25 AUGUST 2001, Page 27

Unfair to Tennessee

From Mr James Hogan Sir: Frederick Raphael's review of the Selected Letters of Tennessee Williams, Volume I (Books, 11 August) is a crude exercise in character assassination which reads like a poison-pen letter (faggot', 'queen'. etc., etc.) to the playwright himself. Raphael even denounces him for drawing incident from real life to nourish his plays. Does this mean that in Raphael's own books every detail is newly minted, and bears no relation to real people, places and events? If so. it goes some way to explain why Williams is the greater writer.

James Hogan

Publisher, Oberon Books, London N7