A lot has been made of the 'curiousness' of the film, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and its being based on a short story by F Scott Fitzgerald. Fans of Irish literature will know the film's theme was visited also by the late Sean O'Faolain in his 1979 novel And Again.

I have not read one review of this movie, nor heard one, in any part of the Irish media which has mentioned that one of our foremost writers wrote a novel on a very similar topic.

Critical comparisons might have been made, some sorts of parallels drawn, and so forth; but sadly, it seems that in our soundbite media world, even one of Sean O'Faolain's more intriguing works has been forgotten. Or perhaps our younger critics simply have never heard of him.

Fred Johnston,

Carn Ard,

Circular Road,

Galway.