Letters of T.S. Eliot: 1898-1922
Page 73
Paradise Road,
Richmond,
Surrey.
If I can get hold of something good by his wife I will get her to send it to you. She is a daughter of old Leslie Stephen.
T.
1–LW’s story was rejected.
2–LW, Stories of the East, was published in Apr. by the Hogarth Press.
TO Scofield Thayer
TS Beinecke
30 January 1921
9 Clarence Gate Gdns
My dear Scofield,
I discover to my consternation that the letter which I thought I had sent off some time before my ‘London Letter’1 which left a week ago is still lying on my table under a mass of refuse and unanswered letters. With my profuse apologies I send it on now. Meanwhile neither Vivien nor I has had any opportunities to make investigations. Meanwhile also the exchange has shown signs of working against your plan, but of course until we know actual prices here it is impossible to say how important the rise from 3.50 to 3.86 (at this date) may be. Had you ever thought of getting it printed on the continent? But I suppose that is fantastic, and also might arouse a storm of patriotic abuse.
My ‘London Letter’ was I fear a puny result after such delay, but remember it is the first writing of any kind that I have done for six months; and therefore it came very hard. I rewrote it twice, and I think the last draft is the best, anyway. Let me know whether it suits you and whether it is the right length. I suppose it is too late for the February number, and that therefore you will not want another till the middle of March, but if you should want it sooner please send me a cable.2 I think my affairs are in better order now and I shall be able to get some work done. It will be several months before I have any verse ready for publication, but I shall send you an article. My idea was that in the ‘Letter’ you would not want so much critiques of books (which in most cases appear in New York as well) but the reverberations of books in London.
Are you coming over in May or June?
yours ever
Tom.
1–‘London Letter’, Dial, 70: 4 (Apr. 1921): the first of a bimonthly series by TSE.
2–Thayer thanked TSE (10 Feb.) for a ‘distinguished Letter’, adding: ‘Why no verse? I serve notice that I do not consider it seemly for the editor of The Dial ever again to repeat this question.’
TO Mary Hutchinson
MS Texas
3 February 1921
9 Clarence Gate Gdns
Dear Mary
Thanks awfully for your letter, which I appreciated and enjoyed. Monday would have suited me capitally for another talk. Most unfortunately, Vivien went out too soon after her attack of the other night, and got a chill and in consequence is now in bed speechless with throat and lungs in a bad state, and of course the danger of bronchitis. Of course she is so fearfully run down that she is liable to get anything at any minute. She is having a perfectly dreadful time lately and I feel very sorry for her. As soon as she gets over this attack she is going away in the country. In the circumstances, would you rather come on Thursday, but if not, do come on Monday if you don’t mind Vivien’s being shut in her room as before. Anyhow I shall expect you one of those two days. – You have made me want to read Keats’s letters: I have not much wanted to read lately – only after having written something one wants to read.
Tom.
TO Mrs Lethbridge1
MS copy Valerie Eliot
8 February 1921
9 Clarence Gate Gdns
Dear Mrs Lethbridge,
It was very kind of you to remember to send me Leutnant Gustl,2 which I have been reading today with great pleasure. It recalls the tones of German conversation which I had completely forgotten. When I finish it I shall have to ask you to recommend me something else. I looked at the new German books at Jaschke’s3 the other day: very little, and it seemed to me very costly.
I promise not to keep this an unreasonable time.
Sincerely yours,
T. S. Eliot
1–Unidentified.
2–Leutnant Gustl (1901), a pioneering stream-of-consciousness novella by the Austrian novelist and dramatist Arthur Schnitzler (1862–1931).
3–Jaschke’s bookshop, Charing Cross Road.
TO His Mother
TS Houghton
13 February 1921
9 Clarence Gate Gardens
Important
My dearest mother,
I think that I wrote and thanked you for the dividend in my last letter, and for the insurance policy. The document which you said you enclosed by mistake, I did not find; please let me know whether you have found it.
Mr Haigh-Wood has been taken away a day or two ago to Tunbridge Wells, where they will stay for some time. He can walk some steps quite by himself now, and seems securely on the road to health. It is truly miraculous.
Vivien has had a severe attack of influenza lately, which is the reason I have not found time to write for some days, and is very weak. The worst of anything like this is that it retards very much the course of treatment for her stomach, and sets her very far back.
I want however to put only one matter into this letter, so that you may consider it and give me a thought-out reply at once. You should now decide on the time at which you wish to come, and should reserve a passage immediately. Please let me know
When you are coming.
How much you are willing to pay (per week) for board and lodging.
Whether you wish lodgings, or as I strongly advise, two bedrooms and a sitting room in a hotel.
How much of your food requires to be specially prepared. I must know this in order to decide what is the best form of habitation for you.
