[22 Paradise Rd., Northampton, Mass.]
This has been a very unsatisfactory week for writing. FirstMorleys, thetheir Thanksgiving parties;b2 the long weekend at the Morleys, which meant (as any weekend means) that Monday morning was useless, as I could only get back in time to change, do my washing list, and get off to lunch. ThenSunderland-Taylor, Alice Maud Mary;a4 IPerkinses, the;g9 had illadvisedly [sic] arranged to dine out on both Monday and Tuesday evenings – Monday with the Perkins’s to meet Miss Sunderland-Taylor, andMirrlees, Hopedinner and chess with;b2 Tuesday to play chess with Hope Mirrlees – andUnderhill, Revd Francis, Bishop of Bath and Wellshis consecration attended;d1 onKirk, Kennethconsecrated Bishop of Oxford;a2 TuesdaySt. Paul's Cathedral, LondonUnderhill and Kirk's consecration;a3 morning I had to hurry off to get to St. Paul’s in time for the consecration of Francis Underhill and Kenneth Kirk as bishops of Bath & Wells and Oxford respectively: so that there was no time in which to write for the only good boat this week. There is a boat tomorrow, the Washington I think, but no fast one for nearly a week. And as for work, not much will be done this week either. Monday and Tuesday mornings all used up; Wednesday I had to go to the dentist; tomorrow morning again to the dentist to have a molar out – but I don’t think I shall have to have a dental plate yet – this tooth has split into two halves – and on Monday again to the dentist just for inspection. AndFamily Reunion, TheTSE on writing;b4 after that I must give some attention to the matter of Christmas cards, presents for seven children etc., so no likelihood of my finishing this draft before Christmas. IFamily Reunion, TheTSE on writing;b4 have done six more pages – have four or five more to do to complete this scene, then another long scene and then the more fiddly business of bringing all to a neat conclusion. AnywayFamily Reunion, Theprojected autumn 1938 production;c2, as you will see from the enclosed letter from Martin, the play is not likely to be produced until the autumn; thoughFamily Reunion, Theand Mourning Becomes Electra;c4 theO'Neill, EugeneMourning Becomes Electra;a6 run of O’Neill’s play ends in a fortnight.1 IHutchinson, Maryto Mourning Becomes Electra;c3 am going to see ‘Mourning Becomes Electra’ in a week’s time with Mary Hutchinson, so as to judge for myself:2 but the point is not so much whether there is any real similarity (I shall be much surprised if there is) but whether there are any superficial likenesses to strike the audience. There is evidently a reference to the Orestes theme in O’Neill’s play; on the other hand, there are only the Furies to suggest a relationship in mine.
Two very fine, though very cold days, while at Lingfield; and a lovely drive through Kent on Sunday – toMorley, Donaldtreated in Ramsgate;b5 fetch Donald for the day from his school – and took him to Ramsgate for lunch (the general formation of Ramsgate, as seen from the sea-front, is quite beautiful) and drove back through Broadstairs and Margate which I knew already.
The Perkins’s seemed quite well, and we had I think a successful evening with Miss Taylor, who is very much what one would expect to find.
HopeMirrlees, Hopeand her dachshund;b3 fidgettydogsDachshund;b9Hope Mirrlees's 'Mary';a2 as ever, and her dachshund far more intolerable than the Thorps’ dog ever was. I find that knowing a number of rather lonely individuals of various sorts (forJanes, W. L.a burden;b5 thereCulpin, Johanna ('Aunt Johanna', née Staengel)'tiring';a5 is not much else in common between, say, Hope Mirrlees, Janes and Jan Culpin) is apt to take as much time and be as tiring as going out in ‘society’ could be.
TonightHayward, Johncorrects TSE's Anabase translation;h6 IAnabasisJDH's help with;a1 look in on John to get him to help me in revising the translation of ‘Anabase’ for the American edition.3
IfMorleys, thehave Labrador puppies;j2 youdogsLabrador;c4the Morleys' eight puppies;a1 had seen the Morleys’ Labrador puppies you would have wanted one. They had eight, and are not finding it easy to get rid of them. They ought to get good prices.
Saturday night ISeaverns, Helenhosts TSE and the Perkinses;b6 dine with Mrs. Seaverns and the Perkins’s. I fortunately received by mistake an extra ticket for the Consecration, which I gave to Dr. Perkins. The ceremony is simple, though long, but I found [it] very impressive, especially the laying on of hands, which is done, not by the Archbishop alone, as I had supposed, but by all the bishops present, of whom there were twenty or thirty.
I hope that your Thanksgiving was a happy one, though it must have been tiring, as you had to get back to Northampton the same night. I do think that colleges might lay off until the Monday, though I suppose that most of the girls at Smith live too far away for it to be possible for them to go home. I shan’t expect any letter from you until next week.
I hope for a quiet day on Saturday, and Sunday with no engagements at all. This letter is written in rather a rush.
