23 OCTOBER 1993, Page 28

Gore blimey

Sir: Surely not the least of the many puz- zling aspects of Frederic Raphael's ram- bling and in all too many senses ad hominem review (Books, 9 October) of the latest collection of the characteristically stimulating and wide-ranging essays by that most civilised and cosmopolitan of Ameri- can patriots (Ravello his Rye), Gore Vidal, was that on the very heels of his profession of admiration for the author's pluperfect one-liner on poor wee Capote's death (good career move!) he should have then proceeded to complain that 'his wit knows little brevity'.

Alastair Forbes,

1837 Château d'Oex, Switzerland