[22 Paradise Rd., Northampton, Mass.]
I have your letter no. 11 of the 31st. As the previous one received is no. 9, I presume that the long one to which you refer, which I have not yet received, is no. 10. If you had noted the numbers of mine, you would have seen that between the 9th and the 19th there was another one on the way.
ApartFaber, Geoffreytakes TSE to Oxford;g9 fromDragon School, OxfordTSE watches The Mikado at;a1 myFaber, Thomas Erle ('Tom', TSE's godson)in school Mikado;b3 visit to Oxford to see the Mikado – which was a very good performance for such small boys, though at times distressing, as they kept their eyes glued on the director of the show, who was also the producer and the conductor of the orchestra, just as if they were performing animals – but I understand that they enjoy it very much – withAll Souls College, Oxfordevening with GCF at;a2 anRowse, Alfred Leslie ('A. L.')at All Souls dinner;a7 evening at All Souls, whereTai-chi, Quo;a1 theGodfrey, Fr William;a1 chief guests were the Chinese Ambassador 1 and the Apostolic Delegate,2 and I talked mostly to A. L. Rowse – theSwinton, Maj.-Gen. Sir Ernestargues with GCF;a1 endFaber, Geoffreyargues with Major-General Swinton;h1 of the evening was taken up by a military argument between Geoffrey and General Swinton3 – and I came back on Sunday morning to read poetry to the Asiatic students in Gower Street – there is very little to report. IEnglandLondon;h1in wartime;d4 am out about three evenings a week, and am getting quite used to it, learning to economise my torch. No, I don’t bicycle; the tube serves most of my needs, and walking at night is rather pleasant where one is sure of the way. I always feel that I ought to have more to say about war conditions than I do: but there seems very little to say. OnSecond World WarTSE's thoughts on;b2 matters of discussion, I feel first that my own mind is so very confused that there is nothing to discuss except with people who are in the same confusion – which is everyone here, and nobody outside of Europe. And beyond that there is so much that can only be discussed by tête à tête: it is not merely that one would say a great deal that would give quite a false impression to a third party if repeated, but would give a false impression merely by being written down. IHale, Emilycorrespondence with TSE;w3constrained by war;g8 have never felt so keenly the difficulties of communication by writing, though they are always there, to some extent, between everybody. I can only ask you to keep in mind that the farther one is away, the simpler problems look; and that the more one is immersed in them, the more complicated they appear. When they can be simplified, and one quite knows one’s own mind – even when there is nothing to be done about it, that it is some relief and one can dismiss them at times and let one’s mind be filled solely with personal relations and with one’s proper work. But as things are, they hang about one’s mind like a quotation one wants to make and just can’t get right, and they invade one’s private business and one’s private emotions. So you must bear with me, I fear: one is not fully living one’s private life at a time like this; and as the difficulties are not likely to get less, it is as well to recognise these difficulties of communication which have nothing to do with censorship. Of course I miss you all the more because of these obstacles! Meanwhile do not judge us here either too enthusiastically or too censoriously. There is so appallingly much that we must recognise as just in the hand of God, and we must pray to see what He wants us to do.
Oddlyreading (TSE's)Ibsen;h1 enough, theIbsen, Henrikas dramatist;a2 day before your letter arrived, I had got a volume of Ibsen out of the library: so I must have known your advice before I received it. ItIbsen, HenrikRosmersholm;a4 containedIbsen, HenrikThe Lady from the Sea;a3 Rosmersholm and The Lady from the Sea. I can recognise merits of construction, but was so far from excited by the content that I found it difficult to profit by the craftsmanship. What a musty out of date, provincial view of life Ibsen has! And the dreary symbolism which is hardly more than a stage trick; the symbolism of a man with no supernatural beliefs at all. All this stuff about emancipation. ButIbsen, HenrikWhen We Dead Awake;a5 I shall try again, because I have been told that his most important play is When we Dead Awake. SoO'Neill, Eugeneas modern dramatist;a2 are there any good modern plays to read? O’Neill’s are flimsy material well put together. IsChekhov, Antonsupreme modern playwright;a4 there any modern dramatist whose work I can admire except Tchehov???
1.QuoTai-chi, Quo Tai-chi (1888–1952), Nationalist Chinese Ambassador to the UK, 1932–41.
2.FrGodfrey, Fr William William Godfrey (1889–1963), Apostolic Nuncio (Ambassador) to the UK, Malta and Gibraltar, 1938–53.
3.Major-GenSwinton, Maj.-Gen. Sir Ernest. Sir Ernest Swinton (1868–1951), army officer, was Chichele Professor of Military History and a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford University, 1925–39.
11.GeoffreyFaber, Geoffrey Faber (1889–1961), publisher and poet: see Biographical Register.
4.ThomasFaber, Thomas Erle ('Tom', TSE's godson) Erle Faber (1927–2004), TSE’s godson and principal dedicatee of Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, was to become a physicist, teaching at Cambridge, first at Trinity, then for fifty years at Corpus Christi. He served too as chairman of the Geoffrey Faber holding company.
2.FrGodfrey, Fr William William Godfrey (1889–1963), Apostolic Nuncio (Ambassador) to the UK, Malta and Gibraltar, 1938–53.
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.A. L. RowseRowse, Alfred Leslie ('A. L.') (1903–97), Cornish historian and poet: see Biographical Register.
3.Major-GenSwinton, Maj.-Gen. Sir Ernest. Sir Ernest Swinton (1868–1951), army officer, was Chichele Professor of Military History and a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford University, 1925–39.