24 JANUARY 1969, Page 25

The novels of yesteryear

Sir: Professor Plumb (10 January) says that Russia produces no great novels. Mr Seymour- Smith replies (17 January) that Dr Zhivago probably excels any works of the 'thirties. Isn't it strange that neither expert mentions Cancer Ward or The First Circle by Alexander Solz- henitsyn, both published in English in 1968? These works dealing respectively with a Soviet hospital' and prison camp are surely among the greatest of all fiction and presage what the Rus- sian spirit has in store for us when it is let out of prison itself.