[35A School St., Andover, Mass.]
[21 March] 1954.
I arrived after a calm, though cold voyage (for the chilliness began hardly more than 24 hours from the Equator) on Friday nine days ago. I came in for a return of winter, from which I did not suffer, except by extreme sleeplessness and lassitude, from which I am beginning to recover. Anyway, this is the first letter I have written to America since my return. I found awaiting me, the cable you so kindly sent for my departure, which arrived just too late.
TheFabers, theon 1953–4 South Africa trip;i8 holiday was, on the whole, very successful. Being with Faber, I had of course to call upon, and accept hospitality from, various local booksellers; the two cocktail parties given by Sir G. and Lady F. in Durban and Cape Town were of course tiring; and I had to speak for ten minutes after a Foyle’s Bookshop Literary Luncheon in Cape Town. ButMirrlees, Hopein Stellenbosch;d5 the week at Plettenburg [sic] Bay, with very good bathing twice a day, and the final week at Stellenbosch with Hope Mirrlees were very restful; and the weather was on the whole very good – a little too tropically damp in Natal, but delightful at Plettenberg and the Cape. And the two voyages were restful enough – there were a few people I knew on the voyage home, but not too many and I took part in none of the festivities. I feel, as I did four years ago, that I do not want to visit that unhappy country again – the race tensions, not only between White and Black, European African and Asiatic, but between British and Afrikaans [sic] – are too oppressive: nor would I have gone this time except for the Fabers. But I am sure I am all the better in health – as soon as I become re-acclimated to England.
I must thank you for all your letters, including the one that I found waiting for me on the ‘Pretoria Castle’. TheHale, Emilyas director ('producer');v9The Merry Wives of Windsor;c8 MerryShakespeare, WilliamThe Merry Wives of Windsor;c2 Wives I have always thought Shakespeare’s feeblest play, and I doubt if its repetition would please him: so I am very happy to know that you got through it so well. ByConfidential Clerk, The1954 American production;b4reception;a4 now, I have all the cuttings from New York (ISherek, Henry;b6 have not yet seen Sherek, butBrownes, the Martin;d5 am dining with the Brownes on Tuesday) and it is on the whole better than I expected. ICocktail Party, The1950 New York transfer;d7its reception;b4 did not think this play would get such a warm reception as the C-P. But I hear rumours that people are still going to see it. ApparentlyGreenwood, Joanas Lucasta Angel;a1, the cast did better in New Haven and Boston than on the first night in New York (when Joan Greenwood had a bad cold – hence the ‘huskiness’ of which reviewers speak).1 MartinBrowne, Elliott Martin1954 American Confidential Clerk;g2;a1 thinks that individual performances are first rate, but that it is not so close a team as the London cast (which I must visit very soon). IEliot, Esmé Valerie (née Fletcher, TSE's second wife)fending off invitations for TSE;a7 have been struggling this week, with my secretary, to cope with invitations from Copenhagen (C.C. first night) Lille (C-P) first night), Florence, Cambridge and (the most difficult, because a Prize is involved) Hamburg. Also Athens. Also a Brains Trust in Chalfont St. Giles – that is the easiest. And various applications for testimonials, charity, and prefaces to books. And the Sons of the Clergy. This is an interim report. To-day, after early and late Mass, followed by a meeting of the Parochial Church Council (disturbed by a sorely tried Vicar and a persistent but reasonable member) andIovetz-Tereshchenko, N. M.paralysed;a8 then after lunch a visit to my paralysed Russian friend in Wandsworth, I feel very tired. TomorrowLondon Library;b1 I must stop in at the London Library to get some books I want for my next prose work (if I write it) andGarrick Club, London;a8 then introduce a new member to the Garrick Club; and then try to clear up more of my business correspondence.
I hope that when the situations are a bit cleared up, I may write simply as T.S.E. and not as the reporter of what I have been doing and what I have to do.
1.JoanGreenwood, Joan Greenwood (1921–87): English stage and screen actor, applauded for her husky voice and her comic talent, featured in notable films including Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), The Importance of Being Earnest (1952) and – perhaps most seductively – Tom Jones (1963). She took the part of Lucasta Angel in the New York production – at the Morosco Theatre, West 45th Street – of The Confidential Clerk, 11 Feb.–22 May 1954.
4.E. MartinBrowne, Elliott Martin Browne (1900–80), English director and producer, was to direct the first production of Murder in the Cathedral: see Biographical Register.
7.EsméEliot, Esmé Valerie (née Fletcher, TSE's second wife) Valerie Fletcher (1926–2012) started work as TSE’s secretary on 12 Sept. 1949, and became his second wife on 10 Jan. 1957; after his death in Jan. 1965, his literary executor and editor: see 'Valerie Eliot' in Biographical Register.
1.JoanGreenwood, Joan Greenwood (1921–87): English stage and screen actor, applauded for her husky voice and her comic talent, featured in notable films including Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), The Importance of Being Earnest (1952) and – perhaps most seductively – Tom Jones (1963). She took the part of Lucasta Angel in the New York production – at the Morosco Theatre, West 45th Street – of The Confidential Clerk, 11 Feb.–22 May 1954.
2.N. M. Iovetz-TereshchenkoIovetz-Tereshchenko, N. M. (1895–1954), B.Litt. (Oxon), PhD (London): Russian exile; Orthodox Catholic Christian; university lecturer in psychology: see Biographical Register.
2.HopeMirrlees, Hope Mirrlees (1887–1978), British poet, novelist, translator and biographer, was to become a close friend of TSE: see Biographical Register.
4.HenrySherek, Henry Sherek (1900–1967), theatre producer: see Biographical Register.