Lily Allen’s confessional art

Sir, – I felt compelled to write, such was my level of disagreement with Finn McRedmond’s piece (“No, Lily Allen, we were never meant to know this much about one another”, Opinion, October 30th).

Art is often a means of deepening our understanding of the human condition, whether through abstraction or radical honesty. To reduce confessional art to the level of reality TV or social media is to overlook a rich cultural lineage that includes the work of Sylvia Plath, Tracey Emin and even Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

[ Lily Allen’s new album is racking up millions of listens and hitting a nerve with women everywhereOpens in new window ]

Whether one enjoys the album or not, Allen is using her art to interrogate sociological changes in traditional relationships, and in doing so has provoked discussion – including this one.

To suggest that metaphor and abstraction are the only “true” art forms strikes me as a rather reactionary view. – Yours, etc,

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SOPHIE DUIGNAN,

Donore Road,

Dublin.