[No surviving envelope]
Yourtravels, trips and plansTSE's 1948 trip to America;g5itinerary;a8 letter of the 24th shows me that once again I have thought I explained things which I have omitted. For instance, I am not flying, I am glad to say, but sailing on the S.S. ‘America’ (U.S. Lines < Southampton>) on the 23d, and due to arrive in New York on the 29th. What is more surprising still, you do not seem to know the duration of my stay. I am sailing from New York on December 8th. IPrinceton Universityand TSE's Institute for Advanced Study position;e3 intend to do my duty by the Institute of Advanced Studies for the two months I agreed upon, but to take the last week or ten days in Cambridge. OtherwisePound, Ezravisited by TSE in Washington;d4, I shall only play truant for weekends, except for a visit to Washington (toLibrary of Congress, Washington;a5 see Ezra Pound,1 butFrom Poe to Valéry;a3 it will involve a lecture at the Library of Congress to pay expenses, a meeting of the Fellows of the Library of Congress – I do not see why I should be a fellow, but I am – andEliot, Dr Martha May (TSE's cousin);b2 seeingEliot, Frank (TSE's cousin)on TSE's 1948 itinerary;a1 Martha, Frank (Frank Eliot from St. Louis who lives there),2 WilliamCastle, William R., Jr.hosts TSE in Washington;a2 CastleFinley, John Huston, Jr.;a1,3 theFinleys, the;a1 Finleys,4 CairnsCairns, Huntington;a1,5 LégerLéger, Alexis Saint-Léger ('Saint-John Perse')on TSE's 1948 Washington itinerary;a16 etc.) andMilton Academy, BostonTSE's War Memorial Lecture for;a8 a visit to give the'Leadership and Letters';a2 annual War Memorial Lecture at Milton, which I shall have to write in Princeton. I shall come up to Cambridge for a long weekend after about two weeks in Princeton, and will try to arrange with you to come out to Andover, or meet you somehow.
I feel that for my next visit I would do better to wait until I can come for longer. But one is in a cleft stick with the money difficulty: first the fact that I cannot use my own money but must earn it in the U.S. or be supported there; second, that I don’t know what money is worth now, or how much I shall need to live upon. The latter uncertainty makes one undertake more than one otherwise would, in order to be on the safe side. It is exasperating to think that in normal times I should not bother about lectures etc. at all; but could skip over for a month, and in that month see more of the people I come to see than I shall in over two months! AndEuropeTSE's sense of duty towards;b2 this is the maximum I can take now: thereCocktail Party, Theto be continued in Princeton;c4 is the play, andGermanyTSE's post-war sense of duty to;b8 there is the visit to Germany which is on my conscience.
I shall try to work steadily at the play (apart from writing the Milton address) but it is impossible to tell how much privacy one can have in Princeton. IThorps, thedifferentiated;e6 was very glad to have you write more about the Thorps. IThorp, Margaret (née Farrand)compared to husband;a5 think Margaret is aThorp, Willardcompared to Margaret;c7 much more interesting person than Willard, who seems to me to be rather ‘mothered’ by her and to enjoy a comfortable and rather padded life; but I think her earnest restlessness would become a great strain, and I cannot think of her as a person with whom anybody of either sex, could have a really enriching kind of friendship. There is something of the walking and talking bluebook about her; and she is rather of the type who feel that a full life is to be had by committees and entertaining in an intellectual kind of way. I am of course glad to have them in Princeton, for I like them and I think they are kind; but they may involve one in unsatisfying social activities and conversations with groups of undergraduates. StillRichards, Dorothy (née Pilley)as hostess;a4, Margaret is less fatiguing than Dorothea Richards, who is the sort of excellent hostess who protects one against everybody but herself 7 – and after protesting that you must be allowed peace and quiet, arranges two or three dinner parties in succession. And the Thorps are the only people I know in Princeton, exceptMaritains, the;a4 the Maritains (whom you remember, I hope); and I have no doubt it was Willard who worked to get me the Princeton degree. (DidUniversity of Munichawards TSE degree in absentia;a1 I tell you that Munich is to give me a degree of D. Phil. in absentia – the diploma is to be handed to the British Consul in Munich on my birthday – I was much touched by this).
I have a suspicion that Margaret has very definite notions about everybody, is quite sure that she understands them, and can tell you what they ought to do and how they ought to live without the least hesitation. Is this wrong?
INason, Margaret ('Meg') Geraldineexpecting operation;b7 am anxious about Meg. I have written to her to ask her to get a word to me if she goes to Guy’s Hospital before I leave, and let me know if she would like me to come to see her after the operation. The removal of the gall bladder sounds pretty serious to me.
