[000dry]

It seems theres a bit of an impression of Wells here that he is being even-handed, but I would beg to differ.

He frames himself and Joyce as opposites, as if in an attempt to make what follows fair game.

I think if someone came up to me and said, "Not that my opinion matters, but I think you're disgusting", I'd still be pretty offended. I think onlookers would see something like that as unnecessary.

Just don't write the letter next time, eh Wells?

[bzbarsky]

Context matters. Per the other comments up-thread, the letter was a response to a request for help in advertising a specific book (Finnegan's Wake) that Joyce made of Wells. Not writing the letter and just not responding to the request would be fairly rude too, no? Just refusing without expalaining why would also be a bit odd, given that Wells had provided just such help for Joyce's previous work.