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Letters and postcards from E. M. Forster to Elizabeth Trevelyan. Also included are five letters from R. J. Buckingham to Elizabeth Trevelyan, 3-5 and 83-84, written in 1935-1936 and 1950 to report on Forster's recovery from operations.

West Hackhurst, Abinger Hammer, Dorking. - Wonders if she might be 'going to London in a car on Thursday' or returning in one on Friday; expects not, but thought he would '"just mention it"'. Is hoping to see her on Tuesday.

Written as if from Charlotte Bartlett ["A Room With A View"] as Trevelyan seems to have confused Miss Bartlett with her cousin Lucy Honeychurch. Forster will visit on Sunday.

W[est] H[ackhurst]. - Thanks Bessie for her letter. Knew that Hsiao Ch'ien was coming to the Shiffolds; has seen him in London and asked him to 'turn up' whenever he likes on Thursday afternoon. They would be 'equally delighted' if it were more convenient for Hsiao Chi'en to come in the morning and stay to lunch: Forster will be in all day. However, could not give him a bed, as Miss Hill is stopping with them.

Thought he would write rather than calling from 'that dreadful buzzy telephone kiosk'. Sends love, and would like to come over and see her soon.

Harnham, Monument Green, Weybridge. - Thanks Trevelyan [for help with construing a line of Italian, see 3/97]: D'Annunzio says the quotation is from Leonardo [da Vinci]. Has been trying to find 'headers' for his lectures, and asks if Trevelyan has any suggestions. Has been reading 'about Bellincion Berti's braces' in Dante ["La Divina Commedia"]. It would be very good of Trevelyan to ask S., who is currently in Guernsey, and not rich. Is staying in Weybridge for a couple of months, and parodies Wordsworth, "Strange Fits of Passion" [perhaps to express exasperation over work on "A Room With A View"].

Harnham, Monument Green, Weybridge. - Asks if he has construed a line of Italian [used by D'Annunzio as epigraph to "La Gioconda"] correctly: says it's nonsense', but may do for his syllabus [Extension lectures]. Is reading [Samuel] Butler's essays, having re-read "Erewhon", which he believes is tremendous though he knows Trevelyan disagrees.

On headed notepaper for Kings College Cambridge, with note 'Coventry actually, where I am spending Christmas and New Year with the Buckinghams. - Thanks Bessie for her card and letter; is glad she is 'as comfortable as these uncomfortable times allow. The Suez imbecility has robbed us of both comfort and honour, and I do resent being deprived of both'.

Is well in himself, and still has 'enough money to stem the rising tide of prices', but is unsure how long that will continue; the 'transport problem is an immediate vexation'. Is very glad to have 'got to Greece in the spring', and Leiden for a week more recently.

Unfortunately Florence [Barger] 'lacks her old strength, and has to live more quietly'; Harriet 'looks after her splendidly', and Evert has 'a good and totally new job in London' so will settle there. Has 'satisfactory news of G. M. T. from [George Trevelyan's son] Humphry.

Had a 'charming and unexpected invitation' to eat Christmas dinner with George Moore and his wife; could not accept as he was going to Coventry. 'Various other professorial or semi-professorial lame or semi-lame dogs' would also have been there, 'an unusual and probably most agreeable occasion'. Kings 'seems to have started off well under its new Provost, Noel Annan. Provost [J. T.] Sheppard is in Texas!'

Encloses a Hungarian Relief card, which he 'only got by writing direct to the Lord Mayor [of London, Sir Cullum Welch, who launched the fund]. The Trash [perhaps the Times?] has boycotted it - really disgusting'.

Sends much love, and hopes to see her 'when things get easier - and may they!'.

K.C.C. [King's College Cambridge], 'as from 9 Arlington Park Mansions, Chiswick, W.4.'. - Thanks Bessie for her telegram and letter. 'That suits beautifully [see TRER/ADD/65 for meeting being arranged here'; will arrive at Dorking North on the 11.56 train on Thursday [9 Sept].

West Hackhurst, Abinger Hammer, Dorking. - Asks if he and a poet friend - 'auch ein Dichter' - can visit, and whether he has returned "The Arabian Nights". Sends punning greetings to Paul in Latin.

Harnham, Monument Green, Weybridge; addressed to Trevelyan c/o Mrs Pepper, Seatoller, Borrowdale, Keswick. - A pastiche of Wordsworth's "A slumber did my spirit seal", referring to 'Miss Bartlett' [from "A Room With A View"].

Kings College Cambridge [headed notepaper). - Asks if she would be free on Thursday 9th; if so, would 'very much like' to visit for lunch, to see her and 'talk about our talks on the 20th [at the ceremony to mark the opening of Robert Trevelyan's memorial library at Birkbeck'. Fears he would have to return in the afternoon. If that is not convenient, perhaps it would suit her to meet another day in London.

Is doing a broadcast on Bayreuth, and 'must tidy up my script! Florence [Barger] has gone off to America!"