YouElsmith, Dorothy Olcott;c3 don’t say anything about the young man that Deborah Elsmith is marrying – whose name is as near to mustard in German as makes no difference) but I presume that as all of Dorothy’s other children seem to have married suitably and happily Deborah has done so too.8 I can believe that you arranged the flowers well! as I remember so clearly your flower compositions at Campden. WhatBrocklebanks, theand Alveston's painful associations;a5Brocklebank, Charlotte Carissima ('Cara')
ISitwell, Osbertmemoirs of TSE;a8 was interested to learn of Osbert’s article which I have not seen. HeSitwell, Edith;c1 and Edith are to do a lecture tour in America this winter, and I am rather anxious about them. I am afraid of their making the wrong impression, with the best intentions, and of their being exposed to the New York press. WithSpender, Stephenan innocent fool;d4 Stephen Spender, I was only afraid that he would make a fool of himself, but I was sure that he would never know it, and be quite happy about everything: but the Sitwells are much more sensitive and civilised people, and if they make mistakes they will be conscious and will suffer. WhatBowra, C. M.as succeeding Norton Professor;a2 sort of impression Maurice Bowra (the Warden of Wadham) will make as Eliot Norton Professor doesn’t worry me so much. He is a clever plebeian.
I’ll write to you next at Andover (Abbott [sic] Academy).
By sailing on the 23d I am, ITambimuttu, Meary James Thuairajah ('Tambi')T. S. Eliot: A Symposium;a1 hope escaping all attention to my birthday, including a dreadful book of appreciations by various hands, which is due to appear under the care of Tambimuttu) on my birthday. AndFamily Reunion, TheBBC Gielgud broadcast version;i6to be repeated;a2 IBritish Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)Gielgud Family Reunion repeated;e1 shall miss theGielgud, Johnas Harry again;a8 production by the B.B.C. of ‘The Family Reunion’ with John Gielgud.
ThereWorld Congress of Intellectuals for PeaceTSE denounced at;a1 hasDos Passos, Johndenounced along with TSE;a1 beenO'Neill, Eugenedenounced along with TSE;a4 aMalraux, Andrédenounced along with TSE;a1 certainSartre, Jean-Pauldenounced along with TSE;a1 sensation caused by the Congress of Intellectuals for World Peace in Poland (to which I was invited, but which I refused to have anything to do with) at which a Russian writer referred to Eugene O’Neill, John Dos Passos, André Malraux, J. P. Sartre and myself as ‘Hyaenas or jackals’.9 And a writer (a lady, certainly) in some Russian literary journal referred to me as a ‘decadent, pornographic pro-Fascist’.
I look forward to ringing you up from Princeton.
I can imagine your loneliness in Grand Manan. Nevertheless, I hope that it strengthened you physically for the coming year.
1.OfPound, Ezrahis treatment in hospital protested;d7n TSE’s visit to Pound, on Sat. 20 Nov. 1948, few details are known, but he was able to speak with EP’s doctor Winfred Overholser before going in to talk with Pound himself.
TSEPound, Dorothy Shakespearvisited by TSE in Washington;a9 to Julian Cornell, 24 Nov. 1948: ‘Mrs. Pound told me that Pound was only allowed out of doors at the times when the other inmates of his ward were allowed to go out, under the supervision of a warder. She told me that in consequence he was never out of doors during the winter. It seems to me that it ought to be permissible for him to go out alone in the grounds with his wife, and with her responsible for his returning in due time … Surely he is entitled to have some fresh air daily, upon this condition.
‘I also think that it would be desirable to enquire whether there is not some other building on the grounds in which he could be confined, where he could have somewhat more normal conditions, and not be among patients of the types of insanity among which he is at present.’
TSEPound, Ezrahis insanity;d8n hadRudge, Olga;a1n written to Pound’s companion Olga Rudge on 12 June 1948:
‘It is possible that Ezra is pretending to be insane; but at the same time I believe that he is insane: that is to say, that he is irresponsible and that the opinion of Dr. Overholser and the decision of the Court were correct. I was worried about him in 1938, and my impression is that this has been progressive […] His behaviour, when I saw him a year ago, was not sane. He was certainly much calmer than a year before; most of his talk was perfectly lucid; but for the rest, his behaviour was only explicable as sane if he regarded me as a person whom he did not trust or with whom, for some reason, he wished to avoid any personal conversation. It was an exaggeration of that impersonality and reticence which has always baffled me with him, and the putting up of a barrier which I have always felt could not be broken down without hurting his feelings. But he is not merely exaggeratedly reserved about himself: he asked no questions about myself, or betrayed any interest in my affairs. I didn’t even have occasion to tell him that my wife had died, or anything like that.’
