[41 Brimmer St., Boston]

T. S.Eliot
EmilyHale
TS
Faber & Faber Ltd
6 November 1931
My dear Lady,

I have a cable this morning which must have come from you, and I think it was very lovely of you to cable. AtCharles Eliot Norton Professorship of PoetryTSE pressed to accept;a3 the same time I have a letter from Kenneth Murdock, which says that I have been recommended to the Corporation, whatever that means, and apparently an official invitation from the President is to follow in [due] course; but he wishes me to accept in writing at once.1 I shall have to consult one or two more interested parties first, but I have practically decided to accept. The performance is beset with all sorts of domestic difficulties and complications, which I need not go into now, and further. AsCharles Eliot Norton Professorship of Poetryand EH's possible post at Scripps;a4 for what I wrote to you, ofScripps College, Claremontstill a possibility;a6 course it is possible that a year hence you may have gone to Scripps, or elsewhere – which, although it might simplify matters, would exasperate me with the thought of spending seven or eight months in America and not seeing you at all; but I should like to think that to be distant from where I was would not act as a motive in your accepting any post. You see how mixed my feelings are. But especially I should [not] like it to mean a sacrifice or a strain for you, and I should not like to see you impelled to any course you would not otherwise be taking.

AndHale, Emily Jose Milliken (EH's mother)compared to VHE;a5Eliot, Vivien (TSE's first wife, née Haigh-Wood)mental state;e8compared to EH's mother's;a4 I should imagine from what you said in your last letter that your mother’s condition was now, and might be indefinitely, such that your frequent presence was desirable; so that, unless economic need is imperative, your duty seems to be in Boston. In one way I am sorry for this. Because, though it is a happiness to feel again that one can be of use to a person, I am a little worried about the extent to which you may exhaust yourself and torment yourself. Whenever I had to visit Vivienne at the sanatorium at Malmaison,2 I went away almost in a state of collapse. That was what was in my mind when I wrote to you last. I feared since, my dear, that I might have hurt you; and that you might feel that I was offering uncalled for advice quite inappropriate for the particular case of which I know so little, and which very likely belongs to a type which has not come within my experience. The cases I have known have all had persecution mania. (I had a frightful time once with Vivienne on the station platform at Lausanne, when she thought the police were after her and wanted to appeal to everybody for help).3 And they all, including Vivienne, conceived a violent hostility towards their doctors – the doctor who finally cured her never saw her at all, but treated her through the reports of the nurses. So please forgive me, my dear, if I have been intrusive.

IEliot, Henry Ware (TSE's father)a saying of his recalled;a2 am irritable as a bear with a sore head, as my father used to say, because I am undergoing a bad attack of hemorrhoids (is that the way to spell it) and find sitting and standing equally unpleasant. It is a common complaint. Andreading (TSE's)recent books on economics and finance;b6 IeconomicsTSE opposed to economic orthodoxy;a2 have been struggling with a mass of recent popular books on economics and finance, trying to understand what the matter with the world is. I am convinced that traditional economic practice is all wrong, but in the new theories it is difficult to distinguish between the general truths and the individual crankery. IDemant, Revd Vigo Augusteappeals to TSE as economist;a1 have made the acquaintance of a Revd. Victor Demant, who is a modern young Christian economist,4 andDouglas, Major Clifford Hugh ('C. H.');a1 next week I am to lunch with the famous Major C. H. Douglas.5 I cannot say that the subject of economics can ever become sympathetic to me or fascinating for its own sake; but somehow one cannot keep out of it altogether at present.

And now, my dear Dove, I thank you again, and will write on Monday,

Tom

Ink run out – so must type envelope! 6

1.KennethMurdock, Kenneth B. B. Murdock (1895–1975), Associate Professor of English, Harvard University, 1930–2; Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, 1931–6; Master of Leverett House, 1931–41. Works include Increase Mather (1924), Literature and Theology in Colonial New England (1949); The Notebooks of Henry James (with F. O. Matthiessen, 1947).

2.Vivien had been a patient at the Sanatorium de la Malmaison, in 1926. Housed in a mansion in Rueil, 10 km west of Paris, the Sanatorium was built in the early 19th century (the Empress Josephine had died there); in 1911 it was transformed into a sanatorium specializing in ‘des affections du systeme nerveux’. The dramatist Georges Feydeau (1862–1921) died there; and Zelda Fitzgerald passed a few days there following a nervous breakdown in Apr. 1930 (Kendall Taylor, Sometimes Madness Is Wisdom: Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald: A Marriage, 2002). Since 1965 it has housed the Institut Française du Pétrole. M. de Brunhoff, Le Sanatorium de la Malmaison (1913); Christiane Corty Neave, Rueil-Malmaison (1969).

