Read The Trip to Echo Spring Online
Authors: Olivia Laing
184
â
Scott is gone the first week
. . .': Ernest Hemingway,
Selected Letters,
p. 440.
185
â
Please lay off me
. . .': F. Scott Fitzgerald,
The Letters of F.
Scott Fitzgerald,
p. 311.
185
â
Never had the real old melancholia
. . .': Ernest Hemingway,
Selected Letters,
p. 436.
186
âI
wish he would pull out
. . .': ibid., p. 444.
187
â
He shot himself
. . .': Ernest Hemingway,
For Whom the Bell Tolls,
p. 66.
187
â
the other one
. . .': ibid., pp. 321â2.
188
â
the giant killer
. . .': ibid., p. 441.
188
â
That is what kills the worm
. . .': ibid., p. 198.
188
â
the drunkard stinks
. . .': ibid., p. 201.
188
â
a deadly wheel
. . .': ibid., p. 218.
189
â
The poor son-of-a-bitch
. . .': John Berryman, in John Haffenden,
The Life of John Berryman
(Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1982), p. 297.
189
â
He put down an immense vision
. . .': John Cheever,
Journals,
p. 268.
189
â
the most fantastic place
. . .':Tennessee Williams,
Letters, Volume 1,
p. 304.
190
â
although he might be decadent
. . .': Elaine Dundy, âOur men in Havana',
Guardian,
9 June 2001.
190
â
Is he the commodore of something
. . .': George Plimpton,
Shadow Box: An Amateur in the Ring
(Andre Deutsch, 1978), pp. 142â3.
190
â
He was exactly the opposite
. . .':Tennessee Williams,
Memoirs,
p. 67.
191
â
furtively away
. . .': Andrew Turnbull, âPerkins's Three Generals',
New York
Times
, 16 July 1967.
192
â
He approaches Scott
. . .': Tennessee Williams,
Clothes for a Summer Hotel: A Ghost Play
(New Directions, 1983), pp. 64â8.
193
â
But my guess is
. . .': Ernest Hemingway,
For Whom the Bell Tolls,
p. 161.
194
â
It would be all right to do it now
. . .': ibid., p. 443.
194
âI
chose Key West
. . .':Tennessee Williams,
Memoirs,
pp. 63â4.
194
â
Sponge and deep sea fishing
. . .': Tennessee Williams,
Letters, Volume
1, p. 304.
195
â
like ladies running barefooted
. . .': Tennessee Williams,
Five O'Clock Angel: Letters of Tennessee Williams to Maria St Just
(Andre Deutsch, 1991), p. 75.
195
â
Oh how I long
. . .': Tennessee Williams,
Notebooks,
p. 619.
196
âI
am going
. . .
to rest
. . .':Tennessee Williams,
Tennessee Williams: Letters to Donald Windham
(Penguin, 1980) p. 294.
196
â
He was just plain good
. . .': Christopher Isherwood, in Donald Spoto,
The Kindness of Strangers,
p. 153.
196
âI
love F.
. . .': Tennessee Williams,
Notebooks,
p. 501.
197
â
plush-lined loony-bin
. . .':Tennessee Williams,
Five O'Clock Angel,
p. 148.
197
âdrinking a bit more than my quota
. . .':Tennessee Williams,
Notebooks,
p. 707.
197
âand has succeeded in destroying
. . .':Tennessee Williams,
Five O'Clock Angel,
p. 150.
197
âI
miss the horse & dog
. . .': Tennessee Williams,
Notebooks,
p. 719.
198
â
There is probably not an episode
. . .': Donald Windham, in
Tennessee Williams: Letters to Donald Windham,
p. x.
198
â
like a jungle cat
. . .':Tennessee Williams,
Memoirs,
pp. 185â6.
199
â
The Horse has done
. . .':Tennessee Williams,
Five O'Clock Angel,
p. 175.
199
â
Frank, I want to get my goodness back
. . .'Tennessee Williams,
Memoirs,
p. 188.
