The Men from the Moon

Sir: What a strange and wonderful day for the human soul. Our Men of the Year, Frank Borman, James Lovell and William Anders are home safe [Jan. 3]. Home from the moon and space, home from the perils that never happened, home to their families and friends and to something rare in the world that sent them. Home to the miracle of men feeling something together, men strangely undivided in a time of fierce dissension, men all over the earth feeling wonder and warmth and pride. And we suddenly wondered if somehow we could capture and preserve what we feel this day. And if we could, is not a better world of men possible?

For this brief time, Borman, Lovell and Anders have given us an absence of negatives, a precious if temporary freedom from fear and confusion so that we felt something so very much better: a cell-deep, bone-felt, soul-binding, heart-stirring pride in being men.

JOSEPH J. PHILLIPS

Goleta, Calif.

Sir: "Numberless are the world's wonders, but none more wonderful than man; the storm-grey sea yields to his prows, the huge crests bear him high; earth, holy and inexhaustible, is graven with shining furrows where his plows have gone . . ." (Antigone).

What say you now, Sophocles, relevant to his ability to circumnavigate the moon!

GEORGE LEGEROS

Minneapolis

Sir: How thrilling that this apotheosis should appear in the heavens at the time of the winter solstice, when the ancient gods awake from the dead winter, the period that later became confused and fused with the Christian nativity myth. Gods never die; they simply change their names, and here is the ancient god, even Apollo himself, reborn and greeting us from the heavens. Hail!

S. LEVIN

Johannesburg

Sir: Although I agree enthusiastically with your choice for Men of the Year, let us hope that next year's selection will be an individual or group of individuals who will possess the same courage, the same determination and the same national support in solving the tragic domestic and "political problems that face us all on earth.

DAVID GUTTERMAN

Durham, N.C.

Value Judgment

Sir: A bomb in a Tel Aviv bus depot, an explosion in a Jerusalem marketplace, the shoot-up of an airliner in Athens, raids, raids and more raids on villages, continued vilification and threats--all these and other incidents apparently make the world more interesting. The U.S. State Department ignores these offenses, or at most sounds a mild "tut-tut." The U.N. does the same. However, an Israeli reprisal, designed to tone down the level of warlike activity on the part of the Arabs, generates storms of protest. The greatest protest is raised not because lives are lost but because Israel destroyed some expensive airplanes in Beirut. Where is the sense of values when world figures and nations collectively and individually object to the loss of property but do not make themselves heard when lives are deliberately destroyed? The condemnation charges against Israel should be withdrawn and a genuine effort made to help the countries of the Middle East find peace.

HERBERT FRANKEL

Roslyn Heights, N.Y.

Sir: To protect its air lifeline and the security of its citizens, the State of Israel reacted to the Arab attack on an El Al airliner after waiting for a world response that never came. Apathetic and silent when a passenger was murdered and the lives of others were threatened by two Lebanese terrorists assigned to kill Jews, the world angrily condemned Israel for destroying property. I know that little moral value still exists in the world, but has the sanctity of life disappeared, too? Had Israel not retaliated so forcefully, no airport would ever be safe from such an attack in the future.

Your article implies that the Lebanese government was not responsible for the terrorists' actions, yet the Lebanese Prime Minister condoned these attacks by stating, "We consider commando action as a sacred and legitimate action."

It is time that you and the rest of the world woke up to the fact that Israel, like all of us, wants to live in peace, but cannot do so as long as these terrorist attacks continue; Israel will not stand idly while innocent citizens perish.

GLORIA GARFUNKEL

Elizabeth, N.J.

Matter of Honor?

Sir: Jan. 23, 1968 marked a low point in the proud history of the U.S. Navy. The commanding officer of the U.S.S. Pueblo, knowing that his ship contained vital secret information and equipment, surrendered to a tenth-rate pirate power without a fight. What a far cry from the days of our naval heroes who went down with their ships with all guns firing and who helped make America great.

Dec. 22, 1968 marked a low point in the proud history of the U.S.A. Our national leaders sanctioned a humiliating apology to North Korea while saying at the same time that the signed document was a lie. Where is our national honor that we sacrifice it as tribute?