3.See letter of 18 Aug. 1932, below.

4.RevdDemant, Revd Vigo Auguste Vigo Auguste Demant (1893–1983), Anglican clergyman; leading exponent of ‘Christian Sociology’; vicar of St John-the-Divine, Richmond, Surrey, 1933–42: see Biographical Register.

5.C. H. DouglasDouglas, Major Clifford Hugh ('C. H.') (1879–1952), British engineer; proponent of the Social Credit economic reform movement. Noting that workers were never paid enough for them to purchase the goods they produced, Douglas proposed that a National Dividend (debt-free credit) should be distributed to all citizens so as to make their purchasing power equal to prices. Major works are Economic Democracy and Credit-Power and Democracy (1920); Social Credit (1924).

6.Postscript added by hand.

Charles Eliot Norton Professorship of Poetry, TSE ruminates on offer of, which TSE cannot afford to refuse, TSE pressed to accept, and EH's possible post at Scripps, TSE accepts, TSE in suspense over, apparently a certainty, America reporters seek to confirm appointment, but still no official notice, critical to TSE's finances, official notice finally received, a break with present existence, attendant social obligations dreaded, announced in the American press,
Demant, Revd Vigo Auguste, appeals to TSE as economist, drinks and smokes in holy company, at heavy Criterion gathering, potential reader for Boutwood Lectures, as CNL editorial collaborator, sound on H. G. Wells, dull paper for Malvern 1941, at Chandos Group lunch, on TSE's Northern tour, given canonry in St. Paul's,

4.RevdDemant, Revd Vigo Auguste Vigo Auguste Demant (1893–1983), Anglican clergyman; leading exponent of ‘Christian Sociology’; vicar of St John-the-Divine, Richmond, Surrey, 1933–42: see Biographical Register.

Douglas, Major Clifford Hugh ('C. H.'),
see also economics

5.C. H. DouglasDouglas, Major Clifford Hugh ('C. H.') (1879–1952), British engineer; proponent of the Social Credit economic reform movement. Noting that workers were never paid enough for them to purchase the goods they produced, Douglas proposed that a National Dividend (debt-free credit) should be distributed to all citizens so as to make their purchasing power equal to prices. Major works are Economic Democracy and Credit-Power and Democracy (1920); Social Credit (1924).

economics, and TSE's case against materialism, TSE opposed to economic orthodoxy, in TSE's fantasy political party, capitalism and Christianity, and TSE's ideal political economy, Social Credit, and FDR,
Eliot, Henry Ware (TSE's father), death, a saying of his recalled, disapproved of son-in-law, was cremated, his grave visited, haunts TSE in St. Louis, religious beliefs, as person and parent, TSE accepts Washington University degree to propitiate,
Eliot, Vivien (TSE's first wife, née Haigh-Wood), takes a liking to EH, EH urged not to blame, relations with Charles Buckle, unbearable to holiday with, takes to Margaret Thorp, accompanies TSE to Poetry Bookshop, and 57 Chester Terrace, on TSE's religion, TSE declines invitations excluding, her driving, hosts various writers to tea, considers flat in Gordon Square, arranges large tea-party, as theatregoer, declares desire to make confession, taken to Eastbourne, recalls the Eliots' visit to Rodmell, Alida Monro reports on, in Alida Monro's opinion, falls out with Lucy Thayer, meets TSE for last time at solicitors, seeks TSE's whereabouts, haunts TSE in London, such that he forgoes the theatre, news of, inquires after Man Ray portrait, harries F&F office, on Mosley Albert Hall rally, dies, her funeral, Requiem Mass for, Theresa remembers, marriage to, TSE on entering into, alleged affair with Bertrand Russell, sexual relations, its morbidity, TSE on his own incapacity, its torments providential on reflection, in OM's opinion, its lessons, humiliating, TSE's father's reaction, unrecognised by TSE, to outsiders, TSE reflects on, painful yet stimulating, as an act of self-rupture, drug habits, sleeping draughts, in TSE's absence, 1926 bromidia delusions, mental state, childlike, benefits from active social life, compared to EH's mother's, at the Malmaison sanatorium, and dining in public, TSE's influence on, post-separation, the prospect of institutionalising, prompts institutionalisation crisis-meeting, and TSE's departure for America, against TSE going, adjusting to the prospect, might coordinate with a return to Malmaison, in denial as to, threatens to come, from which TSE tries to dissuade her, aggrieved at being left, possible arrangements in TSE's absence, still in denial as to, TSE dreads scene of departure, possibly beneficial to VHE, TSE describes the moment of departure, separation from, TSE, for and against, out of the question, obstructed by self-deception and responsibility, reasons for not having happened, Dr Miller's opinion on, contemplated, plotted, would necessitate TSE's sequestration, TSE encouraged in his determination, Alida Monro independently suggests, communication with solicitors on, TSE describes going through with, VHE's response before and after meeting at solicitors, impasse over financial settlement, which VHE misrepresents to friends, VHE in denial over, separation deed drawn up, which is yet unsigned, delayed by death of lawyer, general impasse, financial settlement put into force, complicated by VHE renewing lease on flat, efforts to retrieve TSE's property, which is eventually recovered, financial consequences, the possibility of divorcing, TSE's objections to, against what TSE symbolises, likened to Newman's conversion, in common and canon law, in Ada's opinion, how TSE's attitude might seem, would involve permanent division from Church, inimical to future TSE's happiness, her death, and Theresa on TSE remarrying, TSE's shifting response to, formerly wished for, EH reflects on,
see also Eliots, the T. S.
Hale, Emily Jose Milliken (EH's mother), admission to McLean's Hospital, EH's frequent visits to, her state of mind, compared to VHE, a comparison regretted and refined, a strain on EH, falls ill, and suffering more generally, reported to be better, in the hands of physicians, in TSE's prayers, TSE (un-falsely) consoles EH over, her health, doctor prognosticates on, business relating to, TSE meditates on, war affects care for, and TSE's hope for the afterlife, final illness, dies, her funeral, anniversary of death marked, Theresa on,
Murdock, Kenneth B.,
see also Murdocks, the

