Novel complaint
Sir: Peter Ackroyd's review (June 29) of Stanley Middleton's Holiday has achieved the improbable: I shall never read The Spectator again until it changes or promotes its literary editor to clerk. He describes Middleton's dialogue as "self-consciously mimetic, and therefore flat and stale:" Mimetic,it is — as anyone familiar with either Nottingham or the East Coast will know; self-conscious it demonstrably is not — and never has been. Mr Middleton has written fourteen novels and the majority of them have received considerable praise for their evocation of particular people. He has never been accused (if such an accusation exists) of 'self-consciousness'. It's the old problem of an unqualified reviewer reviewing his superior. Anyone who can write: ". . they will read as heavily as lead and be almost as common" should realise that lead is not common at all. Perhaps Mr Ackroyd would be better off in your sadly declining paper reporting events on the Metal Exchange. Barry Cole 18 Great Percy Street, London WC I
Note: Barry Cole was The Spectator's novel reviewer in 1969 and 1970. — Editor, The Spectator.
Previous page