1.BrowneBrowne, Elliott Martin1939 production of The Family Reunion;c1suggests TSE see Mourning Becomes Electra;a4 to TSE, 29 Nov. 1937: ‘First, I want to tell you about your new play: that I have read it very carefully and with the greatest enjoyment. It is exceedingly good, I think, both as dramatic construction and in characterization: and should play exceedingly well.
‘If you’ve been to “Mourning Becomes Electra” you will see what a serious rival faces it, in the memory that the audience yours will depend on carries away of a treatment of the Oresteia-theme. There’s no question now, I think, of production before the autumn. But if we can keep them apart a little, it is possible that your play may even benefit, and its peculiarly trenchant study of the English character be properly valued!’
2.Eugene O’Neill’s Mourning Becomes Electra (1931) – an interpretation of the Oresteia by Aeschylus – was produced at the Westminster Theatre by Michael Macowan, with Mark Dignam as Ezra Mannon (Agamemnon), Laura Cowie as Christine Mannon (Clytemnestra).
3.The first US edn of Anabasis appeared from Harcourt, Brace & Co. on 3 Mar. 1938.
FrankMorley, Frank Vigorsends TSE corrected Anabasis;h3n MorleyBrace, Donaldreceives corrected Anabasis;b1 to Donald Brace (New York), 14 Dec.: ‘At long last I am able to send the corrected copy of ANABASIS, which Eliot gave me yesterday, along with a memorandum which I enclose with this. It is true what Eliot says about Hayward’s trouble over the text, which is now as near perfection as humanly possible. It now amounts, as Eliot says, to a second edition superior to that which we have been publishing.
‘I don’t quite know what to say about the fee Eliot suggests for John Hayward. Would it, do you think, stand a couple of guineas?’
The corrected copy of the first edn of Anabasis (1930) is in the T. S. Eliot Library.
6.DonaldBrace, Donald Brace (1881–1955), publisher; co-founder of Harcourt, Brace: see Biographical Register.
4.E. MartinBrowne, Elliott Martin Browne (1900–80), English director and producer, was to direct the first production of Murder in the Cathedral: see Biographical Register.
11.JohnHayward, John Davy Hayward (1905–65), editor and critic: see Biographical Register.
3.MaryHutchinson, Mary Hutchinson (1889–1977), literary hostess and author: see Biographical Register.
4.W. L. JanesJanes, W. L. (1854–1939), ex-policeman who worked as handyman for the Eliots. Having been superannuated from the police force early in the century, he worked for a period (until about 1921) as a plain-clothes detective in the General Post Office. TSE reminisced to Mary Trevelyan on 2 Apr. 1951: ‘If I ever write my reminiscences, which I shan’t, Janes would have a great part in them’ (‘The Pope of Russell Square’). TSE to Adam Roberts (b. 1940; godson of TSE), 12 Dec. 1955: ‘I … knew a retired police officer, who at one period had to snoop in plain clothes in the General Post Office in Newgate Street – he caught several culprits, he said’ (Adam Roberts). HisJanes, Ada wife was Ada Janes (d. 1935).
4.KennethKirk, Kenneth Kirk (1886–1954), Anglican priest, theologian, author. Fellow and Chaplain of Trinity College, Oxford, from 1933 he was Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology. He was to be elevated as Bishop of Oxford, 1937–54. Works include Some Principles of Moral Theology (1920) and The Vision of God (Bampton Lectures, 1928) (1931).
2.HopeMirrlees, Hope Mirrlees (1887–1978), British poet, novelist, translator and biographer, was to become a close friend of TSE: see Biographical Register.
2.JohnMorley, Donald Donald Innes Morley (b. 15 Mar. 1926).
4.FrankMorley, Frank Vigor Vigor Morley (1899–1980), American publisher and author; a founding editor of F&F, 1929–39: see Biographical Register.
2.EugeneO'Neill, Eugene O’Neill (1888–1953), American playwright; author of works including Anna Christie (1920); The Emperor Jones (1920); The Hairy Ape (1922); All God’s Chillun Got Wings (1924); Desire Under the Elms (1924); Mourning Becomes Electra (1931); The Iceman Cometh (1940); Long Day’s Journey into Night (1941, 1956). Nobel Prize, 1936.
3.HelenSeaverns, Helen Seaverns, widow of the American-born businessman and Liberal MP, Joel Herbert Seaverns: see Biographical Register.
6.AliceSunderland-Taylor, Alice Maud Mary Maud Mary Sunderland-Taylor (1872–1942), owner of Stamford House, Chipping Campden, which the Perkinses were renting for the season. (Sunderland-Taylor, a spinster and retired schoolteacher from Stamford, Lincolnshire, liked to spend her summers in Yugoslavia.) Edith Perkins wrote from Aban Court Hotel, Harrington Gardens, South Kensington, London, to invite TSE to meet Sunderland-Taylor at dinner on Mon. 29 Nov.
2.Revd Francis UnderhillUnderhill, Revd Francis, Bishop of Bath and Wells, DD (1878–1943), TSE’s spiritual counsellor: see Biographical Register.