Dear Editor
Dear Editor Wilfred Owen Phoebe Pettingell's "Reassessing Wilfred Owen" (NL, June 11) does not shatter my illusions about that poet, even though the appearance of his Complete Poems and Fragments,...
...According to him, "common sense" suggests that financial aid to Walter Mondale's delegates should not be equated with aid to Mondale himself...
...Mediacracy" (NL, May 28...
...Chicago James Schwartz India Darryl D'Monte says that Mrs...
...Since the Republicans have much more cash than their Democratic rivals do, any ambiguity in these matters on balance helps them...
...Coffeyville, Kan...
...The reason is that I have written perhaps a thousand poems in my lifetime and only one is good...
...By the way, if Jackson really is embarrassed he has yet to say so...
...Does your author suppose that by implicitly comparing Jackson's relationship with Farrakhan to Mondale's, he can gloss over the Democratic Party's internal discord, which is rather likely to re-elect Ronald Reagan come November...
...Gandhi and many other politicians in her country cannot understand that "India's strength—rather than its weakness— lies precisely in the amazing diversity of its people" ("After the Golden Temple Assault," NL, June 11...
...Even if D'Monte were right, however, this would not make India's cultural riches a source of political power...
...Television has surely debased our country's political life...
...To hear Tyler tell the story, one might suppose that the Nation of Islam's chief was on one side of the trenches and the two Democratic Presidential contenders were on the other side...
...I must admit that I, too, have some difficulty grasping the point...
...But a modern national state, such as India pretends to be, must appeal to the shared cultural values and collective loyalties of its people...
...One of Tyler's arguments struck me as less than convincing, however...
...in its great days, it relied partly on force and partly on cynical calculations of mutual advantage...
...An old-fashioned empire like that of the Mughals did not rest on a common way of life or tradition of rule...
...The subcontinent's problems cannot be solved within the framework of a state whose existence is the biggest problem of all...
...True, this variety does make Indian restaurants and exhibits of Indian art more interesting than they would be if they were limited to the food and output of a single region...
...Houston Peter Clark...
...Tyler's argument is not wholly implausible as a debating point...
...Pettingell's review does startle me no end, however...
...Had I written "Anthem for Doomed Youth" there would then be two...
...But it would not in the long run benefit those causes he himself wants to promote...
...Don v. R. Dresner Farrakhan Why does Gus Tyler think that Louis Farrakhan is "playing a provocative game to embarrass both Jackson and Mondale" ("Mondale's Chances in November," NL, June 11...
...Like the Soviet Union, India is not a nation but a "prison of nations...
...Dear Editor Wilfred Owen Phoebe Pettingell's "Reassessing Wilfred Owen" (NL, June 11) does not shatter my illusions about that poet, even though the appearance of his Complete Poems and Fragments, edited by Jon Stallworthy, seems to have had that effect on her...
...Perhaps, also, "Khalistan" and other such areas could not survive on their own, although the correctness of that claim appears to be rather less certain...
...otherwise it will have to depend on violence and threats of it, much as the Congress (I) government is now doing...
...In the particular case under discussion—New York State's 1984 Presidential primary, where in some districts several different groups contended for the privilege of voting for the former Vice President in San Francisco—this distinction may be legitimate...
...In fact, much of the funding for voter-registration drives, state and local campaigns, and the like also benefits the head of the ticket...
...Los Angeles Edward Banks Funding I heartily agreed with most of Gus Tyler's "Democracy vs...
...But in any district that had one such slate, money spent on its behalf would be spent on the candidate...
Vol. 67 • July 1984 • No. 13
