POLLYANNA
Sta,-1 am indeed grateful to Kenneth Allsop for revealing the quagmires of perverted sexuality con- cealed below the surface of some of our childhood classics. The intellectual weeklies and 'posh Sundays' have already during the past few years warned us of the psychological perversions inherent in such nursery (and after) favourites as The Wind in the Willows, Winnie the Pooh, and Peter Pan, But alas, so naive am 1 that I did not till now suspect the ' dangers lurking in Little Lord Fauntleroy; and how deeply I regret the irremediable damage I may have exposed my children to by taking them to Pollyanna on a wet afternoon in the Christmas holidays. (The fact that my face 'turned red to the roots of my hair' at its sentimentality is beside the point.) If only we had gone to Never Take Sweets from a Stranger or stayed at home reading a rattling good yarn like Lolita instead.
Mr. Allsop and his colleagues really should carry out a comprehensive survey of our juvenile literature, so that we poor ingenuous parents may know what it is safe to read to our young. Surely we can find some sinister undertones in Peter Rabbit? What about his love-hate relationship with his mother? Those Bastable children—their family affec- tion is definitely 'queer.' As for the friendship of Robin Hood and Little John—but why multiply examples?
Or has my sense of humour failed me? Perhaps Mi. Allsop and the rest of the solemn-faced literary sex-detectors are really enjoying a quiet leg-pull. Only isn't this a hit queer? I mean, legs .. —Yours faithfully,
MERCIA MASON
Beals Barn House, Coustey Wood, Wadhurst, Sussex
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