4 NOVEMBER 1955, Page 22

'THE CAPTAIN'S WOMAN'

SIR,—Walter Clemons says that the stories in Neil Bell's book The Captain's Woman are trash. What are his qualifications for saying so? I'd like to know, as some of the best critics of English writing have said Neil Bell could not write a bad book if he tried.

'All in a dozen pages,' says Walter Clemons of one story. Why not? Is quantity the hall- mark of quality?

There are thirty-five stories in The Captain's Woman. Some of them are good stuff. What about 'Removers Ltd.,' which .I read some time back in Argosy? Argosy does not publish trash.

It would be more helpful if Walter Clemons showed a little charity by praising the best rather than venting his spleen on what he con- sidered the worst.—Yours faithfully,