Whether you would consider taking a small furnished flat, if we got a reliable woman to come in and cook for you. I believe that this arrangement might be made no more fatiguing, and perhaps really less troublesome, for Marion, than a hotel or lodgings. I might be able to secure one in our block of flats, which is a very large one.
Please think these over and answer them as soon as you possibly can. I will say no more in this letter, except to thank you for yours (I hope Mr Lowes will like the book)1 and to send my devoted love,
your son,
Tom.
PS IMPORTANT
Please let me know also whether it will be only you and Marion or whether there is any chance of Henry coming too. I am not only very anxious to see him (I am always worried about his health and happiness and future) but I know it would do him a world of good, it might be very important to him. Also, I think he could manage to get away for long enough to be worth while, and I believe he would if you urged him to do so. The poor fellow has never been abroad; he ought sometime to get at least a peep far outside of the commercial life of Chicago among the people he has to mix with there. Do try to make him come, for his own sake.
Tom.
1–CCE was giving a copy of SW to Professor John Livingston Lowes at Harvard.
TO Mrs Lethbridge
cc
27 February [1921]
9 Clarence Gate Gdns
Dear Mrs Lethbridge,
I am returning you Leutnant Gustl, with many thanks. It seems to me a brilliant piece of writing, extremely well sustained, and I am very much obliged to you for acquainting me with it. I should like to find some other book of Schnitzler, as I do not know anything but Anatol.1 I notice that a new play of his, Reigen, has been very badly treated by the Berlin public on the grounds of its impropriety!2
I hope that we may some day have an opportunity of meeting again, and meanwhile, empfehle mich [I’ll take my leave] –
sincerely yours,
[T. S. E.]
1–Anatol (1893), a series of dramatic sketches about a fashionable philanderer.
2–Reigen: Zehn Dialoge, also known as La Ronde, was printed privately and performed in 1900, but its Berlin premiere in Dec. 1920 caused scandal and provoked anti-Semitic riots. Schnitzler subsequently withdrew it from performance.
TO B
rigit Patmore
MS Beinecke
2 March [1921]
9 Clarence Gate Gdns
My dear Brigit,
Alas! this is only another illustration of our life: owing to a crisis in which I want advice I have had to seek out three people, two of whom want to see me tomorrow afternoon. And as Vivien would be able to see you or anyone only for a few minutes I hope you will come a little later when she could see you longer, and when I should be able to be present also: we speak of you often, and really want to see you. May I write in a few days and suggest? It’s a pity you are not on the telephone.
Yours always
T.S.E.
TO His Mother
MS Houghton
6 March 1921
9 Clarence Gate Gdns
My dearest mother,
I have not yet heard from you in reply to my questions about your time of coming and the arrangements I should make for you, but I have been thinking the matter over very carefully in the meantime. You must admit that we are in a much better position to judge about accommodations in London than you are, and so I trust that you will fall in with our plans for you.
In the first place lodgings are much rarer in London than they used to be. Even if you had lodgings, the landlady never does the housekeeping. She cooks the food, but you have to order it. And it is a rare exception to find the cooking good. There are many hotels and boarding houses, of all sorts; no doubt we could find you a good one with good cooking. But everything that you had to have cooked or prepared specially means considerable extra expense, and also you would find it absolutely necessary to have a private sitting room. It would be expensive, and I do not think there is one very near here.
Lucy Thayer, Vivien’s American friend, has taken a small but comfortable flat not far away [at 12 Wigmore Street], and would be very glad to take us in, as she could easily do. You could have our comfortable flat and servant. This is the best scheme for everybody. You object that you do not wish Marion to have to do housekeeping. This objection more than disappears: Marion would only have to order meals, our servant knows her work and would need no other instructions. She would do the shopping. In lodgings Marion would have to do the same, and in both lodgings and hotels she would have always to see about meals, deal with management and servants, and have constant anxiety of your not being comfortable enough or not getting food prepared right. I know that my scheme would actually be more restful for her than what you propose.
I should see more of you and under better conditions this way. We should often dine here, I should keep my books here and should often work here in the evenings, and should be dropping in of course all the time.
Vivien and I have absolutely the same opinion about this, and she is quite as anxious as I am. We should be perfectly comfortable and would have no responsibility at Lucy Thayer’s, simply paying our board.
The only thing is that we want to know at once, so do please take what I have said very seriously and make up your mind quite fresh. It would make a great difference to our peace of mind.
Your devoted son
Tom.
TO Edgar Jepson
PC Beinecke
6 March 1921
9 Clarence Gate Gdns
I see that your address before the Tomorrow Club is on Thursday. I wish you would tell me what you want me to say or give me some hint of the subject, beyond the title, which would help in the introductory eulogy –
Yrs
T. S. Eliot
TO His Mother
MS Houghton
8 March 1921
9 Clarence Gate Gdns
Dearest mother,
I just have your letter of the 23rd February, and think of cabling you tomorrow to urge you strongly to change your reservation to an earlier date.