Was very 'interested and pleased' by Virginia's letter [17/91]; was afraid her 'natural "novelist's prejudice"' might have made her more critical than she was; her criticism seems 'probably just, and certainly helpful' as it makes it clearer to him both what he 'would like to do, and what I can and cannot do'. Would like, as she suggests to 'deal with Monday and Tuesday', and has 'tried, both in prose and verse, and failed, and shall no doubt try again'. Greatly admires some of Virginia's 'own experiments in that direction', and sympathises with 'Goldie [Lowes Dickinson]'s enthusiasm in the letter Forster puts in his Life'; if he himself had that sort of gift, he would 'probably have shown it before now'. Virginia has found a 'method of expressing intimate imaginative experiences and feelings and sensations in a very beautiful way' and though he would like to has so far not succeeded in doing so himself. He deliberately 'kept the immediate world of things seen and felt from the dialogues' and largely also out of the St Francis story as well. Feels that if a dialogue is 'to come alive at all', it must 'do so chiefly by its intellectual and dialectical interest' from which 'novelistic, or even poetic elements' are a distraction and make the reader 'expect something that he ought not to look for'. Wonders whether he could find a way to convey 'immediate experiences of things and of human beings' or 'a narrative method which would deal primarily with ideas, and character as expressed through the intellect' yet 'not altogether exclude novelistic or poetic vision'. Thinks that 'a certain spice of the comedic and the quasi-Rabelaisian' could help him, and is trying something of the kind at the moment; does not know whether he will succeed, but Virginia's letter will help him 'think more clearly' about what he wants to do.

Postmarked Abinger Hammer. - Is sorry that he has not been able to visit while staying at his aunt's; but 'of all human beings a baby keeps the longest' so he will have to leave Paul 'in his Tarsian stage' for a few months more. Is arguing with Blackwood 'over the colonies' and thinks he will have to go elsewhere [for the publication of "The Longest Journey"]. Has received "The Arabian Nights."

'Near Bayreuth'; postmarked Kulmbach. - Bessie's 'kind letter' reached him and Florence [Barger] here in Germany, where they have been seeing the Ring and Parsifal 'under Evert [Barger]'s good auspices and management'. Gets back at the end of the month, and would 'much like' to see her in London or the Shiffolds before 20th Sept; was 'so pleased to be asked to speak [at the ceremony then to mark the opening of Robert Trevelyan's memorial library at Birkbeck College]. I shan't talk long!'. Very glad that Bessie will also be speaking.

Florence sends love, she is 'off to America! when she returns'

Harnham, Monument Green, Weybridge. - Congratulations about [birth on 20 Dec 1906 of the Trevelyans' son] Paul. Has been ill but now seems to have recovered after being sick twice: 'bis vomui' [Latin].

Kings College Cambridge [headed notepaper). - Thanks Bessie for her letter, and the 'welcome things' she says about his Hill of Devi. This 'cannot be called a letter in return', as he is 'so rushed and Christmas so accelerates the rush', but he wanted her to see the enclosed [no longer present], which 'gives him great pleasure'; also hopes it will please her. Sends love and good wishes for 1754.

Contains: poem, "The Pilot", by 'Aircraftman E. M. Skipper'; "The C Minor of that Life" by E. M. Forster; "The Fight for Woodhouse Hill", by Reginald A. Bray; poem, "Where I Wander", by Denton Welch; "When It Wilts" by S. S. [Sylvia Sprigge].

Kings College Cambridge [headed notepaper). - Very nice to hear from her; will answer 'at once like a good boy - which I am not always!'. Agrees that Florence [Barger] is 'wonderful'; he 'found her looking out of the way well'. Has also had a 'good year'; his 'great achievement was getting to Italy for six weeks, to stay with American friends'.

Bessie asks about the London LIbrary; is not on the committee and thinks she should write directly to the Secretary and ask whether Bob's life membership entitles her to become an 'ordinary annual member without paying an entrance fee'; thinks the annual subscription is five or six pounds now but is unsure as he has a life membership himself. Would be more difficult for her to join on a reduced subscription; the Carlyle Fund provides for this, but 'the applicant has to prove special need'. It is 'very nice, and very right' that Birkbeck College allows her to borrow from Bob's library [which she has given to them as a memorial].

His book is about Dewas, the Indian state he was in years ago. Malcolm Darling, 'whom Bob liked and stayed with', has much information about it which Forster has worked in with his own letters from there to his mother. Hopes the book will be published next year; it will be called The Hill of Devi, which is the 'little acropolis that stands about Dewas and gives it its name'.

Would like to come and see her in the warmer weather; may be able to find a 'young friend to bring me in a car - they will sometimes'. Earlier this year he got to the Hammer with John Meade, son of a former rector at Abinger, now at the Staff College at Camberley, who is married to 'a grand-daughter of Major Lugard'.

West Hackhurst, Abinger Hammer, Dorking. - Curious about Trevelyan's decision on 'Theseus' ["The Bride of Dionysus"]: is sure Act III cannot end as D.T. [Donald Tovey] suggests.

