Describes people he's met in Paris; discusses job prospects: teaching high school children of the Army of occupation, re-educating Germans with UNESCO; thinks he has the gift of understanding communities intuitively the way PS understands people; will see Jean-Louis Barrault as Hamlet, details why ‘Brighton Rock’ is a disappointment, including the fact that PS told him the plot has ruined it though PS told him it wouldn’t; continues the letter later that afternoon dismissing the UNESCO job; had an interesting encounter he’ll tell PS about in person; his banking, expenses; the beard means no one takes him for a Yank, is also different in that he tries to speak French; as for Brenda [Dumaresq?], he’s said all he can say, thinks PS will hurt her and himself; discusses the movie ‘Boomerang’, which he admires.
Paris is entertaining and restful; saw [Jean-Louis] Barreult [recte Barrault]'s Hamlet, which would have been overdone for Cyrano; discusses 'Hamlet', 'Brighton Rock', 'Four Quartets', and Conrad, thinks Conrad can weave a spell, but is prone to bad writing; will have to talk when they meet about increasing American sense of responsibility manifesting itself as belligerence; went to a Debussy concert played by the 'putrid' Opera House orchestra; hearing 'Iberia' makes him believe in the Platonic theory of knowledge, given his certainty that it was a great piece of music being played wretchedly; continues their conversation about why Spain at her height culturally produced no great music, and PS's theory that they had no contact with the West and an isolated nobility; Paris is a musical void unless you take into account the language; has not pursued the friendship with Vera [Neuhoff?]; the idea of going to Berlin is probably on hold given the current situation; discusses 'Boomerang' further; agrees with his comments on the Chandler genre; doesn't know what he'll do if he doesn't land a teaching job.