B007RT1UH4 EBOK (53 page)

You’ll be pleased to know I gave a lecture and reading on
4 Quartets
to a N.Y. school teacher (she’d never heard of Him; teaches literature). Oh, the posturing. No—I shall write—accept this in lieu for the moment. But
do
you plan Andalusia this fall?

Love to Pauline and you,

W.G.

To John and Pauline Napper

18 East 64th Street

New York City 21

12 December 1951

dear John and Pauline—

If anything of great note had happened, I should have written you before this. But no. Life continues to be all middle. Though there are those who are pleased with the prospect of the holidays, I am little excited, for not this year will I board an aeroplane to escape hideous Paris—be in splendid London hours later—and in Sussex soon after that. I am not upset about no wild Christmas because I am working hard, and really getting on well, happy. Except of course the work takes time, endlessly more time. And I am also kept busy doing writing for a magasine the State Department publishes in Iran—good enough income and I still escape the
office job
. [...]

W.

To John and Pauline Napper

[
In April 1952 a version of the second chapter of
R
appeared in the first issue of
New American Writing
, for which he was paid $144.68 and which attracted the attention of agent Bernice Baumgarten, who negotiated a contract for the novel with Harcourt, Brace. The contract was signed 11 December 1952, and the advance allowed WG to work full-time on completing it.
]

New York City

1 March 1952

dear John and Pauline—

[...] I am much where I was when I last wrote—except that the novel now is almost 100,000 words, and just barely more than half finished—it is turning out quite
long
which is going to be difficult with prospective editors. So far I’ve only been offered an option on a contract—2 or 3 hundred dollars, have not taken it since I’ve still enough to live on, and am still doing State Department writing, a piece every 4 or 5 weeks at 200$ a throw, which is just enough to live on in New York. But I do believe that within 4 or 5 weeks I shall really know what direction I am going to be going in for the next few years. And shall post you accordingly. One of these pocket paper book things is publishing an extract of some 5000 words of this novel—a lengthy attack on France, Paris, and the Holy Roman Church it turns out to be, pretentious and venal but I shall send one along when it is published, may entertain you.

Immediately the king died I wanted to write you—because it struck a very reponsive cord—what with Sir James Frazer—but how important it is that the king does die, most important part of the ritual; and the sense confirmed of death and resurrection, without recourse to that ghastly bloody mess of Golgatha 33a.d. —You know when you think about it
what
a business, pretty girls going about wearing a likeness of a tiny man nailed to a cross on their throats. Well I can not get started again on this. Yes, how I should like nothing better this very evening than being
there, talking
. Wait and pray. I immensely appreciate the Coronation invitation, and hope it
will
work out.

Well the swine was for the birth (not Christ but the sun—and 25 December dies invictus solus) and since the
resurrection
is in view (not Christ but the sun) another fragment of a corpse should be on its way to you now. Please tell me of anything from this land that you need. How happy I am to be able to do any such small thing you know. And I shall write better soon, when I find where I stand. Thank god for the
work
.

Every best wish and love,

W—

100,000 words: the published version of
R
is about 418,700 words.

king died: England’s George VI died 6 February 1952.

Sir James Frazer: author of
The Golden Bough
, which concerns kingship rituals.

dies invictus solis: Day of the Unconquered Sun, a holiday for the Roman sun god held on 25 December. Apparently WG sent the Nappers a ham (“swine”), as he wanted to earlier (5 April 1951).

To Mike Gladstone

[
A lifelong friend (1923– ) from Harvard onward; it was in Gladstone’s rooms that WG got drunk on the night of the incident that led to his expulsion from Harvard. In later years, Gladstone worked in publishing, but previous to the time of this letter he had once sold miniature mobiles (hence the reference below). The “inarticulate Mayberry” is unidentified, but the Doria in the closing was Gladstone’s wife.
]

Massapequa, L. Isld.

26 June 1952

dear Mike,

No need perhaps to say how pleased I was with your note; those are the things that count, make this continuous strain of lunacy worth it all, and believe me so much more important than miserable folk like the inarticulate Mayberry (the oddest sequitur I’ve come across in some time, his thing): and as for him, writers have the best weapons finally to drown out such bitter whining.

Whether it all does sustain I don’t yet know, and it is coming out to be extremely long, some 150 or 160 thousand words so far, and more to come before everyone is settled. That will be a problem; even though as I read it it seems quite tightly written. Well, I’m doing nothing else but work on it now, and can’t make much sense talking about it. This is the first letter I’ve written in some months; and am seldom in New York, have seen little or no one since early May.

These are hateful bits of intelligence, but re mobiles I saw in the local nightmare supermarket one with Rhngld beer tattooed on its several free faces, and thought of you, and thought God save us both.

But this was simply to thank you for your letter, which has made me very happy this evening, and will whenever I think about it.

All very best wishes to you and Doria,

W.

To Edith Gaddis

[
WG spent the winter of 1952–53 in a farmhouse owned by the Woodburns outside the small town of Montgomery, west of Newburgh, New York, finishing
The Recognitions
.
]

[Montgomery, NY]

22 November 1952

dear Mother,

This certainly isn’t crucial; but if convenient could you call Brentano and see if there’s any standard small edition of selections of the work of Bishop (George) Berkeley? There was one in Scribner’s Modern Student’s Library, the Philosophy Series edited by Mary Calkins. Better I suppose call Scribner’s then, that’s pretty much the sort of edition I want. But if there’s a question or confusion put it off. I’ll appreciate it greatly. And one of these 50¢ typewriter ribbons please?

Peace and quiet, and as yet no fire down below, though it will probably blizzard for Thanksgiving and I’ll take my dinner down there. Ooops! I manage an anemic version of
Ein Feste Burg ist Unser Gott
on the pipes. Also Greensleeves about up to the elbow.

love,

W

Bishop (George) Berkeley: Irish philosopher (1685–1753). In
R,
Wyatt studies his
New Theory of Vision
(81), dealing with optics, and Anselm mentions him in passing (532). WG’s library includes the book he requests:
Essay, Principles, Dialogue
, ed. Mary Calkins (Scribner’s, 1929).

Ein Feste Burg ist Unser Gott
: “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God,” one of Martin Luther’s best-known hymns, adapted as a choral cantata by Bach.