See further Daniel Swift, The Bughouse: The poetry, politics and madness of Ezra Pound (2017).
2.TSE to William Castle, 7 Oct. 1948, of Frank Eliot: ‘another cousin whom I have hardly seen since we were boys but who has sent me a couple of handsome food parcels’.
3.William R. Castle (1878–1963): US diplomat, statesman and author. A Republican, born in Honolulu and educated at Harvard, he remained at Harvard as an English instructor and assistant dean in charge of freshmen, 1904–13; and he was editor of the Harvard Graduates’ Magazine, 1915–17. It was at Harvard that he got to know TSE. After joining the US State Department in 1919, Castle served as Chief of the Division of Western European Affairs, 1921–7, and was promoted to Assistant Secretary of State and Under-Secretary of State. He was US Ambassador to Japan during the Naval Arms Conference, Jan.–May 1930 – where his subtle skills were much appreciated – and he was again Under-Secretary of State, 1931–3. In later years he wrote articles and speeches, and he served as President of Garfield Memorial Hospital, Washington, DC, 1945–52. See Alfred L. Castle, Diplomatic Realism: William R. Castle, Jr. and American Foreign Policy, 1919–53 (University of Hawai’i Press, 1998).
4.JohnFinley, John Huston, Jr. Huston Finley, Jr. (1904–95): Eliot Professor of Greek Literature, Harvard University, 1942–76; Master of Eliot House, 1941–68 – andFinley, Magdalena (née Greenslet) his wife, Magdalena Greenslet.
5.HuntingtonCairns, Huntington Cairns (1904–85): lawyer; secretary, treasurer and general counsel to the National Gallery of Art; author; adviser on pornography. Works include The Limits of Art, an anthology.
6.AlexisLéger, Alexis Saint-Léger ('Saint-John Perse') Saint-Léger Léger (1887–1975) – who wrote as Saint-John Perse – poet and diplomat; Nobel Laureate, 1960: see Biographical Register. TSE to William R. Castle, 12 Oct. 1948: ‘Leger is a little tiresome in company, because he is a great talker and he has consistently refused to learn English’ (EVE).
7.Dorothea Richards, née Pilley (1894–1986), journalist and climber; wife of I. A. Richards: see Biographical Register.
8.Deborah Gates (b. 1927) married Dr Alfred W. Senft in 1948. Senf (Ger.) means ‘mustard’.
9.Of the 500 scholars, writers and artists invited to the World Congress of Intellectuals for Peace, held in Wrocław, Poland, in Aug. 1948, organised by a joint Polish–French committee, more than 400 (including Pablo Picasso and Bertolt Brecht) accepted. However, Alexander Fadayev, novelist, zealous Stalinist, and co-founder and chair of the Union of Soviet Writers, seized the occasion, in his opening address on 25 Aug., to lambaste the reactionary, capitalist-corrupt influence of the USA and others. He attacked the likes of Eugene O’Neill and John Dos Passos, and remarked: ‘If jackals could learn to operate a typewriter and hyenas to push a fountain pen they would no doubt produce something strongly resembling the writings of the Henry Millers, the Eliots, the Malraux and sundry Sartres.’ Some delegates left in disgust.
3.C. M. BowraBowra, C. M. (1898–1971), educated at New College, Oxford (DLitt, 1937), was a Fellow and Tutor of Wadham College, Oxford, 1922–38; Warden of Wadham, 1938–70; Oxford Professor of Poetry, 1946–51; Vice-Chancellor, 1951–4. President of the British Academy, 1958–62, he was knighted in 1951; appointed CH in 1971. Publications include Tradition and Design in the Iliad (1930), Greek Lyric Poetry (1936), The Romantic Imagination (1950), The Greek Experience (1957), Memories, 1898–1939 (1966). TSE wrote rhetorically to John Hayward, 23 June 1944, of Bowra: ‘was there ever a more vulgar little fat Head of a House than he?’
5.HuntingtonCairns, Huntington Cairns (1904–85): lawyer; secretary, treasurer and general counsel to the National Gallery of Art; author; adviser on pornography. Works include The Limits of Art, an anthology.
6.WilliamCastle, William R., Jr. R. Castle, Jr. (1878–1963), teacher and distinguished diplomat, joined the U.S. State Department in 1919; Ambassador to Japan in 1930; subsequently Under Secretary of State. At Harvard he had been an Instructor in English, 1904–13; co-founder of the Fox Club. See Diplomatic Realism: William R. Castle Jr. and American Foreign Policy, 1919–1953, ed, Alfred L. Castle and Michael E. MacMillan (University of Hawaii Press, 1998).
