[35A School St., Andover, Mass.]
IHale, Emilyas director ('producer');v9Antigone;c7 have no word from you for a long time, and have no letter from you to answer. IPerkins, Edith (EH's aunt)reports on EH's dramatic activities;m3 have a letter a few days ago from Aunt Edith, speaking of your Greek play (which one?) in which you have been working with a company of both sexes,1 and I am eager to hear all about it. YouAmericaits horrors;c2'Easter holidays' not including Easter;b5 will perhaps now be about to have your brief Easter vacation (I only remember that in America it never coincides with Easter): I hope I may have a letter from you before the term begins and you are again too busy.
IConfidential Clerk, Thewhich TSE rewrites;a6 have myself a slight breathing spell just now. That is to say I think I have finished the play: I have re-designed Act I for the third time, and the two later acts seem to need only some minor touches. I seem always to write it first in too many scenes, and much of the coil consists of compressing the essentials into one: Act I was originally three scenes, and is now, as are the others, only one scene. The other trouble is in getting more of the dramatis personae onto the stage at once, so that they shall not be forgotten. AtCocktail Party, Thedifficult to produce in France;e6 least, this time, they are all in at the end: FluchèreFluchère, Henrion Cocktail Party in Paris;b4 told me that one reason why the Cocktail Party had not been done in Paris was that no actress of repute would take a part which ended before Act III! It may however be some weeks yet before the play is so near the final state that it can be duplicated, and I can send you a copy. I don’t like to let you see it until it is very close to what it will be on the stage.
Meanwhile'American Literature and the American Language';a2 I am setting to work to do two addresses for delivery in St. Louis.2 Didtravels, trips and plansTSE's 1953 visit to St. Louis and America;i1itinerary;a5 I tell you my schedule? I hope to fly on the 29th May, spend one night in New York, in order to sleep (and I hope I can sleep there) and take a train to St. Louis. I may come back by way of Washington, if the Castles are still there (otherwise I might not have enough cash to go to an hotel) and then straight to Boston. ITalcott, Priscilla Stearns;a1 should get there at the middle of June. IDuBois, J. Delafield;a1 must spend a night or two with Du Boises3 (and see my grand-niece Talcott)4 in Connecticut, and fly back about June 30th., as I shall have the London Library meeting and then start rehearsals. I go to Edinburgh for a week on August 24th, and may take another week in Scotland to rest a bit, as I see no prospect of a holiday till the end of the year. And in April I have to go to St. Andrews for a weekend, andAlliance FrançaiseAnnual Meeting in Bristol;b8 in May (just before I fly!) the Alliance Française meeting in Bristol.5 I did ask you to let me know, when you knew yourself, what your own plans would be during the second half of June. And I do hope that this summer you will try to get to Grand Manan, or somewhere that will be equally good for you: but your summer last year did not sound to me restful enough.
I do want to hear all about the Greek play.
1.The Greek play was Antigone. Letter from Edith Perkins not found.
2.‘American Literature and the American Language’ was to be delivered in St Louis, Missouri, as part of the centennial celebration of the university, 9 June 1953: CProse 7, 792–810.
3.J. DelafieldDuBois, J. Delafield DuBois (1903–83): lawyer, a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, joined J. P. Morgan & Company in 1946. When Morgan and the Guaranty Trust Company of New York merged, DuBois became head of Morgan Guaranty’s international division. He lived with his wife, Elizabeth and their three daughters in Greenwich, Conn.
4.PriscillaTalcott, Priscilla Stearns Stearns Talcott (b. 19 Feb. 1934), daughter of Agnew Talcott and Charlotte Stearns Smith.
5.TSE attended the Annual Assembly of the held at Bristol University, 23–5 May 1953. TSE to Professor W. McAusland Stewart, Dept. of French, 14 May 1953: ‘You are entertaining us, in fact, with grands coups de tra-la-la.’ See ‘Presidential Address to the Alliance française [II]’, delivered on 23 May 1953: CProse 7, 786–9. ‘Response to the toast at the Annual Banquet of the Alliance française’, 790–1.
3.J. DelafieldDuBois, J. Delafield DuBois (1903–83): lawyer, a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, joined J. P. Morgan & Company in 1946. When Morgan and the Guaranty Trust Company of New York merged, DuBois became head of Morgan Guaranty’s international division. He lived with his wife, Elizabeth and their three daughters in Greenwich, Conn.
4.PriscillaTalcott, Priscilla Stearns Stearns Talcott (b. 19 Feb. 1934), daughter of Agnew Talcott and Charlotte Stearns Smith.