Item 24 - Letter from Arthur Waley to R. C. Trevelyan

1 item

British Museum, W. C. - Neither Mrs [Marie] Stopes nor [Ezra] Pound know Japanese, so he 'refuse[s] to be put in the same category'. Mrs Stopes 'talks a little colloquial' but there is 'abundant evidence' that the translations in her work were 'done by her Japanese collaborator [Jōji Sakurai]'. Has not met her, but 'you can tell exactly what she is like from reading her book'; Pound 'knows and dislikes her, which is on the whole in her favour'. Nothing happening about the publication of his poems: Squire has not yet 'moved' about putting some in the "New Statesman". Sent a copy of the '"reprint"' to Ka Cox suggesting it might give Constable [& Co, publishers] a 'less tedious impression than typescript', but has not heard from her. Sent a copy to [Bertrand?] Russell, who was 'very kind about it', as were 'Leonard [Woolf] and his wife, who want to print some, & shall - failing everything else'. Is keenest that people should be led to share his conviction that Po Chu-I is 'one of the great poets of the world', but 'perhaps one cannot prove it by 38 translations'. Believes that the 'Opposition consists... of the Stracheys & Alix [Sargant-Florence?], who will not read them till I do them in Popian couplets, with long 's's, bound in calf'. Does agree with them that 'Pope is the only readable translator of Homer'. Also sent his book to [Gordon] Bottomley.