25 JANUARY 1963, page 20

Just Great

The College Novel in America. By John 0. Lyons. The Grotesque, an American Genre. And other essays. By William Van O'Con- nor. New American Gothic. By Irving Malin. With......

Bull Headed

The Irish Comic Tradition. By Vivian Mercier. (O.U.P., 30s.) TIP" the comic few subjects seem more liable to provoke dull books: this is especially true of academic writers,......

Farewell, Death

THIS is a voice valedictory, since hereafter I depart this column, and in this case (but not in all, not in all) it would have been nicer to go on a bang than a whimper. This......