[41 Brimmer St., Boston]
Look! I have put in a new typewriter ribbon, but it is smudging so that I think I must have put it in wrong, and I don’t believe there is anyone else about who understands it either. This ribbon seems to have too much ink on it, or have I put it on the wrong way about? I was disappointed of my letter this morning: a U.S.A. mail came, but nothing from you; and your last little Easter letter was so brief that I feel that I have been out of news of you for a long time. I'John Ford';a1 am trying to finish an article on John Ford for the Times, whichHarcourt, Brace & Co.and Selected Essays;a1 is also to go into my book of Selected essays for the autumn1 – to be published in New York by Harcourt Brace & Co. – and after that I intend to do no more writing this year except in preparation of my lectures. That is more than enough for me to do, as I feel so exhausted most of the time now, that I sleep very late into the morning – you would be shocked to know how late I do often lie abed – and am only about half efficient. ItEliot, Vivien (TSE's first wife, née Haigh-Wood)mental state;e8benefits from active social life;a3 is really necessary, for V.s mental health, to see people in the evenings and afternoons as much as possible. As she has no resources within herself, to be alone means depression and idleness; on the other hand, to keep her relatively well in mind, in town conditions especially, almost inevitably means great physical fatigue for her as well as for me, so that it is difficult to know where to draw the line. TheEliot, Vivien (TSE's first wife, née Haigh-Wood)and TSE's departure for America;e9in denial as to;a4 best thing would be if she would go back to the Malmaison sanatorium for a couple of months, now that the spring is at hand; meanwhile I could rest a bit and clear things up here. She has not yet faced the problem of how to live while I am away; nor is likely to do till the last moment; I believe that the best thing would be to get a tactful nurse companion to live in the flat with her, and perhaps go to the country for part of the time. But all I can do is to put forward suggestions, and then leave her to her own devices.
IEliot, Revd Frederick May (TSE's first cousin)invites TSE to lecture in St. Paul;a1 hadAmericaSt. Paul, Minnesota;h5;a1 a friendly letter from my cousin Frederick2 in St. Paul this morning, inviting me to visit them there, andUniversity of Minnesota;a1 suggesting that he could get me a lecture or two at the University of Minnesota. That puts into my mind that I might get one or two lecture engagements still further west. Itravels, trips and plansTSE's 1933 westward tour to Scripps;a8and TSE's need to lecture;a2 should like to see the Coast, and California, and it would simplify the problem of my seeing you once, if I could give a lecture somewhere in Southern California. What do you think? Can you think of any university or college in that part of the world which would pay part of my travelling expenses for the pleasure of hearing me speak? Itravels, trips and plansTSE's 1932–3 year in America;a7TSE's itinerary;a8 am afraid that any distant travels must be made either before or after Christmas, or in May, as I shall be giving a course at Harvard on Modern English Literature during the second half year. IPrinceton UniversityTSE engaged to lecture at;a3 think I told you that I have agreed to give one lecture in Princeton, andAmericaBaltimore, Maryland;c6TSE engaged to lecture in;a2 twoPercy Graeme Turnbull Memorial Lectures, The (otherwise The Varieties of Metaphysical Poetry)TSE engaged to give;a1 or three in Baltimore; andAmericaIowa City, Iowa;e9TSE invited to;a1 I have an invitation to spend a fortnight in Iowa City in May (pretty hot there, I should think); and so far have no other engagements.
They'Modern Dilemma, The'TSE against turning into book;a5 want me here to make a small book of my four broadcast talks; my own feeling is that they are too oratorical in form and too thin in matter to justify it, without spending a great deal of time rewriting and amplifying. I have not heard from you of having received any of the copies which I sent week by week: the last letter of any length was that of March 13th. Have you already begun with the Footlight play, and what is it to be and what your role? And I should like to know more of the great changes you discover in yourself within the last year: it is so rarely that one is able to see and to take stock dispassionately of one’s own mutations and developments. Your Lenten and Easter letters expressed a spirit of dependence upon God which gave me much happiness. May it be with you always.
1.TSE, ‘John Ford’, TLS, 5 May 1932, 317–18; repr. in Selected Essays (1932); CProse 5, 474–85.
2.RevdEliot, Revd Frederick May (TSE's first cousin) Frederick May Eliot (1889–1958) – first cousin – Unitarian clergyman and author: see Biographical Register.
2.RevdEliot, Revd Frederick May (TSE's first cousin) Frederick May Eliot (1889–1958) – first cousin – Unitarian clergyman and author: see Biographical Register.