[35A School St., Andover, Mass.]
1642 E. 56th Street,
Jackson Park, Chicago
My cold hung on until a day or two ago, since when I am completely recovered; but the intense heat (which seemed to abate a little last night, but to-day is bright and sunny and may be very warm again) especially after a cold summer in England, has been rather exhausting. People here regard their climate as something unique, and I wonder if the weather has been the same with you. The heat in the middle of the day does not surprise me so much, but it is unexpected to find that it has been very warm at night as well. And the compulsory dinner parties are of course tiring. I dread large dinner parties anywhere, but the din of twelve or more people talking at once (and they tend to talk rather loud) is a great strain. A dinner of the Social Thought Committee on Monday, my ‘seminar’ on Wednesday, aNef, John Ulric;a3 dinner of Professor Nef’s last night; thisEnglish Speaking Unionabsorbs Books Across the Sea;a5 afternoon a tea party of the English Speaking Union today, (at which I may be called upon to say a few words) andWilliamson, George;a3 dinner (a large party I am sure) by Prof. Williamson tonight (we are publishing a book of his).1 TomorrowBell, Bernard Iddings;b5, only a lunch of the Episcopalian Committee with Canon Bell;2 and Sunday apparently free. NextZabel, Morton Dauwen;a1 week I have to give lectures on two evenings, dine with Mr. Zabel (formerly editor of ‘Poetry’),3 attendHayek, Friedrich vonTSE attends seminar of;a1 Von Hayek’s seminar,4 go to a cocktail Party of the Chancellor’s and dine with a Mrs. Seymour. Besides the university people, and the church folk, thereEliot, Henry Ware, Jr. (TSE's brother)his Chicago acquaintance;l9 are also certain old friends of Henry’s whom I must be polite to. After'Aims of Education, The';a3 lunch I take a nap, and work on revising my lectures (That'Poetry and Drama';a1 is finished now, andHarvard UniversityTheodore Spencer Memorial Lecture;c8 I must start in to write the Spencer Memorial Lecture which I deliver in Sanders Theatre on Nov. 21st).5 In the morning I get my exercise by a mile or so walk to my university office, where Mrs. Armour and Miss Michaelson look after my business, and I dictate letters and sometimes interview students or the press. It is in fact exactly the life you would expect it to be, for the next three weeks. IAmericaChicago, Illinois;d8TSE on;a3 have not seen much of Chicago, but this part of town is pleasant, and one can walk in Jackson Park nearby, which abuts on the lake. The people are very friendly, and to judge by the reception of my first lecture, easily pleased. IHutchins, Robert Maynard;a1 likeNef, John Ulric;a4 Chancellor Hutchens [sc. Hutchins],6 and John Nef, who is immediately responsible for me, is the soul of kindness (hisNef, Elinor Castle wifeDickens, CharlesNicholas Nickleby;a9, whoDickens, CharlesMrs Nickelby and Mrs Nef;a6 reminds me in her conversation of Mrs. Nickleby – and think of Mrs. Nickleby on the telephone! – is rather trying, but very well meaning).7 (SheCocktail Party, TheMrs Nef's reading-group reading;e2;a1 has a ‘play-reading’ group, and I have got to hear ‘The Cocktail Party’ read by them. She sometimes rings up to tell me of her difficulties in casting).
IPerkins, Dr John Carroll (EH's uncle);i6 assume that Uncle John’s condition is much the same, as I have not heard from you, but I have been hoping for a line from you every day.
1.George Williamson (1898–1968) was Professor of English at the University of Chicago; his publications include The Talent of T. S. Eliot (chapbook, 1929); The Donne Tradition (1930); and A Reader’s Guide to T. S. Eliot: A Poem-by-Poems Analysis (New York, 1953). F&F was to bring out The Senecan Amble: A Study in Prose Form from Bacon to Collier (1951).
2.Bernard Iddings Bell.
