Qualifications
Sir: Dr Sargent criticises the author of Samuel Taylor Coleridge: A Bondage of Opium for her lack of medical qualificadons. I would question Dr Sargant's literary qualifications, as well as his understanding of artistic creativity. His statements on the need for suffering to produce great poetry remind me of discussions in my high school English class.
As a psychiatrist he offers no further explanation of Coleridge's life; it is easier to label him as "peculiar" and "odd" and having a "basic personality weakness." (Is this how he explains his patients' behaviour?) Has there ever been a completely 'normal' person, for that matter?
It seems Dr Sargant's qualifications end with his having lived in Highgate.
Marti Parker Star Route, Canton, New York 13617
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