Sir, How sad to see that wonderful work of art, Dr Zhivago denigrated in such an arbitrary, facile and cliched fashion by Brian Fallon in your "Weekend" of April 13th. I am reminded of two quotations which put the obscenity of the "review" in context. The first from Pasternak himself.
Another, step by step, will follow
The living imprint of your fret.
But you, yourself must not distinguish
Your victory from your defeat.
The second, from Pasternak's fellow countryman, Chekov, who when defending a provincial schoolteacher, against a bureaucratic schools inspector, wrote to the Kremlin it is preposterous to think that a pimple like this, on the backside of Education, is permitted to attempt to dispose of the destiny of a good man." This could well, in the case of Mr Fallon's comments, be paraphrased slightly and to great effect. Yours, etc., Bellevue Avenue, Glenageary, Co Dublin.