Salon | Letters to the editor

_______________SATAN GOES TO HARVARD BY MARY GAITSKILL (10/13/97)

I have just finished the excellent essay by Mary Gaitskill on "Halfway Heaven: Diary of a Harvard Murder," and I must agree with her assessment of the book's ultimate failure to live up to its promise of depth and hard compassion. But I do have one subtle yet important quibble. After much laudable commentary on the idea that humans are not the judges of each others' whole souls, she comments on Christianity. Stating that "two of Christianity's most powerful precepts are that sin felt in the heart is as bad as sin acted upon, and that, without divine grace, we are all equally guilty ... Even non-Christians secretly feel the truth in this ..." she undermines the point she was trying to make.
Would someone please gently remind her that Christianity does not have a monopoly on these particular concepts of sin and grace? Those of us who are non-Christians do not go skulking around "secretly" feeling these things that are common to the experience of faith of so many. If she wishes us not to judge the souls of others, I think putting a spin of hypocrisy on others' faiths falls under that heading. As a pagan, I feel no conflict with my beliefs overlapping with those of Christians, and I do not wish to be told that I do by those who cannot read my mind and heart.

-- Amy Ford Banks
Former Co-Chair of Rowantree,
the Brandeis Pagan Organization
I have to say, I am not a big fan of Melanie Thernstrom. I read "Dead Girl" and thought it a sad story, not shamelessly written, until I mentioned it to my boyfriend, who told me that Thernstrom had fabricated some of the correspondence that is presented as having been written by the young woman who is murdered. (Thernstrom admits as much, in either the prologue or epilogue. Still, if one does not read the tiny print, one might be lead to believe ...) Creative license? I found it utterly repugnant. Also, her "compassion" rings a bit false: She is making quite a career of writing about the murders of young women.
-- Melissa J. Price
SALON | Oct. 16, 1997

R E C E N T L Y+| DHARMA BUM By Dwight Garner

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_______________SATAN GOES TO HARVARD BY MARY GAITSKILL (10/13/97)
	I have just finished the excellent essay by Mary Gaitskill on "Halfway Heaven: Diary of a Harvard Murder," and I must agree with her assessment of the book's ultimate failure to live up to its promise of depth and hard compassion. But I do have one subtle yet important quibble. After much laudable commentary on the idea that humans are not the judges of each others' whole souls, she comments on Christianity. Stating that "two of Christianity's most powerful precepts are that sin felt in the heart is as bad as sin acted upon, and that, without divine grace, we are all equally guilty ... Even non-Christians secretly feel the truth in this ..." she undermines the point she was trying to make. Would someone please gently remind her that Christianity does not have a monopoly on these particular concepts of sin and grace? Those of us who are non-Christians do not go skulking around "secretly" feeling these things that are common to the experience of faith of so many. If she wishes us not to judge the souls of others, I think putting a spin of hypocrisy on others' faiths falls under that heading. As a pagan, I feel no conflict with my beliefs overlapping with those of Christians, and I do not wish to be told that I do by those who cannot read my mind and heart. -- Amy Ford Banks Former Co-Chair of Rowantree, the Brandeis Pagan Organization I have to say, I am not a big fan of Melanie Thernstrom. I read "Dead Girl" and thought it a sad story, not shamelessly written, until I mentioned it to my boyfriend, who told me that Thernstrom had fabricated some of the correspondence that is presented as having been written by the young woman who is murdered. (Thernstrom admits as much, in either the prologue or epilogue. Still, if one does not read the tiny print, one might be lead to believe ...) Creative license? I found it utterly repugnant. Also, her "compassion" rings a bit false: She is making quite a career of writing about the murders of young women. -- Melissa J. Price SALON \| Oct. 16, 1997