[{"node":{"title":"Boyd050","Collections":"Boyd Letters","Contributor":"Boyd Estate","Coverage":"1966 Apr 14th","Creator":"Linen Hall Library","Date":"Wednesday, March 16, 2016","Format":"TIFF","Identifier":"Boyd050","Item Description":"Letter","Keywords":"Friel, Doyle","Language":"English","Path":"https://www.niliteraryarchive.com/content/boyd050","Publisher":"Linen Hall Library","Relation":"Linen Hall Library","Rights":"Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC BY-NC-SA","Scanned image":{"src":"https://www.niliteraryarchive.com/sites/default/files/Boyd050_4.jpg","alt":""},"Source":"LHL Archive","Transcript":"\ufeff28 Rosetta Avenue,\n\nBELFAST, 7.\n\n14th April, 1966.\n\nThe Editor,\nThe Irish Times,\nWestmoreland Street,\nDUBLIN.\n\nSir:\n\nYour review last Saturday of Brian Friel's The Gold in\nthe Sea, though not unfavourable in tone, strikes me as\ndistinctly odd in judgement. Your reviewer compares Mr.Friel's\nwork to Lynn Doyle\u2019s, a comparison which, I suggest, betrays\nan imperfect understanding of both writers. Doyle was, of\ncourse, an admirable craftsman, but his qualities are not those\nof Mr.Friel's. Miss Edna O'Brien and other distinguished\nshort story writers have compared Mr.Friel\u2019s art with that of\nChekov: I suspect they know what they are talking about.\nCertainly Mr.Friel's best stories have 'an exceedingly complex\ncharm, deriving from a literary art which is unquestionably\npurer, more essential, more lyrical, more concentrated than\nthe novel.' The quotation is from Moravia, and It seems to\nme relevant to Mr.Friel's art.\n\n(John Boyd)\n","Type":"Text"}}]