[Grace Toll Hall, Scripps College, Claremont]
I had two spells in bed with chills – one before and one after Christmas – the weather having been very bad – is now much improved to the ordinary mild drizzly weather that I like, andMorleys, the;b6 I go to the Morleys for the weekend; but have been very busy, partly in consequence of time lost in bed. TimeRock, The;a8 is getting short for finishing the play; andSociety of the Sacred Mission, Kelham Hall, NottinghamshireTSE's January 1934 weekend at;a7 I have to prepare a talk to give to the seminaristes at Kelham on the 20th. I was thankful that you told me you were to spend Christmas at the Perkins’s, else I should have worried my head off after reading about a sort of cloudburst in Los Angeles in which a number of folk were drowned. ThereGalitzi, Dr Christine;b1 is enough to worry about without that. A Christmas card with a short letter written on it, from Christine Galitzi, to whom I really must write: I have neglected her. She fears, I think, that you are over-taxing your strength – as I do and have done ever since I saw your life in that wretched place. I have to try not to think about that, as with other things. My own affairs do not progress too well. TheEliot, Vivien (TSE's first wife, née Haigh-Wood)separation from;f1delayed by death of lawyer;c1 chief clerk of James & James has died suddenly, which means that an incompetent junior partner will handle much of the affair; and short of having a poor lawyer oneself the next worst thing is to have an incompetent lawyer on the other side. V. stillEliot, Vivien (TSE's first wife, née Haigh-Wood)separation from;f1which is yet unsigned;b9 refuses to sign anything, so the terms of the agreement will have to be carried out without her assent. But the purpose of the agreement was to secure my being left in peace – not that I have been molested so far, except by having some very trying letters. Untilfinances (TSE's)TSE's Income Tax;a1 things are more settled and my income tax paid I cannot put my heart into looking for lodgings; and the eventual task of finding unfurnished rooms and buying furniture seems to me tremendous – blankets and pillow cases and all sorts of thing I know nothing about. MyPage-Barbour Lectures, The (afterwards After Strange Gods)being proofread;a8 VirginiaPage-Barbour Lectures, The (afterwards After Strange Gods)approved by D'Arcy;a9 lectures will be proofread and off my hands next week – D’ArcyD'Arcy, Fr Martinapproves After Strange Gods;a4 my Jesuit friend has expressed his approval in the main, so that’s all right – to be published I think in March.1 Wednesday very tiring – a committee for five hours andCriterion, Thefirst contributors' gathering of 1934;a8 then the Criterion evening – a large gathering, everyone invited came – successful, I think, but the responsibility of playing host and talking just enough to everyone and remembering to say the right things to each etc. is certainly fatiguing. WeMorley, Frank Vigornegotiating for Ulysses;c7 haveJoyce, JamesUlysses;e6F&F negotiating for;a5 had to telephone to Paris about ‘Ulysses’ this afternoon – fortunately Morley is very skilful at conducting business by telephone. Tonight I have to dine with the local vicar in S. Kensington.
I hope IAmericaSeattle, Washington State;h1EH repairs to post-Christmas;a7 may have news on your return from Seattle – that you will return refreshed in body and spirit – et je t’envoie mes souhaits pour la bonne année et je soussigne comme toujours ton ami dévoué.2
1.After Strange Gods: A Primer of Modern Heresy: The Page-Barbour Lectures at the University of Virginia was to be published by F&F on 12 Feb.; by Harcourt, Brace on 19 Apr.
2.‘et je t’envoie mes souhaits pour la bonne année et je soussigne comme toujours ton ami dévoué’: ‘and I send my wishes for a Happy New Year and I sign myself as always your devoted friend’.
3.MartinD'Arcy, Fr Martin D’Arcy (1888–1976), Jesuit priest and theologian: see Biographical Register.
1.DrGalitzi, Dr Christine Christine Galitzi (b. 1899), Assistant Professor of French and Sociology, Scripps College. Born in Greece and educated in Romania, and at the Sorbonne and Columbia University, New York, she was author of Romanians in the USA: A Study of Assimilation among the Romanians in the USA (New York, 1968), as well as authoritative articles in the journal Sociologie româneascu. In 1938–9 she was to be secretary of the committee for the 14th International Congress of Sociology due to be held in Bucharest. Her husband (date of marriage unknown) was to be a Romanian military officer named Constantin Bratescu (1892–1971).
1.JamesJoyce, James Joyce (1882–1941), Irish novelist, playwright, poet; author of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916), Ulysses (1922), Finnegans Wake (1939).
4.FrankMorley, Frank Vigor Vigor Morley (1899–1980), American publisher and author; a founding editor of F&F, 1929–39: see Biographical Register.