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Taking Exception to a Book Review
The Editors welcome submissions for possible publication in the Letters section. Authors of letters should:
Include no more than 300 words of text, three authors, and five references
Type with double-spacing
Send three copies of the letter, an authors' form signed by all authors, and a cover letter describing any conflicts of interest related to the contents of the letter.
Letters commenting on an Annals article will be considered if they are received within 6 weeks of the time the article was published. Only some of the letters received can be published. Published letters are edited and may be shortened; tables and figures are included only selectively. Authors will be notified that the letter has been received. If the letter is selected for publication, the author will be notified about 3 weeks before the publication date. Unpublished letters cannot be returned.
Annals welcomes electronically submitted letters.
TO THE EDITOR:
Stewart Rogers' critique of my book Shared Legacy [1] demands reply. The novel tells of soon-to-be-married Sharyn who donates blood and finds she has been innocently betrayed and infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). She and those whose lives touch hers contend in fictional terms with their dilemmas. Accurate, unobtrusive allusions are made to HIV infection and the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), but the book includes no disquisition on AIDS as illness and social calamity. This seems to outrage Rogers.
Almost everything he says about the book is shamefully snide: Sharyn donates blood like a good girl; but not altogether a good girl living with a not quite true love. (The book is set in the 1980s!) Sharyn's shattered life is characterized in a succinct sneer as celibate angst; when she falls in love again it is with another charmer. Rogers rewrites circumstances of another betrayal, anger, and rape with relentless jeer: Of course, without a condom, gibes Rogers, who then misdesignates what follows (which includes a trial for attempted murder).
His comment that some cogent and interesting issues are argued in the trial leads to another that dismisses these issues as mere afterthoughts to the melodramatics of rape. Sharyn's post-trial concerns about those she loves are mere surrogate fulfillment. The salutary implications of this fulfillment, given the awful isolation that may be part of the illness, is lost on Rogers.
I conclude by noting excerpts from Dr. Norman Blackman's review [2]: Rare sensitive ability for writing about real life drama; good reading for all; ends on note of hope from which all can seek some solace.
Please also note that the book was incompletely categorized in the review. A paperback version ($14.00, ISBN 0-9636017-7-6) and a hard-cover version ($22.00, ISBN 0-9636017-6-8) are available from Baker and Taylor through any book store.
Alfred P. Ignegno
The Editors welcome submissions for possible publication in the Letters section. Authors of letters should:
Include no more than 300 words of text, three authors, and five references
Type with double-spacing
Send three copies of the letter, an authors' form signed by all authors, and a cover letter describing any conflicts of interest related to the contents of the letter.
Letters commenting on an Annals article will be considered if they are received within 6 weeks of the time the article was published. Only some of the letters received can be published. Published letters are edited and may be shortened; tables and figures are included only selectively. Authors will be notified that the letter has been received. If the letter is selected for publication, the author will be notified about 3 weeks before the publication date. Unpublished letters cannot be returned.
Annals welcomes electronically submitted letters.
- Copyright 2004 by the American College of Physicians
