Item 52 - Letter from F. R. Leavis to James Smith

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SMIJ/1/52

Title

Letter from F. R. Leavis to James Smith

Date(s)

  • 7 July 1961 (Creation)

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2 single sheets

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Name of creator

Smith, James (1904-1972), literary critic
(1904-1972)

Repository

Trinity College Library, Cambridge

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Downing College, Cambridge.—Apologises for keeping his essay for so long without writing. It arrived as he was preparing for the Tripos. He did read the essay through and re-read the play (which made him ‘ashamed for Shakespeare’), but then ‘the avalanche of the Tripos descended’ and he had to mark a large quantity of papers and other work. ‘I got through on sun & the port King, the Fellows’ Butler, finds me.’ His view, and that of Q[ueenie, his wife], is that Shakespeare’s play ‘can’t be treated as decent & responsible & serious’, and so does not deserve the detailed treatment Smith gives it. Kingsford of the CUP is looking for a set of Scrutiny to reproduce, and Leavis has suggested he buy Smith’s.

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