[‘Hillbrow’, CataumetHale, Emilyholidays in Cataumet;i5, Mass.; forwarded to 5 Clement Circle, Cambridge, Mass.]
I had hoped to get a letter from you this morning, toSociety of the Sacred Mission, Kelham Hall, Nottinghamshire;b4 which I could reply before leaving for Kelham and Swanwick, and so indeed your letter of the 5th July from Cataumet did come, and I was very glad to have it. Theretravels, trips and plansTSE's 1936 American trip;c4efforts to coordinate with EH;a8 may possibly be a letter from Ada at the office with more information about the possible dates; but I hope that the plan you outline will be feasible, as I should certainly prefer to be with you towards the end, just before you go up to Smith; andAmericaRandolph, New Hampshire;g9the Eliot siblings return to;a2 theAmericaWoods Hole, Falmouth, Massachusetts;i2TSE and EH arrange holiday at;a1 plan of Cambridge first, Randolph next, and Wood’s Hole (I thought that years ago it was spelt ‘Holl’) last. I rather hope that these plans will not have to be altered on account of Henry – and Ada, Sheff and Marian will be enough at once, and I can see Henry in Cambridge during the last week before I return; andElsmith, Dorothy Olcottissues invitation to Woods Hole;a1 I wait impatiently to know whether the Ellsmiths will be willing and able to have us.
IPerkins, Palfrey;a3 shall be very glad to see the Palfrey Perkins’s if they are in town when I am – have I made my timetable quite clear? Itravels, trips and plansTSE's 1936 Faber summer holiday;c3;a4 return from Swanwick on Friday the 17th, and shall be in London, exceptTandys, theTSE's Hampton weekends with;a1 perhaps for one Sunday with the Tandys, untilMorleys, the;h7 the 30th July, whenFabers, the1936 summer holiday with;c8 the Morleys motor me to Wales – I return on the 10th, and shall be very busy for the next ten days until I sail by the ALAUNIA from Southampton for Montreal. I will wire from Montreal – to Clement Circle unless you give some other address.
Well, IAmericaCataumet, Massachusetts;d7EH holidays in;a1 suspect that on arriving at Cataumet you found yourself even more tired and jaded than you had supposed; and that you are suffering naturally from a retrospect of the winter, such as I hope you will never have to have again. The effort of arriving at an objective understanding of one’s relatives – both those whom one is genuinely fond of and those whom one wishes to be fond of, is a very hard one; but once it has begun – once the difficulties have arisen which start that consciousness – I think it has to be carried through to as clear a vision as one is capable of – which in the end, is more satisfactory for everyone. Incidentally, complete and blind selfishness is one of the most difficult things to accommodate oneself to – one can go on sacrificing oneself merely because one wishes not to believe that anyone can be so selfish, and one loathes having to protect oneself. I shall write of these matters more fully when I get back – over the weekend – becauseLéon, Pauldespatches wife with Joyce's 'Work in Progress';a2 I haveJoyce, James'Work in Progress' (afterwards Finnegans Wake);e7new MS delivered by Madame Léon;a4 just been rung up to say that Madame Léon is calling at the office in half an hour to deliver the new manuscript of Joyce’s new book (most of it) and that is particularly my business.
My darling, I hope that when you leave Cataumet, andHale, Emilyas actor;v8potentially in summer theatre company;c2 start for your theatrical interlude, you will feel more refreshed and collected and strong. I wish that I could be with you now to help you and myself, and you are incessantly in my thoughts.
4.TSEElsmiths, theseminal Woods Hole stay with;a1Elsmith, Dorothy Olcott
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).
3.Paul LéonLéon, Paul, né Léopoldovich (1893–1942?): Jewish émigré from the Bolshevik revolution who settled in Paris; he met Joyce in 1928, when Joyce was forty-seven and Léon thirty-five. He became Joyce’s unpaid assistant and amanuensis from 1930, and protected his papers after the Nazis took over Paris. Léon was eventually seized by the German authorities and despatched to a camp where he died in unknown circumstances. See The James Joyce–Paul Léon Papers in the National Gallery of Ireland: A Catalogue, by Catherine Fahy (1992); John Naughton, ‘Arm in arm with a literary legend’ (interview with Alexis Léon), Observer, 13 Jan. 1991.
18.PalfreyPerkins, Palfrey Perkins (1883–1976), who graduated from the Harvard Divinity School, was Unitarian Minister in Buffalo, New York, 1926–33; later of King’s Chapel, Boston, 1933–53.