3.MortonZabel, Morton Dauwen Dauwen Zabel (1901–64): American poet, literary critic, editor; associate editor of Poetry: A Magazine of Verse, 1928–36; editor, 1936–7. Professor of English at the University of Chicago, 1947–64. Works include Literary Opinion in America (anthology, 1937) and Craft and Character: Texts, Method, and Vocation in Modern Fiction (1957).
4.FriedrichHayek, Friedrich von von Hayek (1899–1992): Austrian-born economist, social theorist and political philosopher, who became a British citizen in 1938, taught at the London School of Economics, 1931–50, and at the University of Chicago, 1950–62; ultimately at the University of Freiburg. Co-winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, 1974, he was made Companion of Honour, 1984; and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1991.
5.‘Poetry and Drama’: the first Theodore Spencer Memorial Lecture, delivered at Harvard on 21 Nov. 1950: CProse 7, 589–610.
6.RobertHutchins, Robert Maynard Maynard Hutchins (1899–1977): graduate of Yale, philosopher and educational theorist; President of the University of Chicago, 1929–45; Chancellor, 1945–51. He served on the Executive Committee of the Committee on Social Thought. Chairman of the Board of Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica, 1943–74, he was the author of No Friendly Voice (1936), The Higher Learning in America (1936) and Education for Freedom (1943).
7.ElinorNef, Elinor Castle Castle Nef (d. 1953). The comic figure of Mrs Catherine Nickleby is given to digressive, unfocused chatter.
3.BernardBell, Bernard Iddings Iddings Bell, DD (1886–1958), American Episcopal priest, author and cultural commentator; Warden of Bard College, 1919–33. In his last years he was made Canon of the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, Chicago, and a William Vaughn Lecturer at the University of Chicago.
3.HenryEliot, Henry Ware, Jr. (TSE's brother) Ware Eliot (1879–1947), TSE’s older brother: see Biographical Register.
4.FriedrichHayek, Friedrich von von Hayek (1899–1992): Austrian-born economist, social theorist and political philosopher, who became a British citizen in 1938, taught at the London School of Economics, 1931–50, and at the University of Chicago, 1950–62; ultimately at the University of Freiburg. Co-winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, 1974, he was made Companion of Honour, 1984; and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1991.
6.RobertHutchins, Robert Maynard Maynard Hutchins (1899–1977): graduate of Yale, philosopher and educational theorist; President of the University of Chicago, 1929–45; Chancellor, 1945–51. He served on the Executive Committee of the Committee on Social Thought. Chairman of the Board of Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica, 1943–74, he was the author of No Friendly Voice (1936), The Higher Learning in America (1936) and Education for Freedom (1943).
7.ElinorNef, Elinor Castle Castle Nef (d. 1953). The comic figure of Mrs Catherine Nickleby is given to digressive, unfocused chatter.
3.JohnNef, John Ulric Ulric Nef (1899–1988), Professor of Economic History, invited TSE to visit Chicago to offer a series of seven or eight lectures, under the auspices of the Committee on Social Thought (a high-level interdisciplinary department which he co-founded in 1941).
3.DrPerkins, Dr John Carroll (EH's uncle) John Carroll Perkins (1862–1950), Minister of King’s Chapel, Boston: see Biographical Register.
2.GeorgeWilliamson, George Williamson (1898–1968) taught at Pomona College, Claremont, California, 1925–7; then at Stanford University, and at the University of Chicago (1936–68), where he was Professor of English from 1940. His works include The Talent of T. S. Eliot (University of Washington Chapbooks no. 32, 1929); The Donne Tradition (1930); and A Reader’s Guide to T. S. Eliot: A Poem-by-Poem Analysis (New York, 1953). F&F was to bring out The Senecan Amble: A Study in Prose Form from Bacon to Collier (1951).
3.MortonZabel, Morton Dauwen Dauwen Zabel (1901–64): American poet, literary critic, editor; associate editor of Poetry: A Magazine of Verse, 1928–36; editor, 1936–7. Professor of English at the University of Chicago, 1947–64. Works include Literary Opinion in America (anthology, 1937) and Craft and Character: Texts, Method, and Vocation in Modern Fiction (1957).