On being an Irish Writer
SIR,—Mr. Sean O'Faolain's lively article reminds me of an incident which occurred when I was in America recently. I was very taken aback when a young novelist said to me, " There's nothing to write about in America, What subjects are there ? Everything has been treated." I was taken aback because it seemed to me that America had, increasingly, a great deal to write about--there seemed to me so many frontiers even today of race, colour, habit, that England, in comparison, seemed all of a piece—even " class," the perennial subject for the English novelist, is disappearing. The American novelist can still tackle the fictional biography without embarrassment; while we, I believe, because of changed social conditions turn more naturally to the symbolism that Mr. O'Faolain says is the result of exile. His article needs bringing up to date. It was only possible to be an exile when there was a consciousness of a European cultural tradition. It was its existence that made the shadow-jumping possible.—Yours
faithfully, P. H. NEWBY. Hedgerley, A mersham Way, Little Chalfont, Bucks.
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