I’m not nearly as good as I should be about answering my reader mail, especially during stretches of time when my life becomes more complicated than usual. So I spent an hour on Christmas afternoon clearing out my accumulated e-mail, and found this letter from a Wall Street Journal reader. I thought it might be of interest to you:
You remind me of my favorite professors in college. I could never quite figure out their political disposition, and they would have considered it unprofessional to reveal it. You appear to advocate only truth, beauty, and artistic freedom, and I wanted to take a moment to thank you for your hard work and the consistent excellence of your column.
I think this might just be the best fan letter I’ve ever gotten. It’s certainly the most gratifying one, because it sums up in one succinct paragraph everything that I try to do as a drama critic. That’s why I’m posting it—because I want you to know exactly what I think I’m up to.