[41 Brimmer St., Boston]
Your letter of May 26th has come to make me happy this morning. I shall be glad when we are near enough together for letters to take only a few days (and how long is it from Cambridge to Claremont by Air Mail, please?) because when one is always answering a letter written before the last three or four have been received, we can get confused; it is hard to remember in which letter I said what. IHale, Emilycorrespondence with TSE;w3and TSE's respectful reticence;c5 am very much aware that the really personal note is decidedly the exception; and I am aware that this is quite deliberate on my part – I don’t mean that I ever want to conceal facts, in the least; but that if I let myself go, it would only mean more pain, for me, and perhaps for you? And then, along with (but indeed they are all inseparable for me) the feeling [illegible words]sion, dependence and the instinct (for
Bother the ribbon: it’s as if some one had interrupted: along with the feelings of companionship, passion, dependence, reverence and the unsatisfied craving of the protective instinct, I have a very strong feeling for which I can only call ‘respect’ – the word makes it sound very priggish and unreal; but it is a true feeling which would always be present, but is perhaps emphasised by the situation.
For your various remarks about the theatre, the Thorps etc. much thanks. I shall get the books you want. (TheChristianityAnglo-Catholicism;a8but unfortunately out of print;a4 Anglican Missal, alas, is out of print, and I am trying to get a second hand copy, if such a thing exists). WouldTimes Literary Supplement, TheTSE on;a2 you like to receive the Times Literary Supplement regularly? It is dull, but it does mention nearly every book that appears, and is a useful catalogue of new books; and sometimes I and various friends write ‘leaders’; andRichmond, Bruce;a5 Richmond the editor is a very good friend of mine.
Buttravels, trips and plansTSE's 1933 westward tour to Scripps;a8TSE's itinerary;a4 as to the holidays. I am very happy that the colleges begin again so soon after Christmas. I should be able to get to the Coast, I suppose, just about the 4th or 5th Jan. There is one thing I must leave to you, and must ask you when you will be able to decide, for I shall have to make my plans accordingly: do you prefer to be in Claremont or in Seattle to see me? As you must be in Claremont by Jan. 3d. I could either come there in January, or to Seattle – ifScripps College, ClaremontTSE hopes to visit EH at;b1 there, it would have to be between the 16th Dec. and the 1st Jan. would it not? Ittravels, trips and plansTSE's 1933 westward tour to Scripps;a8and TSE's need to lecture;a2 seems to me that I could get the necessary excuse of lectures either in the North West or in Southern California; but I don’t know whether I should have the time or energy to lecture in both parts of the world. It only matters that I should be able to count upon seeing you, and spending a few days in your neighbourhood.
IWilliamson, George;a2 shall be seeing George Williamson, who is Professor of English at Oregon University, in a few days, and will raise tentatively the question of lectures there. But I don’t know when the Harvard holidays begin; and it would be pointless for me to go to Washing[ton] and Oregon after you were back in the South again.
I expecttravels, trips and plansTSE's 1932–3 year in America;a7TSE's itinerary;a8 to go to Baltimore in November. PrincetonPrinceton UniversityTSE engaged to lecture at;a3 wants me to come on March 8th, so that will have to be a separate visit.
Perhaps the difficulty of dates for meeting will settle my coming to Claremont. I should have preferred to see you during the holidays, when you were not rushed with work, but that is the dilemma.
ThereHodgsons, theaccompany the Eliots to Derby Day;a4 istravels, trips and plansthe Eliots' Derby Day excursion;a4;a1 much in the way of minor news – also Derby Day which I must tell you about; it went off without mishap, I was glad when it was over, but am also glad to have seen the spectacle once.1 And57 Chester Terrace, LondonTSE hopes to be divested of;a2 I believe that I have just a chance of disposing of my house, which will relieve my financial burdens a little. Je t’embrasse les deux mains.
1.Seymour-JonesEliots, the T. S.attend Derby Day with the Hodgsons;d6nEliot, Vivien (TSE's first wife, née Haigh-Wood)
3.BruceRichmond, Bruce Richmond (1871–1964), editor of the TLS, 1902–37.
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).