Madam, - Reflecting on the death of J.B. Lyons, Fintan O'Toole laments the end of the line of doctors who are also writers of works of lasting literary value (Culture Shock, November 17th).
He would be heartened to know that here in Canada the winner of last year's most prestigious prize for fiction is a young doctor, Vincent Lam, for Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures. And then there is the small army of physicians on this side of the Atlantic, including Sherwin Nuland (author of How We Die), Jerome Groopman (author of The Measure of Our Days and The Anatomy of Hope), and Atul Gawande (author of Complications), who are following Oliver Sacks in reflecting on their experience as practising physicians in elegant and penetrating narrative essays that uncover much that otherwise would remain hidden or misunderstood. - Yours, etc,
FRANK GAVIN, Balliol Street, Toronto, Canada.