No, the reviews did not
surprise
me.
Samuel Beckett
Ora pro me.
s/ Sam
TLS; 1 leaf, 1 side; TxU.
1 NancyCunard'saddress.
20 February 1938, Reavey
Eugene Diihren [Paris: Club des bibliophiles, 1904]); it appeared in a three-volume critical edition edited by Maurice Heine (Paris: Stendhal et Compagnie, aux depens des bibliophiles souscripteurs, 1931-1935). There was no English translation at this time.
Although Obelisk Press did not officially circulate its books abroad, it did sell to individuals; Kent has not been identified.
SB compares the offer of payment per word to that which he imagines could be commanded by Irish poet AE.
5 SB attended the preliminary hearing of his assailant, Robert-Jules Prudent, on 14 February 1938, as he wrote to McGreevy on 11 February 1938: "Next Monday I have to wait on the juge d'instruction & I suppose be confronted with Prudent. Perhaps I may persuade them to give me back my clothes" (TCD, MS 10402/156). "Juge d'instruction" (examining magistrate).
"Sieur Prudent" (the Prudent gentleman); "Borde! " (literally, brothel) for Palais de Justice. "Excusez-moi, Monsieur" (I'm sorry); "Je vous en prie, Monsieur" (Not at all).
6 "Oraprome"(prayforme). THOMAS McGREEVY
LONDON
21/2/38 Liberia [Paris]
dear Tom
Manythanksforyour2letters. 1 Forgivemydelayinreplying. I like when you write about pictures as much as I do when
you talk about them and I envy you a concern with them that has no intermissions. I haven't been to the Louvre since I came to
Paris! Nor sacrificed going to anything else. It is the kind of life that filled Dr Johnson with horror. Nothing but the days passing over. It suits me all right. 2
I have started again to look for a room and have combed most of the 14me _ There is hardly anything to be had. A few studios at prices I can't afford, one lovely one looking on to the Pare Montsouris, 12000 francs! , and worth every centime of it. There is a new house in the Rue [de l']Amiral Mouchez with
606
21 February 1938, McGreevy
rooms with hot & cold & heating for 2000. A low locality but nevertheless. I shall look at a room there next Tuesday and ifit is at all possible shall move to there provisionally. And even ifit is not I shall leave the Liberia, because it is too dear & there is no light. I saw a hotel room at the corner of Boulevard Auguste Blanqui & Rue de la Glaciere, high up on the angle, with 2 windows, full of light, 440 including service. Whereas at the Liberia I have just got a bill for the last month, 785 fr including breakfast. They have been very decent, but I simply can't afford such prices. 3
I saw Jack Kahane this morning. He agreed to the following
conditions: 1. That I should write the preface. 2. That I should
be paid 150 fr per 1000 words irrespective ofstate of£. 3. That
I should receive halfon signing ofcontrac[t) & halfon delivery of
MS. 4. That there should be no time limit. I then said I would give
him a definite answer this day week. He intends to publish in
3 vols. (not simultaneously) ofapprox. 50,000 words each. I should
be paid per vol. I should get my translator's copy (1500 fr) & 6 free
copies oftranslation (3 vols. at 150 francs each). I have read lg &
3! :Q vols. ofFrench edition. The obscenity ofsurface is indescrib
able. Nothing could be less pornographical. It fills me with a kind
of metaphysical ecstasy. The composition is extraordinary, as
rigorous as Dante's. If the dispassionate statement of 600 "pas
sions" is Puritan and a complete absence of satire juvenalesque,
4
607
then it is, as you say, puritanical & juvenalesque. You would loathe it whether or no. I don't know if I shall do it. I think probably I shall. It would be in a limited ed. of 1000 copies. No attempt wd. be made to distribute in England or USA. But of course it would be known that I was the translator. I would not do it without signing my name to it. I know all about the obloquy. What I don't know about is the practical effect on my own future
21 February 1938, McGreevy
freedom ofliterary action in England & USA. Would the fact ofmy being known as the translator, & the very literal translation, of "the most utter filth" tend to spike me as a writer myself? Could I be banned & muzzled retrospectively? The preface is important, because it enables me to make my attitude clear. Alan Belinda & Nick are all against my doing it. Brian simply says he would not himself undertake it. It appears a lot of people are after the job, including Peggy Guggenheim's ex-husband Lawrence [for Laurence] Vail. 5
I wish I had been in London for the Kandinsky. How did you like it? 6
I go back to Broussais on Thursday and hope that may be the last time. I was confronted with Prudent in the Palais de Justice this day week & we exchanged amiabilities. The trial should come on now soon, when I shall have the pleasure ofrecovering my sorely missed clothes, and perhaps even receive a franc damages. 7 Talking ofwhich I hear Gogarty gave an oyster party in the Bail[e]y to celebrate my premature demise, and has sold his premises in Ely Place to the Royal Hibernian Academy, which means that Harry will perhaps get some money after all, & I my return fare from Paris. 8
Love ever Sam
ALS; 2 leaves, 3 sides; on letterhead: LA COUPOLE, 102 BD DU MONTPARNASSE; TCD, MS 10402/157.