1.KennethMurdock, Kenneth B. B. Murdock (1895–1975), Associate Professor of English, Harvard University, 1930–2; Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, 1931–6; Master of Leverett House, 1931–41. Works include Increase Mather (1924), Literature and Theology in Colonial New England (1949); The Notebooks of Henry James (with F. O. Matthiessen, 1947).

reading (TSE's), The Road Back, Hay Fever, sermons of Revd Dr William E. Channing, Racine's Bérénice, in general, the Bible, The Witch of Edmonton again, letters of other authors, a life of Mohammed, a life of Calvin, R. S. Wilson's life of Marcion the Heretic, Living My Life, French detective stories, French novels, recent books on economics and finance, the Epistles of St. Paul, The Lady of the Lake, Letters of Charles Eliot Norton, never deeply or widely enough, The Scarab Murder Case, translation of Dante, detective stories, Letters of Mrs Gaskell and Charles Eliot Norton, second-rate detective story, disinterestedly, for leisure, Vision of God, Faith of a Moralist, Newman's sermons, Birds of the Countryside, Modern Reader's Bible, The Face of Death, René Bazin's Charles de Foucauld, Charles Petrie's Monarchy, Thurber's My Life and Hard Times, Oliver's Endless Adventure (vol. 3), Madame Sorel's memoirs, book on French policing, detective story for committee, The League of Frightened Men, The Garden Murder Case, The Luck of the Bodkins, The House in Paris, The Life of Charles Gore, Middleton Murry's Shakespeare, Dr Goebbels for book committee, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life, MS of German gunman in Chicago, Shakespeare, to replenish, Middlemarch, the Gospel, City of God, St. John of the Cross, psalm or two a day, Ibsen, Twenty Best Plays of the Modern American Theatre, poems submitted to Criterion, My Name is Million, psalms, especially Psalm 130, Edmund Burke, Lives of the Poets, Virgil,
Scripps College, Claremont, EH headhunted to teach at, but EH declines post, still a possibility, TSE on whether or not to accept post, which EH does, TSE hopes to visit EH at, sounds picturesque, EH expects suite at, EH reassured about feeling 'inadequate', EH arrives at, TSE asks for full report of, grows on EH, EH's all-arts theatrical workshop at, TSE's lecture at, TSE's desire to deliver EH from, TSE's visit to, its suspicious characters, its effect on EH despaired of, year's leave requested from, EH considers returning to, encouraged by TSE to return, despite TSE forswearing, refuses EH's return, EH on not returning, under Jaqua, EH's existence at, EH's extra-curricular work at, preferred to Smith, bequeathed EH's TSE book collection, compared to Concord Academy,