Customer Reviews

Letters

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I think the above review needs a corrective. Tynan was the sharpest, funniest, and best-informed theatre critic of his generation. He was also a wonderful stylist, and a precocious one: many writers never write as well as Tynan did while still in his teens. These letters can be enjoyed simply for their manipulation of language, but there's more to them than that. Tynan always liked to think of himself as an outsider, as someone pushing the envelope; yet he also was entranced by the establishment at play, and he enjoyed lowbrow entertainment almost as much as Shakespeare and Sophocles. These letters demonstrate this bifurcation of character, making for a sort of un-selfconscious autobiography. Well worth buying for anyone who likes reading letters, and a must for Tynan fans. when can we have some more of his work reisssued?

How did this collection of letters make it to print...when there are scores of personalities whose letters I'd love to read in a collection that haven't? These letters are very boring and he did not write to many notable people (a few to McCartney, Lennon and Olivier). Before you read about a theater critic, read what William Goldman said in his legendary book about Broadway THE SEASON, in the chapter titled "The Approvers." That tells you all about theater critics you need to know. THEN you can decide whether to read this one of Tynan's letters. I don't think this book would have made it to print if Tynan's wife hadn't been shoving it down publisher's and editor's throats. Dull, dull, dull, except for about five of the letters.