Portrait of Lita
Sta,—I am very loth to charge your paper with an error of taste or judge- ment, and so I presume that the article on last week's Undergraduate page called Portrait of Lita was included purely for its literary merit. The article, presumably factual, tells of the writer's relationship, during a period of overseas service, with a somewhat easily accessible young woman How Mr. Sanderson chose to spend his shore-leave is entirely his own concern, but personally I found it both distasteful and not a little absurd to read of this common intrigue (the like of which may be experienced by any seaman, in any port, on any day and all too easily) presented with all the sickly decoration of mock-romance and pretentious quasi-philosophic clap-trap.
I am not the classical scholar Mr. Sanderson appears to be, so I cannot comment on his contention that to live six weeks with a camp-follower most nearly approaches what he is pleased to call " the old Greek way " ; but I gravely doubt whether a selfish pursuit of the sensual sensation of the moment is " the way of peasants in remote villages " or of any sensible people anywhere, be they simple or sophisticated.
If it is not irrelevant, may I add that I, too, have served overseas and was until a few months ago also an undergraduate, and to me Mr. Sanderson's article, and his apparent approach to life, seem at least twenty-five years out of date, and far from impressing one with the writer's " experience " or " maturity," bear all the indications of a protracted
Gray's Inn, W.C.1.
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