1 McGreevy'sletterstoSBhavenotbeenfound.
2 SamuelJohnsonlistedashisfirstpurpose"Toavoididleness"(EasterEve1761); SB cites from Johnson's Miscellanies Prayers and Meditations, Easter Day 7 April 1765): "I know not how the days pass over me" Uohnson, Diaries, Prayers, and Annals, 92; BIF. UoR, MS 2461/1. f. lR).
3 SB had been staying at the Hotel Liberia since the end of November 1937. He looked for a room in the 14th arrondissement.
608
8 March 1938, Reavey
According to the Cost-of-living / Consumer Prices Index in 1938, France had the highest increase in costs since 1929 (115 as compared to 99 in Ireland) (B. R. Mitchell, International Historical Statistics: Europe 1750-1988, 3rd edn. [New York: Stockton Press, 1992] 848.
4 SB refers to the three-volume edition of Sade's Les 120 Joumees de Sodome by Maurice Heine (see 20 February 1938, n. 4).
Juvenal (ne Decimus Junius Juvenalis c. 55-140), whose satires attacked the vices of Rome.
5 AlanandBelindaDuncan,NickBalachef,BrianCoffey.
French-born writer and artist Laurence Vail (1891-1968) was married to Peggy Guggenheim from 1922 to 1929.
6 TheKandinskyExhibitionatGuggenheimJeune:5January1938,n. 4.
7 The H6pital Broussais, where SB had been taken following the stabbing and to which he returned for check-ups. SB's exchanges with Prudent: 20 February 1938, n. 5.
8 Oliver St. John Gogarty, who lost the libel suit brought against him by Harry Sinclair at which SB had testified for the plaintiff, "celebrated" at The Bailey, Dublin tavern and restaurant, then at 2-3 Duke Street.
The proposed sale ofGogarty's home on Ely Place: 6October 1937, n. 8.
Harry Sinclair had been awarded damages, which were as yet unpaid; as a conse quence, SB's fare to Dublin/Paris had not yet been reimbursed.
GEORGE REAVEY LONDON
8/3/38 Hotel Liberia
9 Rue de la Grande Chaumiere
Paris 6me
Dear George
Many thanks for card. And for 3 Murphys, in batches of
1 & 2. The appearance is very satisfactory and the effort to make
1
anIrishmanofmetouching. NomistakesintextthatIcansee. I should like Routledge to send copies to the following: Jack Yeats (whose address they have).
ArlandUssher, Esq. , Cappagh House, Cappagh, Co. Waterford,
Ireland.
609
8 March 1938, Reavey
Dr Geoffrey Thompson, 71 Harley Street, London W. 1.
Tom McGreevy.
Laz Aaronson Esq. , 26 Westboume Terrace Road, London W. 2.
Herr Axel Kaun, Greiffenberg, Uckermark, Germany.
2
He wants to postpone for 3 or 4 months. I have written saying that I can't guarantee being of the same mind then, or having
3
defended, the plea of blind drunkenness skilfully advanced and
4
anxious to translate Murphy into French. He is a close friend
of mine, an expert translator and I should be very glad
for him to do it. He has contacts and so have friends of his,
5
I haven't had a word to throw to a dog, let alone van Velde, so have seen little of him. I haven't done the foreword and wonder if I ever shall. The Sterns introduced me last night in the Flore to one Brian Howard, at his request. He wanted to pump me about modern German art apropos of a big retrospective planned for London in the summer (Read & Borenius). He was drunk and with Nancy Cunard, whose bottom she said was better and left eye black. She said that the fact ofher having been the first to publish
him and me should set up a bond between us. It did not. Stern has
6
Denis Devlin (whose address you have).
No doubt I shall be fool enough to think of others later.
I have accepted the Sade translation at 150 francs per 1000.
the time to spare. No contract therefore yet.
Prudent got off with 2 months, to my relief. He was ably
I represented as the aggressor.
Alfred Peron, 69 Rue de la Tombe-lssoire, Paris 14me, is
notably with the NRF & Denoel et Steele. Will you make overtures in the matter, or would you prefer us to do so? Perhaps it would be better to leave it till you are over. When is that?
a novel with Secker in the autumn.
610
8 March 1938, Reavey Physically I am quite well again. Yesterday I played 7 sets of
7
TLS; 1 leaf. 1 side; AH ink checkmark before the names of Yeats, Ussher. Thompson, and Kaun;TxU.
