28 Rosetta Avenue,
BELFAST, 7.
14th April, 1966.
The Editor,
The Irish Times,
Westmoreland Street,
DUBLIN.
Sir:
Your review last Saturday of Brian Friel's The Gold in
the Sea, though not unfavourable in tone, strikes me as
distinctly odd in judgement. Your reviewer compares Mr.Friel's
work to Lynn Doyle’s, a comparison which, I suggest, betrays
an imperfect understanding of both writers. Doyle was, of
course, an admirable craftsman, but his qualities are not those
of Mr.Friel's. Miss Edna O'Brien and other distinguished
short story writers have compared Mr.Friel’s art with that of
Chekov: I suspect they know what they are talking about.
Certainly Mr.Friel's best stories have 'an exceedingly complex
charm, deriving from a literary art which is unquestionably
purer, more essential, more lyrical, more concentrated than
the novel.' The quotation is from Moravia, and It seems to
me relevant to Mr.Friel's art.
(John Boyd)