Next day: I have cabled this afternoon. You say you have reserved a stateroom for the Celtic (Cedric?) for the 11th June. This would bring you to Liverpool on the 18th June. The point is that the middle of May to the middle of June is apt to be the best weather of the year in England. It is certainly likely to be sunnier and as warm then as later. The time is so short anyway that it is important to get the best of the season. You need not dread the cold in May; it is much warmer here in May than in America, although in midsummer it is not nearly so hot. I think the end of August or beginning of September is the best time to return; and you should certainly come in May, to get the good weather and prolong your stay.
Remember that living in London will not be expensive, if you do as I tell you to.
I cabled to change your reservation to the Cedric or the Olympic, both of which sail on May 14, getting you here on the 21st – you will see from the list I enclose that there are several boats sailing in May. Also, it is somewhat better to arrive at Southampton, which is 1½ hours from London by express train, than at Liverpool, which is 4 hours away.
I have chosen boats of the same line as the one you chose (White Star) in case you have paid part or all of the price, but if you have not, you can of course change to a Cunard. Please take my advice in this as in the other matter of habitation, as they both make for the comfort and happiness of everyone concerned. The proposal for taking this flat means also a great saving in expense.
I shall expect you by the 21st May, and shall arrange to meet you at the station in London.
* * *
You will make a great mistake if you postpone arriving till the 18th June. The best plan is to get three clear months from the 21st May.
* * *
Also, you ought to make an attempt to get Henry to come with you. He could return alone before you did, and even if he only had a fortnight here it would be worth it. It is much more desirable that he should come over with you than that he should be able to return with you. With even a month’s holiday he could do it, and it would be absurd if he could not get that much.
* * *
You do not seem to get my letters very quickly, and I almost think one has gone astray, as I thanked you for the dividends and insurance papers some time ago. I also sent you a copy of Desmond MacCarthy’s article.1 I have known him some years, he is literary editor of the New Statesman. Bob Trevelyan, of whom you ask, is a member of the same family as the historian, cousin or nephew. His father was named Sir George Trevelyan, I think. He is a country gentleman and minor poet, mostly writes translations from Latin and Greek.
Mr Haigh-Wood appears to be getting on very well, and is now at Eastbourne, recuperating, walks about a little and writes letters. It was a miraculous cure.
* * *
I am very sorry to hear about your real estate troubles. Surely the city compensates you for the loss in value and the expense of rebuilding! But you will have to arrange, and well in advance, for your affairs to be looked after while you are away. Otherwise, something will turn up at the last moment, and you will say ‘I must wait and see to this’. And it is important that you should come early and have your first experience of English weather while it is good and settled.
I must go to bed now.
Make your sailing early – the Shipping Companies are used to such alterations, and let me know at once.
Your devoted son
Tom
1–Desmond MacCarthy, ‘New Poets, T. S. Eliot’, NS, 8 Jan. 1921: a review of Ara Vos Prec.
TO Brigit Patmore
MS Beinecke
17 March [1921]
9 Clarence Gate Gdns
Dear Brigit
It is pleasant to hear that you have not forgotten us, in this interval. I wish I could reply as I should wish. For the last four days Vivien has been lying in the most dreadful agony with neuritis in every nerve, increasingly – arms, hands, legs, feet, back. Have you ever been in such incessant and extreme pain that you felt your sanity going, and that you no longer knew reality from delusion? That’s the way she is. The doctors have never seen so bad a case, and hold out no definite hope, and have so far done her no good. Meanwhile she is in screaming agony, and I fear the exh
austion might just snuff her out. She has just enough mind left to send you her love, and say she really would like to see you very much – though she couldn’t talk or speak – if you could come in late one afternoon and have a cup of tea with me. Could you, at short notice (it would be)? And later I hope to come to tea and meet Collins.1
Ever yours
Tom.
1–Unidentified.
TO Marianne Moore1
MS Rosenbach
3 April 1921
9 Clarence Gate Gdns
Dear Miss Moore,
I am writing to thank you for your review of my essays in the Dial.2 It gave me pleasure, and still more pleasure to be reviewed by you, as I have long delayed writing to you, in fact since the 1917 Others, to tell you how much I admire your verse.3 It interests me, I think, more than that of anyone now writing in America. I wish that you would make a book of it, and I should like to try to get it published here. I wish you would let me try.
Sincerely yours
T. S. Eliot
I have just met McAlmon, who spoke of you, and whom I liked.4
1–Marianne Moore (1887–1972), one of the most distinguished American poets and critics of the century, contributed to The Egoist from 1915 and went on to become acting editor of The Dial, then editor, 1927–9. In his introduction to her Selected Poems, which he was to publish at F&F in 1935, Eliot stated his judgement that her ‘poems form part of the small body of durable poetry written in our time’.