1 Reavey'scardtoSBhasnotbeenfound.
Murphy was published on 7 March 1938. SB wrote to McGreevy, 8 March 1938: "I got some advance copies of Murphy. All green white & yellow. In honour of Celia? They do their best, and not merely with the blurbs, to tum me into an Irishman" (TCD, MS 10402/158). The jacket copy noted: "The reader is carried along on the wave of an abundant creative imagination expressing itself in scene after scene of superlative comedy, ironic situations that only the Irish genius could conceive. "
2 FromSB'slistforpresentationcopies,markingsindicatethatcopiesweresentto Yeats, Ussher, Thompson, and Kaun. SB's presentation copy to "Laz and Dorothy" (Aaronson) is dated May 1938 (InU).
3 AtranslationofSade'sLes120JourneesdeSodomewaspublishedundertheimprint ofJack Kahane's son Maurice Girodias in 1954 (Marquis de Sade, The 120 Days ofSodom; or, The Romance ofthe Schoolfor Libertinage, tr. Pieralessandro Casavini [pseud. ofAustryn Wainhouse] [Paris: Olympia Press, 19541).
4 AsSBwrotetoMcGreevyon8March1938:"ThePrudentaffaire[sic]cameonlast Monday. I was there with Alan. We did not press it, he was ably defended, I became the provocateur in the end, he was sentenced to 2 months imprisonment" (TCD, MS 10402/158). SB wrote to Arland Ussher on 27 March 1938: "The desperado got off with 2 months. Not bad for a 5! ! ! conviction. I am still without my clothes, taken away from me at the time as pieces de conviction & never produced. I have now to prove that they ever belonged to me. But mentally I am speechless" (TxU). "Pieces a conviction" (exhibits in evidence).
5 AlfredPeron,whohadworkedwithSBonthepreliminarytranslationofJoyce's "Anna Livia Plurabelle," encouraged SB to arrange a translation of Murphy; Peron had contacts with the Nouvelle Revue Fran�aise.
The Paris publishing finn Denoel et Steele was founded in 1930 by Bernard Steele (1902-1979) and Robert Denoel (1902-1945), but when Steele returned to the United States at the end of 1936, the firm became Les Editions Denoel.
6 SB had been asked to write a note for the catalogue of the Geer van Velde Exhibition at Guggenheim Jeune.
Anglo-Irish writer and translator James Andrew Stem (1904-1993) and his wife Tania Stem (nee Kurella, 1904-1995) collaborated on translations from the German; SB wrote to McGreevy on 8 March 1938, "I met them at Xmas with Aaronson, very nice. He is Irish and writes. Published I think by Secker" (TCD, MS 10402/158). James
611
tennis at Mirabeau without collapsing. Love to Gwynedd
Ever s/Sam
8 March 1938, Reavey
Stern's Something Wrong: A Collection of Twelve Stories was published by Secker and Warburg in 1938.
Brian Howard (1905-1958) was a member of the organizing committee, headed by Herbert Read, of the "Exhibition of Twentieth-Century German Art" held in July 1938 at the New Burlington Galleries, London. The exhibition drew on work in private collections so it would not compromise any artist still residing in Germany: [Herbert Read], Exhibition of Twentieth Century Gennan Art: July, 1938 (London: New Burlington Galleries, 1938) 5-7. The Finnish-born art historian and Editor of Burlington Magazine from 1940 to 1945 Tancred Borenius (1885-1948) was a patron of the exhibition.
Nancy Cunard had burned herself on a heater (SB to McGreevy, 11 February 1938, TCD, MS 10402/156). Cunard published Brian Howard's God Save the King (Paris: Hours Press, 1930).
7 TenniscouvertsMirabeau(coveredtenniscourts)werelocatedat1RueRemusat, Paris 16, near the Mirabeau metro station.
GEORGE REAVEY LONDON
23/3 [1938]
Liberia [Paris]
[no greeting]
Thanks for cuttings. It is gratifying to have my intention
1
revealed to me after all this time. still began with Cezanne.
Sam
Nothing new here. Painting
APCS; 1 leaf, 1 side; Baldovinetti, "La Vierge et l'Enfant"; to George Reavey Esq, 7 Great Ormond Street, LONDON WCl; pm 23-3-38, Paris; TxU.
1 By this date the reviews of Murphy were: Anon. , "Murphy. By Samuel Beckett," Times Literary Supplement 12 March 1938: 172; Dilys Powell, "Flight from Reality," Sunday Times 13 March 1938: 8; Edwin Muir, "New Novels," The Listener 19. 479 (16 March 1938) 597; Dylan Thomas, "Recent Novels," The New English Weekly 12. 23 (17 March 1938) 454-455; and Frank Swinnerton, "People and Puppets," The Observer 20 March 1938: 6.
Dylan Thomas wrote of Murphy: "It is not rightly what it should be, that is what Mr. Beckett intended it to be: a story about the conflict between the inside and the
612
outsides of certain curious people. It fails in its purpose because the minds and the bodies of these characters are almost utterly without relations to each other" (454).
THOMAS McGREEVY LONDON
3/4/38 Liberia [Paris]
Dear Tom
Thanks for your letter.
No, the reviews did not surprise me.
No[t] even those of Messrs. Muir & Thomas. Church was friendly in John O'Londons, as I understand so was Kate O'Brien in the
1
that Routledge are satisfied with sales. Nothing from Ireland so
far that I know of. Brian had a long article to appear in this
month's Ireland To-Day, but the paper expired just in time. My
2
give you a copy and hope you got it. I have sent no copies out
from here, life is laborious enough without making parcels of
books & bringing them to the P. O. And you know how pleased
I shall be to write in the book when we meet. Jack Yeats wrote
3
Zurich. He was very poorly with an eye & then some kind of intestinal flu. 4 [•••]
A French translation by Peron of my Alba appeared in
5
with him every Tuesday & play tennis afterwards. I hope to
arrange for him to translate Murphy. He is anxious to do so.
I sent a copy to Raymond Queneau, who has just been appointed
reader to Gallimard & whom I met in the Volontes galere. But
6
3 April 1938, McGreevy
lastSpectatorbutone,whichIhavenotseen. Reaveytellsme
Bookman experience over again. By the way I told Reavey to
very nicely about it, so did Aaronson & Geoffrey.
I have seen very little of the Joyces since they returned from
Soutes. Notoneofhisbestefforts. Heisingoodform&Ilunch
Denoel & Steele or the Mercure are more likely.
613
3 April 1938, McGreevy
I was at the Flore last night to arrange with Alan to go out &
see his mother who is installed now in some home outside the
Porte d'Orleans. Laugier came in with his woman, but we did not
7
I have the feeling that any poems there may happen to be in the future will be in French.
A note from Pelorson this morning, commanding me to his
presence next Saturday afternoon for a reading of Caligula (his
play). I have seen nothing of them at all lately, I suppose because
I am so little interested in the turn his writing has taken. I think
I told you about my having been so indiscrete [sic] as to say to
Marcelle at the Joyce birthday party, when she invited my opin
ion, that the review might with more justice be called Nolontes.
AlsoJolas, Henry Miller, Guegen [for Gueguen], & Cie. , all ofthem
9
eve of her departure for south of France, to see the exiled Douglas. I also saw Howard again for a moment, very convulsed & aloof. 10
Had a lovely afternoon yesterday in the Louvre, just strol
ling around without working. The topography is all changed, for
the worse I think, though I suppose it is only provisional. For ex.
to get from the Salle des 7 Metres to the Grande Galerie one
has to make a long detour through the French rooms. Half the
Grande Galerie is closed. I had forgotten the little Fabritius. A very
slapdash attribution. More like a Flinck. The Baldovinetti (? ) &
Verocchio [for Verrocchio] Virgins & Childs were lovely & the
Mantegnas all of a sudden extraordinarily disappointing, except
11
money on her little house at Greystones harbour, turning down
614
disturb one another.
I wrote a short poem in French but otherwise nothing.
8
leading lights, are not enticing.
I had a few minutes with Nancy Cunard the other evening, the
the Sebastian.
News from home good. Mother still very busy spending
3 April 1938, McGreevy offers for Cooldrinagh, and obviously very lonely. Jean appa
rently incredibly enormous 2 months before her time, & Frank
12
Exhibition, & expect to stay with Geoffrey. They may be here for
13
Do you remember the Courbet self-portrait? Airily dis missed in my little book as a pleasant imitation of Titian's Homme au gant! 14
Write soon. God's blessing. Sam
ALS: 2 leaves, 5 sides: letterhead: LA ROTONDE EN MONTPARNASSE, 105 BD DU MONTPARNASSE, PARIS; TCD, MS 10402/159-
1 Dylan Thomas's review was critical of Murphy, but Edwin Muir commented positively on SB's wit, and concluded, "there are very amusing episodes . . . and if this book does not completely bore or exasperate the reader, it will probably give him more than ordinary amusement" (Muir, "New Novels," 597). Richard Church called Murphy "a riot of highbrow fun," and Kate O'Brien (1897-1974) wrote, "Rarely, indeed, have I been so entertained by a book. so tempted to superlatives and perhaps hyper boles ofpraise. It truly is magnificent and a treasure . . . For the right readers it is a book in a hundred thousand" (Richard Church, "Samuel Beckett gives us 'a riot of highbrow fun. ""John O'London's Weekly 39. 990 (1 April 1938) 23; Kate O'Brien, "Fiction," The Spectator 25 March 1938: 546).
2 By 31 March 1938, regular sales of Murphy accounted for 240 copies (UoR, Routledge).
No reviews had appeared in Ireland. Brian Coffey's review ofMurphy, dated "Paris. March, 1938," was written for Ireland To-Day, which discontinued publication with the March 1938 issue (3. 3) (DeU, Coffey, AMS ofreview; TxU, Coffey, TMS ofreview). SB is reminded ofhis essay "Censorship in the Saorstat" that was commissioned by The Bookman but not published because the journal ceased publication in December 1934 (see 8 September 1934, n. 9).
3 ThelettersfromJackYeats,LazAaronson,andGeoffreyThompsontoSBhavenot been found.
615
as usual up to his eyes in work.
I shall probably be in London early in May for the van Velde
a week-end before then.
of a room here, and am very very tired of hotel life and the lack of my books, and know I shall never do any work until I find a place of my own.
So far I have found nothing in the way
3 April 1938, McGreevy
4 TheJoycesleftParisforSwitzerlandon6Februaryandplannedtobegoneabout three weeks, according to SB's letter to McGreevy of 11 February 1938 (TCD, MS 10402/ 156); Joyce returned to Paris early in March 1938 (Norburn, A James Joyce Chronology, 181). Joyce wrote to Carola Giedion-Welcker from Paris on 28 March 1938 that he had been unwell since his return Uoyce, Letters ofJames Joyce, III, 418). AsJoyce wrote to HelenJoyce, SB had dinner with them on 6 April at the Gormans' (419).
5 SamuelBeckett,"Alba,"tr. A. R. Peron,Soutes9(1938)41.
6 French writer and editor Raymond Queneau (1903-1976) was co-founder of Volontes (December 1937-1939) with Georges Pelorson, EugeneJolas, Pierre Gueguen (1889-1965), Henry Miller, Frederic Joliot-Curie (ne Jean-Frederic Joliot, 1900-1958), and Camille Schuwer (1888-1981); SB calls them the "galere" (crew) (for further information on the group: Vincent Giroud, "Transition to Vichy: The Case of Georges Pelorson," Modernism/Modernity 7. 2 [2000] 221-248).
The French publishing house Mercure de France was founded in 1894.
7 Alan Duncan's mother was Ellen Duncan (nee Douglas, known as Ellie, c. 1850-1939), a founder of the United Arts Club in Dublin, and first Curator of the Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Dublin.
SB may have seen Henri Laugier with his companion Marie Cuttoli (1879-1973). who, with Laugier, built an important collection of contemporary art (see Collection Marie Cuttoli - Henri Laugier, Paris [Basel: Galerie Beyeler, 19701).
8 Thispoemmayhavebeenoneofthetwelvepublishedas"Poemes38-39,"Les Temps Modernes, 288-293.
9 Pelorson'splayCaligula,basedonthelifeofGaiusCaesarAugustusGermanicus (AD 12-41), Emperor of Rome from AD 37 to 41, was partially published in three issues ofVolontes: "Caligula - Prologue," Volontes 1 Uanuary 1938) 18-27; "Caligula - Acte III," Volontes 3 (March 1938) 41-59; "Caligula - Acte IV," Volontes 8 (August 1938) 30-35.
According to EugeneJolas's notes for an autobiography, "Pelorson was writing plays with a fascist tendency then and he would invite his friends to listen to his reading of them" (CtY, Eugene and MariaJolas Papers, GEN MS 108/Boxes 5-12 [Drafts of Man from Babel]; not included inJolas, Manfrom Babel).
SB had written to McGreevy on 11 February 1938: "I told Marcelle Pelorson bluntly at theJoyce party that I found Georges' editorials negative & far too angry & that a better title for the review, to judge by its appearances to date, would be Nolontes" (TCD, MS 10402/156). "Volontes" (acts of will), a noun ultimately derived from the Latin verb "velle" (to want); SB invents an antonym similarly derived from the Latin verb "nolle" (not to want): "Nolontes. "
"Cie. " (Co. ).
10 Nancy Cunard left to see Norman Douglas, who had been an expatriate in Florence for many years, but who left Italy hurriedly inJune 1937 on account of legal difficulties that were unresolved untilJanuary 1938, whereupon he decided he would remain in France (see Mark Holloway, Norman Douglas: A Biography [London: Secker and Warburg. 1976] 430-438).
Brian Howard.
11 TheLouvre'sSalledes7Metres,offtheStaircaseDarn,normallywouldhaveled directly into the Grande Galerie de Peinture; however, the adjacent portion of the
616
22 Avril {1938}, Reavey
Grande Galerie was closed, leaving access through the French rooms (at that time the Salle Daru, the Salle Denon, and the Salle des Etats, or possibly even a further detour through the Salle Moilien and the small galleries facing the Cour Lefuel).
It is not known to which painting by Carel Fabritius SB refers. Head ofan Elderly Man (Louvre, R. F. 3834) is a relatively small portrait (24 x 20. 7 cm); it was acquired by the Louvre in 1934 and is attributed to Carel Fabritius, but this attribution is considered doubtful by Christopher Brown (Carel Fabritius: Complete Edition with a Catalogue Raisonne [Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1981] 129). The Louvre did not own a painting by Carel's brother Barent Fabritius (1624-1673) at this time. Dutch painter Govaert Flinck (1615-1660).
The image of Vir. gin and Child (Louvre, R. F. 1112) by Florentine painter Alesso Baldovinetti (c. 1425-1499) was on the card SB had sent to George Reavey on 23 March 1938.
Florentine sculptor and painter Andrea de! Verrocchio (Andrea di Michele di Francesco Cioni, 1435 - c. 1488) was a pupil of Baldovinetti, whose workshop also included Leonardo da Vinci, Lorenzo di Credi (c. 1456-1536), Perugino, and Domenico Ghirlandaio. There are few paintings ascribed to Verrocchio and none in the Louvre; however, the association of his workshop may have been mentioned in the many depictions of "Virgin and Child" by da Vinci and his other pupils; Ghirlandaio's Vir. gin and Child (Louvre, R. F. 1266) is described by the Louvre as influenced by Verrocchio.
Andrea Mantegna's St. Sebastian (Louvre, R. F. 1766).
12 GreystonesisonthecoastinCo. Wicklow. FrankandJeanBeckettwereexpect
ing their first child.
13 The Geer van Velde Exhibition at Guggenheim Jeune: 5 January 1938, n. 4. Geoffrey and Ursula Thompson.
14 Theself-portraitbyGustaveCourbettowhichSBrefersisManwiththeLeatherBelt (Louvre R. F. 339, now in the Musee d'Orsay); Titian's Portrait ofa Man is also known as Man with the Glove (Louvre, inv. 757).
GEORGE REAVEY LONDON
22 Avril (1938]
6 Rue des Favorites (Paris] 15me
Dear George
Thanks for letter & article, which I liked very much indeed,
though I find him less quietist than you suggest. However it is a
good line for the public. The Fabritius street-comer by the way in
the National is very Japanese.
1
617
22 Avril {1938}, Reavey
I hope some American mug takes Murphy soon. I want money very badly at the moment. 2 Keep the 50 fr till we meet.
I have been camping in the new place for the past week & am slowly getting installed. I like it. It is bright & there is a staircase to stagger up at night. I hope next time you come you will stay with me. 3
I had a letter from Peggy very worried about the triage of
pictures & anxious for the "Picassos" to be excluded as far as
possible. I replied telling her not to worry, that Geer's most
Picasso was about as Picasso as Dawson's ex-surrealist's arse.
She informs me further that she is using my note after all. And
4
vemissage is all I can say for certain. There is a possibility of my getting a free ride par les airs. 5
Must I see Routledge & Co? With nothing in my hand? 6
I wrote another French poem. Will the ELB publish Poems in French & English? 7
Love to you both Sam
ALS; 2 leaves, 2 sides; letterhead: LA ROYALE, 25, RUE ROYALE; TxU.
1 SBreferstoGeorgeReavey'sintroductionfortheGeervanVeldeExhibitionatthe Guggenheim Jeune ("Geer van Velde," London Bulletin 2 [May 1938] 16). Reavey writes: "In the case of Geer van Velde, the motive of desire is already dead because life has been lived unsparingly. In its place there is a timeless nostalgia, a sort of disembodied all-pervading harmony more akin to Chinese than to western European philosophy. "
SB refers to Carel Fabritius's painting A View ofDelft with Musical Instrument Seller's Stall in the National Gallery, London (NGL 3714).
2 ReaveywassendingMurphytoAmericanpublishers.
3 SBwritesfromhisnewapartment,6RuedesFavorites,Paris15. Itwasonthetop
floor and had inside stairs to a sleeping loft (see Knowlson, Damned to Fame, 265-266). 4 PeggyGuggenheimwantedtoexcludethosepaintingsbyGeervanVeldethatshe
felt were derived from Picasso's style; this may have prompted the final lines of SB's
618
my name. Tant pis pour tout le monde.
I am not sure when I shall arrive in London. In time for the
22 Avril {1938}, McGreevy
note introducing Geer van Velde's work: "Believes painting should mind its own business, i. e. colour. I. e. no more say Picasso than Fabritius. Vermeer. Or inversely" ("Geer van Velde," London Bulletin 2 ! May 1938] 15; rpt. Beckett, Disjecta, 117). SB's note on Geer van Velde is signed. "Tant pis pour tout le monde" (Too bad for everyone). The catalogue for the van Velde Exhibition appeared in the May issue of London Bulletin, which published the catalogues of three adjacent galleries on Cork Street (the London, the Major, and Guggenheim Jeune) ("Art: Popular Front," Cavalcade [21 May 1938] n. p. ).
Peter Norman Dawson (1902-1960), English surrealist painter, graphic artist and ceramicist. a member of the "London Group," and at this time Deputy Principal of the Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts, London; his work was included in the Contemporary Painting and Sculpture exhibition at Guggenheim Jeune, 21 June to2 July 1938.
5 The "vemissage" (private view) of theGeer van VeldeExhibition was held on 5 May 1938.
"Par Jes airs" (borne through the airs). On 28 April 1938, SB wrote to Reavey: "As there is no news of the flying-machine it is hard for me to say definitely when I arrive. But unless I am offered a free seat for Wednesday the 4! ! ! I shall be in London evening of Tuesday 3! ! ! " (TxU). And to McGreevy, 1 May 1938: "Will you reserve me a room at49 [HarringtonRoad] for Tuesday evening, if there is one to spare. I expect to arrive London about 6 p. m via Dieppe-Newhaven" (TCD, MS 10402/165).
6 RoutledgewasthepublisherofMurphy. T. M. Ragg,havingdealtexclusivelywith Reavey, had not met SB.
7 The French poem just written by SB has not been identified, but it is one of those published in the group "Poemes 38-39," Les Temps Modernes 288-293. Reavey's agency in London was theEuropean Literary Bureau; itsEuropa Press had published SB's first collection of poems, Echo's Bones and Other Precipitates. SB may be asking if
Reavey, now that he is based in London, would publish work that was in both French andEnglish.
THOMAS McGREEVY LONDON
22 Avril [1938]
6 Rue des Favorites Paris 15me
Dear Tom
Herewith my new address.
TLS; 1 leaf, 1 side; TxU.
1 NancyCunard'saddress.
20 February 1938, Reavey
Eugene Diihren [Paris: Club des bibliophiles, 1904]); it appeared in a three-volume critical edition edited by Maurice Heine (Paris: Stendhal et Compagnie, aux depens des bibliophiles souscripteurs, 1931-1935). There was no English translation at this time.
Although Obelisk Press did not officially circulate its books abroad, it did sell to individuals; Kent has not been identified.
SB compares the offer of payment per word to that which he imagines could be commanded by Irish poet AE.
5 SB attended the preliminary hearing of his assailant, Robert-Jules Prudent, on 14 February 1938, as he wrote to McGreevy on 11 February 1938: "Next Monday I have to wait on the juge d'instruction & I suppose be confronted with Prudent. Perhaps I may persuade them to give me back my clothes" (TCD, MS 10402/156). "Juge d'instruction" (examining magistrate).
"Sieur Prudent" (the Prudent gentleman); "Borde! " (literally, brothel) for Palais de Justice. "Excusez-moi, Monsieur" (I'm sorry); "Je vous en prie, Monsieur" (Not at all).
6 "Oraprome"(prayforme). THOMAS McGREEVY
LONDON
21/2/38 Liberia [Paris]
dear Tom
Manythanksforyour2letters. 1 Forgivemydelayinreplying. I like when you write about pictures as much as I do when
you talk about them and I envy you a concern with them that has no intermissions. I haven't been to the Louvre since I came to
Paris! Nor sacrificed going to anything else. It is the kind of life that filled Dr Johnson with horror. Nothing but the days passing over. It suits me all right. 2
I have started again to look for a room and have combed most of the 14me _ There is hardly anything to be had. A few studios at prices I can't afford, one lovely one looking on to the Pare Montsouris, 12000 francs! , and worth every centime of it. There is a new house in the Rue [de l']Amiral Mouchez with
606
21 February 1938, McGreevy
rooms with hot & cold & heating for 2000. A low locality but nevertheless. I shall look at a room there next Tuesday and ifit is at all possible shall move to there provisionally. And even ifit is not I shall leave the Liberia, because it is too dear & there is no light. I saw a hotel room at the corner of Boulevard Auguste Blanqui & Rue de la Glaciere, high up on the angle, with 2 windows, full of light, 440 including service. Whereas at the Liberia I have just got a bill for the last month, 785 fr including breakfast. They have been very decent, but I simply can't afford such prices. 3
I saw Jack Kahane this morning. He agreed to the following
conditions: 1. That I should write the preface. 2. That I should
be paid 150 fr per 1000 words irrespective ofstate of£. 3. That
I should receive halfon signing ofcontrac[t) & halfon delivery of
MS. 4. That there should be no time limit. I then said I would give
him a definite answer this day week. He intends to publish in
3 vols. (not simultaneously) ofapprox. 50,000 words each. I should
be paid per vol. I should get my translator's copy (1500 fr) & 6 free
copies oftranslation (3 vols. at 150 francs each). I have read lg &
3! :Q vols. ofFrench edition. The obscenity ofsurface is indescrib
able. Nothing could be less pornographical. It fills me with a kind
of metaphysical ecstasy. The composition is extraordinary, as
rigorous as Dante's. If the dispassionate statement of 600 "pas
sions" is Puritan and a complete absence of satire juvenalesque,
4
607
then it is, as you say, puritanical & juvenalesque. You would loathe it whether or no. I don't know if I shall do it. I think probably I shall. It would be in a limited ed. of 1000 copies. No attempt wd. be made to distribute in England or USA. But of course it would be known that I was the translator. I would not do it without signing my name to it. I know all about the obloquy. What I don't know about is the practical effect on my own future
21 February 1938, McGreevy
freedom ofliterary action in England & USA. Would the fact ofmy being known as the translator, & the very literal translation, of "the most utter filth" tend to spike me as a writer myself? Could I be banned & muzzled retrospectively? The preface is important, because it enables me to make my attitude clear. Alan Belinda & Nick are all against my doing it. Brian simply says he would not himself undertake it. It appears a lot of people are after the job, including Peggy Guggenheim's ex-husband Lawrence [for Laurence] Vail. 5
I wish I had been in London for the Kandinsky. How did you like it? 6
I go back to Broussais on Thursday and hope that may be the last time. I was confronted with Prudent in the Palais de Justice this day week & we exchanged amiabilities. The trial should come on now soon, when I shall have the pleasure ofrecovering my sorely missed clothes, and perhaps even receive a franc damages. 7 Talking ofwhich I hear Gogarty gave an oyster party in the Bail[e]y to celebrate my premature demise, and has sold his premises in Ely Place to the Royal Hibernian Academy, which means that Harry will perhaps get some money after all, & I my return fare from Paris. 8
Love ever Sam
ALS; 2 leaves, 3 sides; on letterhead: LA COUPOLE, 102 BD DU MONTPARNASSE; TCD, MS 10402/157.