KENNETH P. MINER

Belmont, Mass.

Sir: I'm amused at--no, really, I feel sorry for--anybody who blithely accepts the carnage of Viet Nam and the shenanigans of espionage but who suddenly gets all excited about the morality of our Panmunjom procedure.

General Woodward gave the North Koreans plenty of opportunity to stop payment of his check. He told them and the whole world before he signed his draft that it would be worthless. I want no truck with an "end-justifies-the-means" philosophy, which whitewashes all kinds of dirty deals. But to ignore one's goals while pondering one's methods can also lead to evil and irresponsible doings. In this instance I'm convinced that the release of 82 men from oppression and brutality cries out loudly in defense of General Woodward. He doesn't need my blessing, but I'm glad to offer it.

(THE REV.) BERTWIN L. FREY

The Lutheran Church Cleveland

Don't Wonder--Just Listen

Sir: Describing Bach's music as ". . . a prayer to God in sound" [Dec. 27] is perfect. However much his music feeds the temporal hungers with which man seems created, "the fifth evangelist" never ceased striving to unite others with himself in ascribing everything to the praise of God. Such a fine article as this can only whet the appetites of those still unacquainted with the glorious sounds this man left for us to enjoy. One must only permit himself the indulgence of an exposure to these sounds. Often, the best way to listen to Bach is simply to sit back, relax and let the music flood over you. Bach, I think, would not want anyone to wonder overmuch about the profundity of it all.

(THE REV.) WYMAN T. KURTZ

St. Paul's Lutheran Church

Hillsdale, Mich.

Sir: Bless you for putting Johann Sebastian on the cover. May I suggest him for Man of the Millennium.

MARGARET MUCKERMAN

St. Louis

Sir: The brilliant article on Johann Sebastian Bach certainly did the job of exposing a trend: the growing interest we teens are developing in classical music. Last year, at 16, after super saturation with monotonous rock, I turned to the almost boundless region of the classics and found myself asking, "Tchaikovsky, where have you been all my life?"

BILL DEFELICE

Glassboro, N.J.

Another Version

Sir: In your article on J. P. Donleavy [Dec. 6] you printed this paragraph: "Donleavy wrote The Ginger Man in 1951, but it was four years before he could find a publisher, Maurice Girodias of Paris' Olympia Press. Only too late did Donleavy discover that Girodias planned to make Ginger Man part of his notoriously pornographic Traveler's Companion Series (Until She Screams, Houses of Joy). Furious, Donleavy initiated a lawsuit against the publishers (it is still pending); he was convinced that his career was ruined forever, etc. . . ."

That may be Donleavy's version of the facts, but mine is appreciably different: 1) Donleavy never initiated a lawsuit against my firm; we were the ones who sued him, in London in 1956, when he sold the rights to The Ginger Man a second time, to a British firm, Neville Spearman Ltd. The case is still pending. 2) When Donleavy sold the French rights of his book to a Paris publisher, Editions du Seuil, we sued jointly Seuil and Donleavy before the French courts. We won our case in 1960, and our contract with Donleavy was found to be valid and binding. And seven years later, in 1967, Donleavy appealed against the French judgment (according to French law he had up to eight years to do so)--and that appeal is now also pending in Paris, independently from the London litigation. It must be noted that, also in 1967, a French version of The Ginger Man was released after Donleavy sold the French rights a second time, to another publisher (Les Lettres Nouvelles).

MAURICE GIRODIAS

Manhattan

Cutting the Mustard

Sir: As Canada's foremost menu printers, we were naturally interested in your article on verbose menus [Dec. 6]. I am sure it will provide restaurateurs here with food for thought.

We have gone one step further in trying to be novel and have designed menus for clients on every conceivable material: wood, leather, plastic, burlap, suede, velvet, etc. The most unique was a menu for a medical convention--printed on the back of a large mustard plaster.

JACK GOODSON

President

Hotel Printing Co.

Montreal

Sir: The most fascinating menu I ever encountered was in a restaurant in Des Moines, where the waiter handed you a View Master with a reel of eight appetizing color slides of the various specialties, so that you saw exactly what you were going to get.

PAUL W. GALLICO

Monaco

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