Letter: Not mad Tom at all
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Sir: Your headline today 'Controversial film casts doubt on poet's sanity' misrepresents my views. Your correspondent does not quote me as saying that Brian Gilbert's film of my play Tom and Viv portrayed T S Eliot as mad.
In fact, everything Eliot did or wrote was well reasoned and in line with the spirit of the time.
The film explores the tragedy of a time when women were incarcerated on grounds of 'moral insanity'. Edith Sitwell's comment, 'at some point in their marriage Tom went mad and promptly certified his wife' is, I believe, simply an arch arrow from a rival poet.
Yours faithfully,
MICHAEL HASTINGS
Greenford,
Middlesex
16 August
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments