Showing 3 results

[Excelsior Springs, Missouri.]—Is at home on vacation. Matters at the seminary have deteriorated since he last wrote, and he has been struggling to distinguish the ‘Church as it is’ from the ‘vulgarity of its action at the practical level’. Is determined to remain there till the end of the year (May), but hopes to find an alternative in the mean time. However, America seems an even more impossible place to live than England, not only illiterate but arrogant, and despite its failings the seminary is a refuge. The alternative may be to teach English in China, Japan, Egypt, or India, as others from Cambridge have. Has heard that Leavis insulted Wilson Knight at a meeting of the Doughty Society. Edward Morley sends greetings.

Wadham College, Oxford.—Apologises for not writing sooner. Has been busy preparing for the prelims in March, which include a paper on Latin, two on Anglo-Saxon, and three on tragedy—Greek, Shakespearean, and neo-classical. Is unsure whether he likes Anglo-Saxon, and suspects they only learn it to ‘keep the dons at work’. His present tutors are [George] Forrest, [Alan] Ward, and [John] Bamborough; later this term they will have Humphry House for the Poetics. Five people are taking prelims in English at Wadham this year. Refers to the college’s connections with twentieth-century literature through C. Day Lewis, Rex Warner, and Humbert Wolfe, and discusses lectures he has been attending by Miss [Pamela] Gradon, Dorothy Whitelock, House, Helen Gardner, and Lord David Cecil. Describes his rooms and gives his impressions of the college. Has joined three clubs: the English Club, the Poetry Society, and University Critical Club. The English Club engages people like James Laver (on Huysmans), Angus Wilson, Richard Church, and Louis Macneice to talk or read poems. The last talk, by J. I. M. Stewart on ‘Literature and the New Psychology’, was very bad. The Poetry Society is an ‘Art-y affair, favouring the modern romantic verse’. Their first meeting, featuring readings by Clifford Dyment and his wife, was ‘frightful’. ‘We also have Patrick [sic] Dickinson, Day Lewis and a production of Macneice’s Eclogues (with music) besides other things to come.’ The Critical Society is ‘a somewhat elusive organization’ sponsored by F. W. Bateson. Has only attended one of their meetings so far, a talk by Leavis on Yeats’s Byzantium poems, which was excellent. ‘The other two talks this term are D. W. Harding on Shelley, and Wilson Knight re-interpreting the Scholar Gipsy, which should be interesting. There are also two discussion groups on William Faulkner’s “Sanctuary” and Langland.’ Refers to some recent book bargains. Is reading Coningsby, which is disappointing. Asks how Smith’s lectures on the Nineties are proceeding and whether his promised assistance has come. There is a revival of interest in Ezra Pound. Will try to describe some of the ‘fancy-waistcoated gentlemen themselves’ in his next letter. Asks whether Smith did any travelling this summer, as planned.

West Melville, Northam, Devon. - Very pleased to get Bob's book of poems and to find some he did not know; good to have the ones he does know together, especially 'in this new form so easily adapted to the pocket'. Wishes he could come and see Bob and Bessie, but visits are not easy at the moment: 'Even though one carries a nosebag' [i.e. takes food rations] the demand on one's host's hospitality is 'not easy to meet;. Would love to 'stroll' with Bob on his terrace and talk. May manage to get to London in autumn, and hopes then to visit Raisley [Moorsom?] and his family. Wonders whether Bob has seen his autobiography, "But To What Purpose"; thinks it would interest him, though he may think he has been 'too severe on Bedales'. Learned a 'great deal' from writing it; may perhaps have 'more to learn'.

He and Katharine very much like their new home, which is 'the half of a beautiful old house', with 'the most lovely garden'; regrets that that is a 'very expensive item', and he finds it difficult not to work too hard there. Has 'slipped somehow, rather unwillingly, into [radio] broadcasts', and is about to record two 'Empire broadcasts' in the "Men and Book" series, one on Melville and the other on Conrad. Will take a 'very different approach from the fellow who talked on these two the other night on the Third Programme [William Plomer?]' They have just come back from a conference at Birmingham, having heard some interesting papers and discussions, particularly the papers by Wilson Knight on "Imagination" and [William?] Chaning Pearce on "Existentialism and Christianity". Wilson Knight's lecture was a 'masterpiece of extemporary speaking'; expects Bob knows "The Wheel of Fire" and "The Imperial Theme", Knight's writings on Shakespeare, and recommends them if he does not. Love to the Trevelyans from both Grant Watsons.