offices ("The Little Red Post Office on Pike Street," NL, October 8...
...refuse to talk to its leaders...
...Walter Richardson Hope Conservatives have relished pointing out that although Right-wing dictatorships have often given way to democratic governments, Left-wing dictatorships never have...
...Inflationary times dictate that Washington cut back wherever possible...
...Now, Mihajlo Mihajlov offers us —and the Yugoslav people—hope that this may not always remain the case ("After Tito: Prospects for Democracy," NL, October 8...
...The President's mother merely articulated a concern most of us share...
...Berkeley Carl Landauer Rural Cuts Unlike Richard J. Margolis, I see nothing unseemly in the U.S...
...Boston Louis Morris Miss Lillian Brad Pokorny's excellent report on New Hampshire's Hillsboro County Democratic Picnic ("Portentous Picnic," NL, October 8), mentioned Miss Lillian Carter's now famous "gaffe" concerning Senator Edward Kennedy's possible Presidential candidacy: '"If he does run, I wish him all the luck in the world...
...New York City Frank Stark...
...The proper question, then, is not how many themes a writer has, or even how often he returns to them...
...1 hope to goodness nothing happens to him, I really do.'" "That [comment]," Pokorny observes, "stunned the crowd of about 1,000 Democrats and 200 reporters and even drew scattered boos...
...He seems to assume that Israel is right in regarding its refusal to talk to the PLO—or to consent to American talks with the PLO—as a "non-negotiable item...
...She should have been applauded for bringing the issue out into the open, not booed...
...We seldom hear forecasts so optimistic and so well substantiated...
...A number of great writers addressed only one or two concerns—Dostoevsky, Chekhov, Kafka, and Camus come immediately to mind...
...Dear Editor PLO Every American must be grateful lo Bayard Rustin ("Black-Jewish Relations," NL, September 10) for his effort to show the artificiality of the cleavage between American Blacks and American Jews, and for his emphasis on the common interest of both groups in fighting and eventually eliminating racism—an interest that vastly overshadows in importance anything that could set Blacks against Jews or vice-versa...
...This is especially true of The Ghost Writer, the reviewer says, for although the author "had his finger on a truly compelling drama," the action "was confined to a very small arena...
...It is time that he dared to move on...
...Congratulations...
...But what Israel needs is peace with the Arab world, not only with Egypt...
...There is only one point on which 1 have to disagree with Rustin...
...Rural folks are no more deserving of special consideration than city dwellers, who are currently bearing the brunt of the budget reductions...
...iRoth] has lingered with the battles that are familiar to him and to us...
...Surely not by Israeli bombings in Lebanon...
...How can the PLO be induced to take a favorable attitude toward peace, and to establish the prerequisites of peaceful negotiations by renouncing terrorism and recognizing Israel's right to exist, if Israel and the U.S...
Vol. 62 • October 1979 • No. 20
