Family revelations plus other letters, July 11: 'The cult of Alice Munro ...

Representatives for the bookstore co-founded by Alice Munro say it will take time to figure out how the short story author's legacy will be changed by revelations that she chose to ignore her daughter's abuse at the hands of her stepfather.CHAD HIPOLITO/The Canadian Press

Re “Biden touts NATO, Ukraine’s resilience as allies convene in Washington” (July 10): If ever there was an argument for a strong, unified NATO, Russia has provided it with the missile strikes on Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital. The act demonstrates to me that Russia is unwilling to stop its horrific war against a peaceful neighbour.

As NATO members meet in Washington, they should remember why NATO was established 75 years ago. What an enviable job it has done to preserve peace in Europe, allowing for unprecedented prosperity and human development.

The war against Ukraine is the most dangerous security threat to Europe in decades. NATO countries have supported Ukrainian defence, but there should be a more durable, resolute response to extinguish Vladimir Putin’s imperialistic aggression.

Ukraine should be fully supported in defending itself and the democratic values shared with NATO countries. Otherwise dictators everywhere would take chances with their own imperialistic agendas, to the detriment of global peace and security.

Lidia Wasylyn Edmonton

Re “Commit to what?” (Letters, July 10): A letter-writer defends Canada’s failure to live up to its NATO funding obligations on the basis of our huge land mass, small population and therefore small tax base. These very factors should underscore the vital importance of NATO membership to national security.

Without our NATO allies, there would be no way we can defend territorial sovereignty on our own, should it come under serious military threat. Due to the dismal state of our military, we can’t even defend our Arctic waters without NORAD support.

We have a choice. We meet our financial and defence obligations as a NATO member, or we risk irrelevance and abandonment by our allies.

The problem is money. If the Liberal government would beef up our military and international financial contributions, we would regain international respect as an important NATO partner, rather than be singled out on the world stage as a laggard and sponger.

Kathryn Vogel Toronto

Re “Concern about Biden’s age is now out of his campaign’s control. Can Democrats recover in time for the election?” (July 8): I wish everyone would stop talking about Joe Biden’s age as the reason to ask him to step aside. We should be talking about his frailty, perhaps both physical and mental.

I have an 81-year-old brother who hikes and rock climbs, writes computer programs, weaves, paints, draws and reads voraciously. He is sharp as a tack. My brother is not frail.

I have seen Mr. Biden walk stiffly the few metres from chair to podium. His voice sounds weak and his mind seems not particularly sharp, as evidenced by the difference between his teleprompter speeches and ad-libs.

Mr. Biden is frail.

Ellen Cohen Orillia, Ont.

Re “There’s rot in the economy and it’s costing you better pay and investment returns” (Report on Business, July 4): If indeed the solution to Canada’s productivity woes is to have businesses spend their “piles of cash” on tech, factories and equipment, then the recent increase in capital-gains tax enacted by the Trudeau government seems to be the antithesis of what is needed.

Why would business owners choose to invest heavily, only to be taxed at a higher rate upon selling their businesses?

Rick Naor Thornhill, Ont.

I keep reading about how Canada’s productivity lags behind the United States. But I never read about the work habits prevalent in the U.S.

First, annual leave is skimpy, often two weeks when starting out in a job. Sick leave is often non-existent and employees are forced to use vacation days. Maternity and paternity leave is generally non-existent, with only a few states requiring some meagre paid leave.

Then add statistics that show Americans are often required to work on statutory holidays and weekends, and do not take all their paid holidays. Some don’t have much mobility, trapped in a job by virtue of health insurance.

All this to enrich companies and shareholders. What about the burnout caused by these work habits, as well as the toll on families? I doubt any of this is calculated in productivity statistics.

John Towndrow Cornwall, Ont.

Re “Alice Munro betrayed us, and her legacy” (July 9): I would be curious to see who remains on bookshelves after the removal of morally objectionable authors and artists.

Pablo Picasso can stay, apparently, because his “masterly paintings” are “removed from his life” (an assertion that would astonish Dora Maar, the muse and model for The Weeping Woman), but Alice Munro’s stories “are too close to the truth” of her own life for us to separate art from artist.

So long Leo Tolstoy, who could enter into the lives of his characters precisely because they were drawn from the truth of his own life, but who treated his wife abominably. So long Albert Camus, whose novels and essays hew awfully close to the truth of his own experiences, and whose serial philandering caused his wife great suffering.

And the list goes on, interminably.

Bruce Baugh Kamloops, B.C.

An inability to separate Alice Munro, the conflicted wife and flawed mother, from the literary products of Alice Munro, the late Nobel laureate, illustrate to me the extent to which the cult of the author has grown perverse.

I believe Ms. Munro betrayed her daughter and herself. The outraged reader who refuses now to touch a copy of Open Secrets or Dear Life, because of what she did or didn’t do with regard to her husband’s inexcusable crime, is missing the chance to read these collections with heightened sensitivity.

What, after all, did we think she was writing about so disturbingly all these years?

Richard Cumyn Edmonton

Alice Munro’s Nobel Prize should be rescinded, and a major donation made to child sexual abuse treatment organizations around the world.

In an alternate reality, she might have used her international platform and fame to help countless survivors receive much-needed help. Her silence speaks volumes, and renders her work near meaningless to me. She is now forever linked to the crimes of her husband.

Humbert Humbert of Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita is a fictional character; Gerald Fremlin, Ms. Munro’s husband, is not. She is most famous for writing about the lives of girls and women in brilliant short stories. Perhaps the writing life allowed her to escape the terrible truths in her own.

I write this in honour of my own mother: my most fierce protectress, teacher and friend. I wish Andrea Robin Skinner healing, and respect her courage in speaking her truth to the world. The cult of Alice Munro, then, is over.

Aviva Cameron Toronto

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