200
â
like the skeleton of a sparrow
. . .' ibid., p. 193.
200
âAs
long as Frank was well
. . .': ibid., p. 194.
200
â
next to my work
. . .': Tennessee Williams, in
Tennessee Williams:
Letters
to
Donald Windham
, p. 315.
202
â
sewn up in a clean white sack
. . .': ibid., p. 117.
203
âI
shall eat an unwashed grape
. . .': Tennessee Williams,
A
Streetcar Named
Desire and Other Plays
, p. 220.
204
âI
showed him
. . .': Tennessee Williams,
The Night of the Iguana,
in
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Other Plays
, p. 309.
204
â
Nothing human disgusts me
. . .': ibid., p. 318.
204
â
to be dropped in the sea
. . .': ibid., p. 259.
205
âI
wish a Greek Orthodox service
. . .': Tennessee Williams,
Notebooks,
p. 753.
207
â
Liquor and swimming
. . .': Tennessee Williams, in Donald Spoto,
The Kindness of Strangers
, p. 246.
209
â
When difficulties became insurmountable
. . .': F. Scott Fitzgerald, âThe Swimmers',
Saturday Evening Post,
19 October 1929.
209
â
To be embraced
. . .': John Cheever, âThe Swimmer',
The Stories of John Cheever
, p. 604.
210
â
that one night
. . .': John Berryman, âHenry's Understanding',
Collected Poems 1937â1971
(Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1987), p. 256.
211
â
All good writing
. . .': F. Scott Fitzgerald,
Letters to His Daughter
(Scribner, 1963), p. 165.
213
â
Dakin . . . just threw me into Barnes Hospital. .
.':Tennessee Williams,âThe Art of Theater No. 5',
Paris Review.
214
â
The rest is not blank
. . .':Tennessee Williams,
Notebooks,
p. 733.
214
â
Did I die by my own hand
. . .': ibid., p. 739.
215
â
dog shit all over the place
. . .': Truman Capote,
Answered Prayers
(Hamish Hamilton, 1986), pp. 59â64.
216
â
You have been as brave as anybody
. . .': Marlon Brando to Tennessee Williams, republished on
Letters of Note (
www.lettersofnote.com
)
, 26 March 2010.
217
â
Why not?':
Tennessee Williams,
Notebooks,
p. 739.
217
â
Structurally wasteful
. . .': Walter Kerr,
New York Times,
27 March 1980.
217
Michiko Kakutani's essay âWilliams, Quintero and the Aftermath of a Failure' (
New York Times
, 22 June 1980) was invaluable in reconstructing the last days of
Clothes for a Summer Hotel
.
CHAPTER
7
: THE CONFESSIONS OF MR. BONES
All otherwise unacknowledged John Berryman quotations in this chapter are drawn from the magnificently detailed
The Life of John Berryman
by John Haffenden (Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1982). This material itself derives from the John Berryman Papers at the University of Minnesota.
222
â
thin and gratingly intense
. . .': Dorothy Rockwell, interviewed by John Haffenden,
The Life of John Berryman,
p. 65.
222
â
affected':
Lionel Trilling, interviewed by Haffenden, ibid., p. 73.
222
â
unwilling monkhood
. . .': John Berryman, âMonkhood',
Collected Poems 1937â1971,
p. 195.
223
â
he is to my certain knowledge
. . .': Mark Van Doren, in Haffenden,
The Life of John Berryman,
p. 110.
224
â
alternately hysterical and depressed
. . .': Eileen Simpson,
Poets in their Youth
(Faber, 1982), p. 157.
225
â
Both of our worlds unhanded us
. . .': John Berryman, âHomage to Mistress Bradstreet',
Collected Poems 1937â1971,
p. 133.
226
â
He entered the room
. . .': Philip Levine, âMine Own John Berryman', in Richard J. Kelly and Alan K. Lathrop, eds.,
Recovering Berryman,
p. 38.
230
â
losing altitude
. . .': John Berryman,
The Dream Songs,
p. 61.
