Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor,

Laura Kasischke’s article on Stevens [“Opusculum Paedagogum,” January 2013] reminds me of once finding  John Coltrane’s music in the “easy listening” department of a record store. The main flaw in her argument is what a logician might call a negative conclusion from affirmative premises. There is, of course, no real argument here, because Kasischke constantly lets us know she is awed by Stevens’s reputation. When she describes him as “beloved,” however, I have to protest. She is looking for Stevens in the easy listening department. Her disdain for his lifestyle, his otherness, and her constant reference to his secretary and profession, merely reveal her scorn, and all the heaping helpings of her awe do not disguise or forgive her prejudices.