16 OCTOBER 2004, Page 40

What Julie misses

From Marianne Pitts Sir: Julie Burchill's review of Hell [-lath No Fury (Books, 2 October) reveals that she has always confused love with lust. She has never felt the pain, akin to the pain of bereavement, which accompanies the betrayal and/or abandonment of a lover. It is not exclusive to women; men feel it too, even if they are less likely to write letters to the betrayer.

As she has neither experience nor imagination, much of Western literature must be quite incomprehensible to her. How sad. Asking her to review this book is like asking a deaf journalist to comment on a concert, or a colour-blind critic to analyse an exhibition of Impressionists.

Marianne Pius

Leamington Spa, Warwickshire