As from 129 Wendell Road, Shepherd's Bush, W.12. - Thanks her for her letter and news; does 'sympathise' with her over 'this miserable upheaval [the possibility of moving from the Shiffolds]. Sorrow in itself is wretched enough' and from it comes 'the necessity for choices and decisions - at a time when one longs to rest and drift'. She also does 'not have the haven Cambridge so miraculously opened for' him. Julian seems the 'obvious person' for advice, but Forster supposes he 'is not what is called "good" at it, and no amount of trying can produce that sort of "goodness".

Is writing partly as he is 'broadcasting on the Third Programme on the subject of the Third Programme on Saturday and Monday. Great solemnity - recording van sent specially to the Buckinghams in case my ankle [which he had recently broken] feels tired'. He 'got out of plaster earlier this month', and spent a 'pleasant week' in Aldeburgh. His ankle has been 'rather troublesome' since then, but he understands this is 'not unusual'. Has a 'most comfortable and genteel shoe', and is seeing the surgeon again next week. Is just about to leave for London now by car, partly so that he can pick up Agnes [Dowland] at Barnet.

Thinks 'the opera [Billy Budd, for which Forster had written the libretto] will be fine'; has now heard it all, and has been 'strumming at' a proof copy of the piano score this morning. They have still not found a singer to play Billy: he 'must look fine, so central European stomachs are unfortunately excluded'. The final possibility is 'a young man who cannot sing all the notes', as the part is a high baritone. Forster is 'all for having him. What do a few notes matter?'.

Has not seen Florence [Barger] since her return, but has spoken to her on the phone, she 'seemed most happy and prosperous'. Is using another sheet of paper to 'urge you, whatever you decide [about her home and future] not to be too unselfish, but to procure whatever money can provide towards the comfort of your body and mind'.

Occurs to him that she might like to see the enclosed piece [no longer present], written for 'a "Reader's Club" magazine in the States which has been founded by Auden, Trilling and Barzun', whom he respects: they have chosen his new book [Two Cheers for Democracy] for this October, and requested 'something for the magazine'; asks if she can return it.

Postcript: 'Unfinished novel [what was later published in short story form as The Open Boat?] in an awful mess I fear'.

Postmarked Weybridge; addressed to Trevelyan at Pensione Palumba, Ravello, Italy. - Has transformed [his story] "The Purple Envelope" into 'something comparatively respectable' which probably will be rejected by "Temple Bar".

A calculation of the lifespans of the descendants of Adam, with an invitation to 'make any use of the distressing discovery that you please' [perhaps for Trevelyan's poem "The Deluge"?]

King's Coll. Cambridge [headed notepaper]. - Of course realised that she would not be writing letters 'for some time [after her husband's death on 21 Mar]; is 'very glad' to hear from her. Hopes she is 'feeling somewhat rested now...'; good that she has 'people to look after [her]', and that she is for the present staying 'as you are, and where you are. After these great changes, it is much better that one should wait - when it is possible to do so - and should let the future shape itself'.

Afraid that he will not be able to come and visit her in early June, as he will be 'so wound up in Aldeburgh and other matters'; would like to come later in the year. His 'pleurisy went off very easily, thanks to a new pill', so he was 'able to receive the King, Queen, and Princess Margaret fairly well, and able very well indeed to receive an Hon[orary] Degree at Nottingham'. This was a 'very pleasant experience. After the ceremony, we all processed through the city in our coloured bits and odds and ends, with the Mayor and the Mace in front, and held up the traffic'. Sebastian Sprott is now Public Orator, and made a 'charming' speech about him.

Sends love and hopes to see her later.

Harnham, Monument Green, Weybridge. - Is being given the 'N.Q.' [New Quarterly], and finds it splendid. An essay on Poggio [Bracciolini], which MacCarthy encouraged him to send to the United States, has been rejected. Is going to Founder's Feast soon. Thanks Trevelyan about Stokoe, who must have moved. Lady Holroyd (who knows Trevelyan] has called, as has Mrs Barnes. Sends love to [Trevelyan's son] Paul.

Is 'so looking forward to Tuesday'; suggests she drive over to him since she is '"having the car out"', with Bob if he is free, then 'Agnes will also have the pleasure of seeing' her; she could come in the early afternoon and leave after tea. 'As for the Welcombe Rug', he is 'quite warm, but shall like to think of it in the distance as an influence'. Asks her to send a postcard about it; will still walk over to her and be driven back if it suits her best. Is just going to London; intends to stay till Monday, but 'shall I, with no gas?'

Harnham, Monument Green, Weybridge. - Has been visiting the Dakyns family and is 'so sorry to hear about [Bob's son] Paul'; hopes that he will get well soon at Broadstairs. Has been meaning to write for a long time to say 'how good' he thinks "Sisyphus", and how much it made him laugh; liked Hypnos's appearance best; thought his remarks 'seemed so true' that those of Thanatos - [annotation above, perhaps in Trevelyan's hand, 'Time?']- which were 'presumably meant to be more true... did seem deal and second hand mahogany in comparison'. Calls Aphrodite and Artemis 'two dears'; the chorus made him 'faint with joy'. They are returning the 'Italy book', which his mother 'could scarcely bear to part with', and 'have put "Don't forward"'.