1.DrEliot, Dr Martha May (TSE's cousin) Martha May Eliot (1891–1978), pediatrician: see Biographical Register.
4.TSEElsmiths, theseminal Woods Hole stay with;a1Elsmith, Dorothy Olcott
4.JohnFinley, John Huston, Jr. Huston Finley, Jr. (1904–95): Eliot Professor of Greek Literature, Harvard University, 1942–76; Master of Eliot House, 1941–68 – andFinley, Magdalena (née Greenslet) his wife, Magdalena Greenslet.
2.JohnGielgud, John Gielgud (1904–2000), distinguished actor and theatre director. Knighted in 1953; awarded Legion of Honour, 1960; created Companion of Honour, 1977; Order of Merit, 1996.
6.AlexisLéger, Alexis Saint-Léger ('Saint-John Perse') Saint-Léger Léger (1887–1975) – who wrote as Saint-John Perse – poet and diplomat; Nobel Laureate, 1960: see Biographical Register. TSE to William R. Castle, 12 Oct. 1948: ‘Leger is a little tiresome in company, because he is a great talker and he has consistently refused to learn English’ (EVE).
1.MargaretNason, Margaret ('Meg') Geraldine (Meg) Geraldine Nason (1900–86), proprietor of the Bindery tea rooms, Broadway, Worcestershire, whom TSE and EH befriended on visits to Chipping Campden.
2.EugeneO'Neill, Eugene O’Neill (1888–1953), American playwright; author of works including Anna Christie (1920); The Emperor Jones (1920); The Hairy Ape (1922); All God’s Chillun Got Wings (1924); Desire Under the Elms (1924); Mourning Becomes Electra (1931); The Iceman Cometh (1940); Long Day’s Journey into Night (1941, 1956). Nobel Prize, 1936.
4.DorothyPound, Dorothy Shakespear Shakespear Pound (1886–1973), artist and book illustrator, married Ezra Pound (whom she met in 1908) in 1914: see Biographical Register.
3.Ezra PoundPound, Ezra (1885–1972), American poet and critic: see Biographical Register.
2.EdithSitwell, Edith Sitwell (1887–1964), poet, biographer, anthologist, novelist: see Biographical Register.
3.OsbertSitwell, Osbert Sitwell (1892–1969), poet and man of letters. Early in his career, he published collections of poems, including Argonaut and Juggernaut (1919), and a volume of stories, Triple Fugue (1924); but he is now most celebrated for his remarkable memoirs, Left Hand, Right Hand (5 vols, 1945–50), which include a fine portrayal of TSE. TSE published one sketch by him in the Criterion. See John Lehmann, A Nest of Tigers: Edith, Osbert and Sacheverell Sitwell in their Times (1968); John Pearson, Façades: Edith, Osbert and Sacheverell Sitwell (1978); Philip Ziegler, Osbert Sitwell (1998). TSE to Mary Trevelyan, 16 Oct. 1949: ‘Edith and Osbert are 70% humbug – but kind – and cruel' (in Mary Trevelyan, 'The Pope of Russell Square’, 19).
12.Stephen SpenderSpender, Stephen (1909–95), poet and critic: see Biographical Register.
MearyTambimuttu, Meary James Thuairajah ('Tambi') James Thurairajah Tambimuttu – ‘Tambi’ (1915–83) – Tamil poet, editor and publisher, was born in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and educated at Columbo before arriving in London in Jan. 1938, aged twenty-three. In 1939 he launched Poetry London, which ran for fourteen volumes through the 1940s, publishing figures including Lawrence Durrell, Kathleen Raine, Roy Campbell, and Keith Douglas. In 1943 he established the imprint Editions Poetry London: works produced included Elizabeth Smart’s By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept, Keith Douglas’s Alamein to Zem Zem and Cleanth Brooks’s Modern Poetry and the Tradition. After three years back in Ceylon, 1949–52, he ventured to New York – launching Poetry London–New York (1956–60) – and spent his last years in London. TSE published his anthology Poetry in Wartime (1942). See further Tambimuttu: Bridge between Two Worlds, ed. Jane Williams (1989).
16.MargaretThorp, Margaret (née Farrand) Farrand (1891–1970), author and journalist – see Margaret Thorp in Biographical Register.
1.Margaret Thorp, née Farrand (1891–1970), contemporary and close friend of EH; noted author and biographer. WillardThorp, Willard Thorp (1899–1990) was a Professor of English at Princeton University. See Biographical Register. See further Lyndall Gordon, Hyacinth Girl, 126–8, 158–9.