Sir, - Before the thesis-hunters follow in full cry upon Arminta Wallace's interview with John Banville (Arts, September 21st), could I point out that "corpsing" on stage does not, in fact mean "dying", as she implies, thereby providing a neat metaphor for the spiritual plight of Mr Banville's latest fictional hero.
To "corpse" is actors' slang for causing another actor to be put out on stage, often by causing that actor to laugh and lose control. Oddly enough, in this usage it is an active and not a passive verb; it is the victim who suffers and not the one who "corpses". Perhaps Ms Wallace confuses "corpsing" with "drying", the actor's failure to remember her or his lines? But that is quite a different matter. - Yours, etc.,
Christopher Murray, Department of English, UCD, Dublin 4.