THE SECTION MAN

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

I was shocked to the very core of my being by your review of Mr. Amos Queensly's novel The Section Man. I believe that Mr. Queensly has written a book that is deliberately meant to offend the sensibility of the reader. I would like to take issue with the wisdom of bringing this book to the attention of the Harvard and Radcliffe undergraduate. It is particularly shocking that your reviewer should quote with approval the sentiments of that...Norman Mailer. Any casual observer who walks through the Square has an opportunity to observe the loose morals and easy ways prevalent among this generation of students. I may be old fashioned in my ways but I have always felt that the observance of a certain moral standard, un code morale, was an essential element that must be implanted in the very heart of the student so that he is better equipped to face the slings and arrows of life in the outside world. You have done a dis-service to the community and the college by disgracing your columns with this trash. Our youth of today in the face of the world crisis must learn to face and solve their own problems. Once they face foursquarely their own identity will they learn how to be useful citizens in a troubled world. The propagation of the ideas of The Section Man is a blot on the history of the CRIMSON that will be hard to erase. Mr. Queensly's book is that rare thing--a truly subversive book.

I hope you will have occasion to print this answer to Mr. Katx's review. I think it is necessary and proper to air both sides of a question. Fellcity Cabot Abbott.