230
â
out of everything
. . .': ibid., p. 371.
230
âAt
first the brain aches
. . .': Robert Lowell, âThe Poetry of John Berryman',
New York Review of Books,
28 May 1964.
230
â
creepy and scorching
. . .': Adrienne Rich, âMr. Bones, He Lives',
The Nation,
Vol. 198, Issue 22, 25 May 1964.
230
â
I've been in & out of hospitals
. . .': John Berryman to William Meredith, 16 September 1965,William Meredith Collection of Papers, 1941â1973, Berg Collection.
231
â
Berryman is the only poet
. . .': John Montague, in Haffenden,
The Life of John Berryman
, p. 340.
231
â
all but dead
. . .': Isabella Gardner, in ibid., p. 346.
231
â
He was all regret
. . .': John Berryman, âDream Song 310',
The Dream Songs
, p. 332.
232
â
Pt. admits that he is an alcoholic
. . .': Hazelden notes, in Haffenden,
The Life of John Berryman,
p. 340.
232
âI
am having the best winter
. . .': John Berryman to William Meredith, 1 February 1970, Berg Collection.
234
â
I'm just out of 6 wks in hospital
. . .': John Berryman to William Meredith, 18 June 1970, ibid.
235
â
twice-invited guest
. . .': John Berryman,
Recovery,
p. 7.
236
â
This is the last drink you will ever take
. . .': ibid., p. 3.
237
â
sick old lion
. . .': ibid., p. 127.
238
â
This was hard, very hard
. . .': ibid., p. 167.
238
â
Maybe it's easier to be a monster
. . .': ibid., p. 188.
238
â
Alcoholics are rigid
. . .': ibid., p. 138.
239
â
That's my Middle West
. . .': F. Scott Fitzgerald,
The Great Gatsby
(Penguin, 1966 [1926]), p. 183.
240
â
But in the morning
. . .': Saul Bellow, introduction to John Berryman,
Recovery,
p. xii-xiv.
241
â
nearly crucified
. . .':John Berryman, âThe Art of Poetry No. 16',
Paris Review.
241
â
Let me be clear about this
. . .': John Berryman, âThe Facts & Issues',
Col
lected Poems 1937â1971,
p. 263.
242
â
Of course I am determined
. . .': John Berryman in Eileen Simpson,
Poets in their Youth
, p. 250.
242
âI
admit I am putting myself
. . .': John Berryman to Mark Van Doren (undated, 1970â71?), Berg Collection.
244
â
no real warmth shown us
. . .': Ralph Ross, in Paul Mariani,
Dream Song:The Life of John Berryman
(University of Massachusetts Press, 1996), p. 495.
248
â
1. Did I hear Daddy
. . .': John Berryman to Jill Berryman,
We Dream of Honour: John Berryman's letters to his mother,
p. 376â7.
249
â
the blue father':
âDream Song 70', John Berryman,
The Dream Songs,
p. 77.
249
â
this dreadful banker':
âDream Song 384', ibid., p. 406.
250
â
New problem
. . .': John Berryman,
Recovery,
p. 192.
251
â
uncharacteristic
. . .': ibid., pp. 139â40.
251
â
Missing someone
. . .': Sigmund Freud, in John Bowlby,
Separation:Anxiety and Anger
(Basic Books, 1973), p. 27.
252
â
In our detailed study
. . .':Vincent Felitti, âThe Origins of Addiction: Evidence from the Adverse Childhood Experience Study',
Program,
2004, pp. 547â59.
254
â
Under the table, no
. . .': John Berryman, âDream Song 96',
The Dream Songs
, p. 113.
255
â
And it's only 18 days
. . .': John Berryman,
We Dream of Honour: John Berryman's letters to his mother
, p. 19.
256
â
They were alone
. . .': ibid., p. 4.
258
â
great friend of his
. . .': John Berryman,
Recovery,
p. 238.
259
â
When he tried to relate
. . .': Betty Peddie, interviewed by Haffenden,
The Life of John Berryman,
p. 374.