Letter: Obscure to some, admired by others

CONGRATULATIONS to the School Examinations and Assessment Council for including A S J Tessimond, Patricia Pogson and Samuel Selvon in their list of authors whose books 14-year-olds might reasonably be expected (with the guidance of an attentive teacher) to have read. None of the writers strikes me as 'obscure' especially not Tessimond, whose poem 'Cats' must be one of the most anthologised pieces this century. However, if you use The Oxford Companion to English Literature as your yardstick to quality or fame, you are in deep trouble. Distinguished contemporaries it ignores include Douglas Dunn, Christopher Logue, Hugo Williams, Michael Horovitz and Julian Symons. Does this make them 'obscure'?

Philip Oakes

Market Rasen, Lincolnshire