Dear Felipe Delfim Santos,

Only a few minutes ago was I able to get to your “answer” to Arnaldo Saraiva that you so thoughtfully forwarded to me. I thank you for it. I was happy to see that you rightfully defend yourself without descending to ad hominem attack.

After all these years following the publication of his piece on Sena’s aborted career as a naval cadet, Arnaldo is still angry, still trying to defend the position he assumed in that article. It was Ezra Pound, I think, who said that anger makes for good prose. Perhaps, but it also makes, sometimes, for seething comments better left unsaid. Isn’t is strange how good scholarship (and the book in question is an example of exemplary scholarship) seems to evoke such attack?

Thanks you again for sharing your piece with me.

Best, George