[c/o Perkins, 90 Commonwealth Ave., Boston]
Letter 88.
Your letter 93 from Madison has arrived: and though it took under three weeks, the fact that I wrote to you at that address last week for the first time, and now am writing to Commonwealth Avenue for fear of missing you there, makes the distance seem very great and the time very brief. But I suppose it is the usual length of a summer course, six weeks or so. I was very glad indeed to have the information about your habitation and routine. You do not make it sound unpleasant; I am glad that you are seeing old friends and acquaintances, and a complete change from New England should be a tonic. I feared that the heat would be extreme, and the kind of house that you are living in is such as can be very stuffy at night; and the mosquitoes must be tremendous, what with the lake and all. I hope that it is pleasant to sit out of doors, or in a boat on the lake, if the lake is not too big. ButScripps College, Claremont;f8 it is not ten years yet since you were in California! you must have returned by sleeping car in 1934 when you left Scripps – forPerkins, Edith (EH's aunt);e9 if you had crossed the continent in your Ford I think I should have heard about it, from Mrs. P. if not from yourself.
My tooth extraction passed off pleasantly enough. The nurse told me she had a cottage near Stoke Poges, and that she played the harp under the trees in fine weather: to which I seem to have remarked that it was nice for the birds. That sounds odd, and perhaps I had not quite recovered from the gas, or perhaps I dreamt it all: but anyway it added an agreeable touch of fantasy to the occasion. I suffered not at all afterwards, but he did not have time to get the whole of one of the teeth out; so on Thursday he completes the operation and removes the other teeth in a nursing home. IfFabers, theMinsted as substitute for nursing-home;f9 I am well enough I shall return to the Fabers for the night, and save the expense of a night in the home. And after that I shall have to chew with my front teeth for some time. TheFaber, Geoffrey;h9 only thing I dread is that it should be a long time before my fine new teeth fitted me: some people have to go through a vexing long time of refitting, and Geoffrey’s teeth are not right yet. IBukhari, Zulfiqar Alihis umbrellas;a3 have to postpone my lunch for Mr. Bokhari, the presenter of large umbrellas. IHealey, Robert C.;a1 have an American attaché from the Embassy to lunch on Friday: heEliots, the Henry;b2 seems to know Henry and Theresa.1 BobbySpeaight, Robertbroadcasts East Coker;d7 Speaight lunched with me last week, solemn and serious as ever. He is broadcasting East Coker tonight, and I hope I do not forget to listen.2 (ThereEast Cokerreception;b5 is aSweeney, James JohnsonTSE singles out his East Coker exegesis;a1 good analysis of the poem in the last Southern Review (Spring) by one J. J. Sweeney).3 HeBritish Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)1941 production of Murder;c5 is also doing a broadcast version of Murder in the autumn4 – the BBC think that people don’t listen much to that sort of thing in the summer.
YourEmpson, Williamrecommended for EH's 'criticism' course;a6 phonetic and voice courses I should of course be unable to understand an account of, but I should like to hear more of the theory of criticism. Is it dramatic criticism, or criticism of verse speaking, or just criticism? InRichards, Ivor Armstrong ('I. A.')recommended for EH's 'criticism' course;b8 theWilson, Edmund 'Bunny'recommended for EH's 'criticism' course;a4 lastRoberts, Michaelrecommended for EH's 'criticism' course;a9 event I think I have some idea of the probable contents: aColeridge, Samuel Taylorrecommended for EH's 'criticism' course;a1 greatArnold, Matthewrecommended for EH's 'criticism' course;a4 deal of Ivor Richards, with dashes of Empson, Edmund Wilson, Michael Roberts and possibly TSE, with Coleridge and Arnold in the background.
IFabers, the1941 summer holiday with;f8 gotravels, trips and plansTSE's 1941 Faber summer holiday;e2;a3 to Wales possibly in the latter part of August; obviously I must hang about in London until I am sure of my teeth. That will be a good time anyway, given fine weather, as the bathing is at its best then. Meanwhile, as I have the dentistry this week, andMoot, The;c2 at the end of next week I have a weekend Moot at Oxford, I propose to take the following week off for a rest – or a partial rest: IFaber and Faber (F&F)'blurbs' for;c9 have cleared away some minor items, such as writing advertisements of next season’s books (the ones that I am responsible for) and'Preface' (to The Little Book of Modern Verse);a2 writingRidler, Anne (née Bradby)TSE writes preface for;b3 a preface to Anne Ridler’s ‘Little Book of Modern Verse’,5 and'Rudyard Kipling'contemplated;a1 am gathering forces to start on Kipling. I am fortunate in not having had to go to Oxford lately: owing to the fact that Miss Iredale has had to take a holiday, andPerham, Margery;a2 also that she is having to find new lodgings as Marjory Perham needs the room for other purposes, we meet in London instead, on Tuesday afternoons.
IHale, Emilytravels on to Maine;n9 shallAmericaMaine;f6;a5 be glad to have the princess back in the State of Maine – I don’t think I know Sebasco,6 and I have never been to Grand Manan, though I have seen it in the offing. But Maine is I am sure the best place for you to be in August and September, to recuperate.
