[c/o PerkinsHale, Emilyreturns to the Perkinses at 90 Commonwealth Avenue;n3, 90 Commonwealth Ave., Boston]
I have nothing in particular to report during the last week; aMoot, The;b5 weekend conference at Jordan’s, committees, ARPEnglandLondon;h1TSE as air-raid warden in;d5 lectures, dinedWoolfs, the;e6 with the Woolfs. ThisHayward, Johnexcursions to Cambridge to visit;k1 weekendHugh Inneses, thevisited in Cambridge;a3 I go to Cambridge – a week or two sooner than I had intended, butMagdalene College, Cambridgefeast of St. Mary Magdalen at;a5 Sunday night is the dedication feast of St. Mary Magdalen, so it seemed a suitable occasion. I shall also see John, of course, and possibly the Innes’s and Charles Smyth. JustCatholic Summer School of Sociology, 1940postponed;a3 as'English Tradition: Some Thoughts as a Preface to Study, The';a5 I had completed my address for the Summer School of Sociology, came the news that the meeting had been postponed until the end of September: soHawkins, A. Desmond;a3 I have now no jobs on hand (except a review for the final number of ‘Purpose’ which I promised to do in honour of the occasion for Desmond Hawkins) and can think about anything I like.1 I have to write a paper for a conference of the Archbishop’s (of York) in November, but it is no use thinking of that too soon. IWoolfs, theTSE plans to visit in Sussex;e7 shall probably visit the Woolfs at the beginning of August, andFabers, the1940 summer holiday with;e7 gotravels, trips and plansTSE's 1940 Faber summer holiday;e1;a2 a little later to the Fabers. IRobertses, theto where they invite TSE;a2 don’t think I shall take advantage of the Roberts’ invitation, as Penrith is so far away; andMcKnight Kauffers, the;b3McKnight Kauffer, Edward
I am very well, though somewhat under weight – but that is not due to any lack of food! I know that I have eaten more butter in the last ten months than in any previous period, and no less of anything else except perhaps bacon.
‘ThunderArdrey, RobertThunder Rock;a1 RockNeighbourhood Theatre, TheThunder Rock;a1’ is a very clever play indeed, I thought: the conversations between the lighthouse keeper and the dead people whose figures he has conjured up in his imagination to keep him company are very ingeniously managed indeed. I don’t think that there is any English dramatist who could do that sort of thing half so well, andO'Casey, Seancompared to Robert Ardrey;a3 Sean O’Casey’s experiments seem clumsy in comparison. The play falls down towards the end (very end is good) simply because the author’s command of ideas, in contrast to his command of stage technique, is puerile: a usual weakness in playwrights. The ‘Neighbourhood Theatre’ where it is being given, is a little theatre in an adapted house in Harrington Road, between Gloucester Road and South Ken. Station – with the usual odd mixture of exhibitions and indifferent paintings and Sunday concerts of fairly good quartets and soloists – and I kept thinking that if you had been here you might have been spending a night or two at Aban Court (or in this house, as the office bedroom is still available for me) and we should have gone together. There is nothing else to see at the moment that I know of, exceptMercury Theatre, Londonattempts season of miniature operas;c4 aDukes, Ashleyattempting season of miniature operas;g2 season of miniature operas which Ashley is starting at the Mercury next week.
I'Yeats';a6 haven’t posted my Yeats lecture yet, because I have only the one copy, and am waiting to send it until I hear from Hawkins that he has received the other copy which I sent him to print in ‘Purpose’.
AsAmericaMaine;f6;a2 you cannot be here, I like to think of you perhaps lying on a verandah or on a beach on the coast of Maine, with sunshine and a sea breeze, getting a little brown – perhaps even bathing – though the water is cold up there – perhaps sailing – perhaps even eating lobster, though I do not think that is a food you commonly take – but so very delicious fresh from the sea. I am lucky to have the coast of Cardigan to go to. As usual, I cannot make much of American politics, and have no right to any opinion. Still, I have known Americans to hold opinions about British politics!
No letter from you this week, nor did I expect any. Even when you are able to write, it will take longer. I haven’t heard of any children for you to look after yet. IHale, Emilyappearance and characteristics;v7EH encouraged to gain weight;a8 just want you to gain as much health and weight as possible.
1.TSE wrote a review of Hopousia: or The Sexual and Economic Foundations of a New Society, by J. D. Unwin, for Purpose 12: 3/4 (July/Dec. 1940), 154–8; and the same issue carried ‘The Poetry of W. B. Yeats’ (the first Annual Yeats Lecture, June 1940), 115–27.
4.AshleyDukes, Ashley Dukes (1885–1959), theatre manager, playwright, critic, translator, adapter, author; from 1933, owner of the Mercury Theatre, London: see Biographical Register.
3.A. DesmondHawkins, A. Desmond Hawkins (1908–99), novelist, critic, broadcaster: see Biographical Register.
11.JohnHayward, John Davy Hayward (1905–65), editor and critic: see Biographical Register.
SeanO'Casey, Sean O’Casey (1880–1964): Irish playwright. A socialist and anti-imperialist, with a lengthy but troubled association with the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, his works were challenging and often controversial. His plays include The Shadow of a Gunman (1923); Juno and the Paycock (1924, winner of the Hawthornden Prize); The Plough and the Stars (1926); and The Silver Tassie (first produced in 1929).