Item 26 - Letter from Marius Bewley to James Smith

551 Hudson Street, New York City.—Was delighted to hear from him. He often thinks of what he gained from him at Cambridge. Is sorry Smith is not continuing with his book on Shakespearian comedy, and urges him not to be hampered by a sense of incapacity. Is thinking of producing an edition of the best revenge tragedies, and of getting a PhD next year. Would like to return to Cambridge, but supposes it would be impossible, so is reluctantly considering Columbia and Yale. Is increasingly afflicted by the unhappiness and ugliness of life in America. The intellectual circles, typified by Partisan Review, are worst of all, and beyond this atmosphere is only ‘a horde of barking barbarians’. This deepening blackness, prefigured in Henry James’s American Scene, is likely to be accelerated in New York. [Henry] Luce is planning to launch a new literary quarterly with the intention of putting the little magazines out of print, while, according to one of the editors of the Dial Press, the publishing houses are planning to combine to push out the less successful books. William Empson, however, is having his collected poems published by Dial next season, having apparently ‘just got in under the ropes’. On top of all this the activities of the stage hands union have made decent theatre impossible. Still, he is in a better mood than usual, having just seen John Gielgud’s revival of The Importance of Being Earnest, in which Margaret Rutherford was wonderful. Asks for Aloysius’s address and thanks Smith for news of the other friars. At present all his time is leisure, but he will probably eventually be compelled to teach, in which case a PhD will be essential. Has not yet read Parker’s book on Calderón.