1.RobertHealey, Robert C. C. Healey, Office of the Military Attaché, American Embassy, London – but ‘normally a student of English Literature and Drama,’ as TSE told Hayward (10 Apr. 1942). TSE to the Chief of the Bureau of Navigation, c/o Naval Intelligence, London, 22 Mar. 1942: ‘I am writing to recommend Mr. Robert C. Healey who is, I understand, applying for a Naval commission. I have known him since his arrival in England … He is evidently extremely intelligent, and well educated, and possess[es] as well considerable social charm, which ought to be helpful in any work of a diplomatic nature. He ought to be able to hold his own in any company, and made the best of impressions upon friends to whom I have introduced him.’
2.Speaight’s reading of East Coker was broadcast on the BBC Home Service, 21 July, at 22.50.
3.James Johnson Sweeney, ‘East Coker: A Reading’, Southern Review 6: 4 (Spr. 1941), 771–91.
4.A shortened version of Murder in the Cathedral, produced by Lance Sieveking, with Robert Speaight as Becket, was to be broadcast on the BBC Home Service, 26 Oct. 1941, at 15.30.
5.CatalogueRidler, Anne (née Bradby)Little Book of Modern Verse;b8n blurbRidler, Anne (née Bradby)TSE's blurb for;b4n by TSE for A Little Book of Modern Verse (1941), selected by Anne Ridler: ‘There are many anthologies of modern verse – of which, of course, we believe Mr Michael Roberts’s Faber Book of Modern Verse to be the best. But most of these are either too voluminous or too specialized to serve as a guide to the beginner who wants to know what “modern poetry” is like, or to serve as a pocket companion for the reader who wants an anthology for a journey – one which shall be both small in compass and representative of all the variety of modern verse. Mrs Ridler has made a selection which is both comprehensive and up to date. The book may be described also as an introduction to anthologies of modern verse, parallel to the introductions to particular poets provided by the Sesame books.’
6.Sebasco: a seaport in Maine.
1.ZulfiqarBukhari, Zulfiqar Ali Ali Bokhari/Bukhari (1904–75), born in Peshawar, was Director of the Delhi Broadcasting Station of All India Radio before removing to London in July 1937. Director of the Indian Section of the BBC Eastern Service, 1940–5; instrumental in recruiting George Orwell. In 1945 he returned to India as Director of All India Radio Station, Calcutta; later to Karachi to work as Controller in Broadcasting for Radio Pakistan. See Talking to India, ed. Orwell (1943); Ruvani Ranasinha, South Asian Writers in Twentieth Century Britain: Culture in Translation (Oxford, 2007); W. J. West, Orwell: The War Broadcasts (1985).
4.WilliamEmpson, William Empson (1906–84), poet and critic: see Biographical Register.
11.GeoffreyFaber, Geoffrey Faber (1889–1961), publisher and poet: see Biographical Register.
1.RobertHealey, Robert C. C. Healey, Office of the Military Attaché, American Embassy, London – but ‘normally a student of English Literature and Drama,’ as TSE told Hayward (10 Apr. 1942). TSE to the Chief of the Bureau of Navigation, c/o Naval Intelligence, London, 22 Mar. 1942: ‘I am writing to recommend Mr. Robert C. Healey who is, I understand, applying for a Naval commission. I have known him since his arrival in England … He is evidently extremely intelligent, and well educated, and possess[es] as well considerable social charm, which ought to be helpful in any work of a diplomatic nature. He ought to be able to hold his own in any company, and made the best of impressions upon friends to whom I have introduced him.’
2.MargeryPerham, Margery Perham (1895–1982), researcher and traveller; writer on African affairs; from 1924, Fellow of St Hugh’s College, Oxford; Reader in Colonial Administration and Fellow of Nuffield College, Oxford, 1939–48; Director of the Oxford Institute of Colonial Studies, 1945–8. Her publications include African Discovery (1937).
4.I. A. RichardsRichards, Ivor Armstrong ('I. A.') (1893–1979), theorist of literature, education and communication studies: see Biographical Register.
3.AnneRidler, Anne (née Bradby) (Bradby) Ridler (30 July 1912–2001), poet, playwright, editor; worked as TSE’s secretary, 1936–40: see Biographical Register.
1.MichaelRoberts, Michael Roberts (1902–48), critic, editor, poet: see Biographical Register.
2.RobertSpeaight, Robert Speaight (1904–77), actor, producer and author, was to create the role of Becket in Murder in the Cathedral in 1935: see Biographical Register.
4.JamesSweeney, James Johnson Johnson Sweeney (1900–86), museum curator and writer on modern art; Curator of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1935–45; Director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1952–60. Sweeney wrote ‘East Coker: A Reading’, Southern Review 6 (Spring 1941), 771–91 – an essay that TSE enjoyed – and ‘Little Gidding: Introductory to a Reading’, Poetry 62 (July 1943), 214–23. He did not complete a book-length study of TSE’s works.