A reviewer ought to read a book when he reviews it, so I read The Paper Snake. He ought to mention the subject and give you a notion of the author's competence in dealing with said subject. Reader, dear, here I have let you down.

I tried to find out what the subject of The Paper Snake is, but I'm still mystified. Somewhere along the line I missed the point or lost the thread of the argument and was unable to retrieve it.

It's supposed to be no fair peeking at the dust-jacket blurb, but this time I peeked. The blurb is by William Wilson (not the same as my friend Edmund Wilson), who is a master of

arts and a doctor of philosophy, and it runs to 600 words-not as long as The Paper Snake proper. Mr. Wilson doesn't say what Mr. Johnson is talking about. He himself seems a competent writer, and he is fairly successful in putting a good face upon the situation with which he is confronted.

Mr. Wilson says, among other things, "The meaning in Ray Johnson's work is not logical. . I shall not contest that judgement.

The Paper Snake is copyrighted, I don't know why-that seems excessive caution.

The book is priced at $3.47. Again I wonder why.

M. B.

Letters

The views expressed here are those of the writers. ONE's readers cover a wide range of geographical, economic, age, and educational status. This department aims to express this diversity.

Originals of these letters in ONE's possession; names of small towns usually deleted.

PUPILS DEAD GIVEAWAY

Dear Mr. Conger:

From a recent SATURDAY EVENING POST article, it seems that someone has perfected a contraption which photographs the pupils of the eye at the same time one is looking at an image. It is claimed that homosexuals can thus be identified at an early age, and thus perhaps be saved "from a fate more cruel than death." (Quotes my own!) Using this method, males are shown two sets of photos, one of nude men and the other of nude women. The pupils of incipient homosexuals dilate greatly upon viewing the former, and this dilation is apparent in the photograph.

Please accept the enclosed contribution for "our" fight for legal and social recognition. Mr. L.

Atlanta, Georgia

"X THEORY" QUESTIONED

Dear ONE:

Re: the "scientific" note sent in from your correspondent in Hamburg, Germany, and reprinted in your January, 1966 Letter Column, it seems that at least some learned worthies in Europe may not be familiar with comparative studies of homophilia, such as those presented by Dr. Judd Marmor in his recent text, SEXUAL INVERSION.

On the strength of your Sept. '65 review of this volume, I have added same to my library, grateful for at least one scientific work which sets the causes of homosexuality in many-dimensioned perspective. Dr. Schlegel may know a very great deal about genetics, but he evidently does not know too much about "learned responses," or about the influence of the sociosexual environment in determining sex orientation. Few sex psy-

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