[41 Brimmer St., Boston]
I am rather disconsolate at having no letter this week, no fresh unanswered letter lying before me to answer; I hope that the play is the reason. And by the way it does rather irritate me that you do not give me the name of the play and the author, so that I might be reading it while you are rehearsing your part; and in this case I really must have it, as you speak so pitifully of your rôle. WhatHale, Emilyas actor;v8TSE speculates as to her future in;b6 is the future, I wonder, that you foresee. I never care to think of mine; and even were there, in the ordinary way, anything pleasant to look forward to, or any great present good to look forward to maintaining – nowadays the public future is so uncertain, and one’s private affairs are so tied to the wheel1 of public events which one cannot foresee or affect, that there is little use in speculating. ForUniversity of CambridgeTSE dreams of professorship at;a3 me thereOxford UniversityTSE dreams of professorship at;a4 is the faint possibility of any eventual professorship at Oxford or Cambridge, which, if it came, would bring only one thing desirable: the freedom from money difficulty and uncertainty. Perhaps I shall be invigorated by the winter in America, and shall see things rather differently. IFaber and Faber (F&F)TSE disenchanted with;a7 cannot feel that the publishing business is very much worth while, though my livelihood depends upon it, and though the bottom may fall out of the publishing market at any time.
My life consists chiefly in taking one hurdle after another; one dreaded event is succeeded by another. Some of the things which tire me will seem to you, or certainly to anyone else, very trifling: for instance, to-dayEliot, Vivien (TSE's first wife, née Haigh-Wood);b6 INoyes, Penelope Barker;a9 have got to go home and fetch V. to drive her to Garland’s to lunch with Penelope, and then I take Mr. Noyes to lunch at the club. ItEliot, Vivien (TSE's first wife, née Haigh-Wood)her driving;b3 is the driving that I hate; I loathe driving myself, and I never have a moment’s ease when V. drives (it is her car). I hate the traffic, and the feeling of publicity; and I should like to go somewhere where motorcars are unknown. ThenHodgsons, the;a2 next week weEliots, the T. S.;d2 are supposed to go to the country for a couple of days with Hodgson and Miss Bolliger; more driving, and discomfort in a country hotel, and no escape from the company of three very tiring people; and all the trouble of packing V. medicines etc.2 I have got to a state in which to be completely free even for one weekend, to do as I like, to go to bed when I like, to go out or in as I like, and to see nobody if I didn’t like, seems an incredible state of bliss.
Here I am relieving myself with a grumbling fit, but not having any letter from you seems to create the proper mood and occasion for it: not that I am grumbling, either in word, thought or feeling, against you, my dear; and I already feel a little better for it.
FaberFaber, Geoffreysuggests garden-party for TSE;b4 has launched the notion of giving a garden party in Russell Square, on a large scale, ostensibly to commemorate my departure for America and George Blake’s leaving the firm to become editor of a newspaper in Glasgow. The idea makes me shudder. But I have some hope that the Bedford Estate will refuse permission, and then perhaps we can reduce the affair to a small private dinner. ThinkGreat Depression in the United Kingdom ('Great Slump')the unemployment crisis;a2 of a big party in the square, with a marquee and a string orchestra! and a crowd of loafers gaping over the railings. In these sombre times it does not seem good taste, however well meant.
There is, you must know, a great deal about which I am longing to hear from you.
What a stupid letter – not even very grammatical. But I am stupid, most of the time.
1.Cf. ‘Thou art a soul in bliss, but I am bound / Upon a wheel of fire’ (King Lear I. vii. 46–7).
2.Seymour-Jones, Painted Shadow, 476: ‘On 27 May 1932 Vivienne thanked Aurelia effusively for their “perfect” day out, when they had visited Arundel, and arranged for Aurelia to come to stay for a week with Ralph’s bull terrier Picky while Hodgson was visiting Siegfried Sassoon.
‘Vivienne knew Aurelia well enough to complain to her about Tom. “Mr Eliot is playing the Wireless and driving me MAD,” she had confided to her friend on 19 May, while arranging a day at the Derby in the Eliots’ car.’
11.GeoffreyFaber, Geoffrey Faber (1889–1961), publisher and poet: see Biographical Register.
12.PenelopeNoyes, Penelope Barker Barker Noyes (1891–1977), who was descended from settlers of the Plymouth Colony, lived in a historic colonial house (built in 1894 for her father James Atkins Noyes) at 1 Highland Street, Cambridge, MA. Unitarian. She was a close friend of EH.