THE SQUARE DEAL
SIR,—If it is censorious of me to object when a writer who knows America as well as Professor Brogan does throws off a note passing on the sum of a trivial exasperation and some marginal vul- garities as a worth-while impression of the quality of life in Washington, I am not going to be abashed by being so described. As for Professor Brogan's description of me as having been 'a kind of poor man's Edmund Wilson,' I count it a great honour to be mentioned in the same breath as that writer. As I have always tried to reach his level of excellence I am as well aware as Professor Brogan is that I have never done more than trail along in his splen- did wake. I must say, however, that I am much happier to have done my best and succeeded in becoming a poor man's Edmund Wilson, than I would be if, having been as successful and intelligent an interpreter of things American as Professor Brogan has been, I allowed myself through laziness or inattention to drift into the position of a kind of instant Mrs. Trollope. The point, as Professor Brogan very well knows, is that the substance of American life is very much superior to the discon- certing vulgarity of its superficial detail, and that pictures of it which do not show what is below the surface arc, however entertaining, wholly misleading.
Wantage, Berks
ANTHONY WEST
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