A NEW TRANSLATION

In your review of “A Friend From England” (Book Review, March 20), the author as well as the reviewer should have read a simple dictionary rather than Freud. Anyone translating the German word unheimlich as unhomely should be horsewhipped.

Unheimlich derives from un (same meaning as in English), and heimlich (as in quiet, NOT homely). Therefore, a correct translation would be disquieting , eerie , sinister , or uncanny . Any or all of the foregoing would describe the meaning better. What is more, the first paragraph might even make sense.

FRANK J. BAUMANN

PASADENA