14 FEBRUARY 1964, Page 16

SIR,—Anthony Ward may be right in thinking that Amis 'places'

Roger Micheldene less than he would like to be thought to. But he misuses the quotation he offers about 'nonsense.' The point is not that Micheldene dismisses 'all that the mind can offer' as 'liberal nonsense' etc. It is that he is unable to be sure that nonsense is nonsense unless he can place it in one of the pigeonholes, 'liberal nonsense' etc. In this, he is much more blinkered than Jim ever was. The latter would certainly never have fallen for Micheldene's—shall we say'?— lansenite-masochistic nonsense' on p. 91.

J. C. MAXWELL

Department of English:, University of Newcastle- upon-Tyne