1 McGreevy'sletterstoSBhavenotbeenfound.
2 SamuelJohnsonlistedashisfirstpurpose"Toavoididleness"(EasterEve1761); SB cites from Johnson's Miscellanies Prayers and Meditations, Easter Day 7 April 1765): "I know not how the days pass over me" Uohnson, Diaries, Prayers, and Annals, 92; BIF. UoR, MS 2461/1. f. lR).
3 SB had been staying at the Hotel Liberia since the end of November 1937. He looked for a room in the 14th arrondissement.
608
8 March 1938, Reavey
According to the Cost-of-living / Consumer Prices Index in 1938, France had the highest increase in costs since 1929 (115 as compared to 99 in Ireland) (B. R. Mitchell, International Historical Statistics: Europe 1750-1988, 3rd edn. [New York: Stockton Press, 1992] 848.
4 SB refers to the three-volume edition of Sade's Les 120 Joumees de Sodome by Maurice Heine (see 20 February 1938, n. 4).
Juvenal (ne Decimus Junius Juvenalis c. 55-140), whose satires attacked the vices of Rome.
5 AlanandBelindaDuncan,NickBalachef,BrianCoffey.
French-born writer and artist Laurence Vail (1891-1968) was married to Peggy Guggenheim from 1922 to 1929.
6 TheKandinskyExhibitionatGuggenheimJeune:5January1938,n. 4.
7 The H6pital Broussais, where SB had been taken following the stabbing and to which he returned for check-ups. SB's exchanges with Prudent: 20 February 1938, n. 5.
8 Oliver St. John Gogarty, who lost the libel suit brought against him by Harry Sinclair at which SB had testified for the plaintiff, "celebrated" at The Bailey, Dublin tavern and restaurant, then at 2-3 Duke Street.
The proposed sale ofGogarty's home on Ely Place: 6October 1937, n. 8.
Harry Sinclair had been awarded damages, which were as yet unpaid; as a conse quence, SB's fare to Dublin/Paris had not yet been reimbursed.
GEORGE REAVEY LONDON
8/3/38 Hotel Liberia
9 Rue de la Grande Chaumiere
Paris 6me
Dear George
Many thanks for card. And for 3 Murphys, in batches of
1 & 2. The appearance is very satisfactory and the effort to make
1
anIrishmanofmetouching. NomistakesintextthatIcansee. I should like Routledge to send copies to the following: Jack Yeats (whose address they have).
ArlandUssher, Esq. , Cappagh House, Cappagh, Co. Waterford,
Ireland.
609
8 March 1938, Reavey
Dr Geoffrey Thompson, 71 Harley Street, London W. 1.
Tom McGreevy.
Laz Aaronson Esq. , 26 Westboume Terrace Road, London W. 2.
Herr Axel Kaun, Greiffenberg, Uckermark, Germany.
2
He wants to postpone for 3 or 4 months. I have written saying that I can't guarantee being of the same mind then, or having
3
defended, the plea of blind drunkenness skilfully advanced and
4
anxious to translate Murphy into French. He is a close friend
of mine, an expert translator and I should be very glad
for him to do it. He has contacts and so have friends of his,
5
I haven't had a word to throw to a dog, let alone van Velde, so have seen little of him. I haven't done the foreword and wonder if I ever shall. The Sterns introduced me last night in the Flore to one Brian Howard, at his request. He wanted to pump me about modern German art apropos of a big retrospective planned for London in the summer (Read & Borenius). He was drunk and with Nancy Cunard, whose bottom she said was better and left eye black. She said that the fact ofher having been the first to publish
him and me should set up a bond between us. It did not. Stern has
6
Denis Devlin (whose address you have).
No doubt I shall be fool enough to think of others later.
I have accepted the Sade translation at 150 francs per 1000.
the time to spare. No contract therefore yet.
Prudent got off with 2 months, to my relief. He was ably
I represented as the aggressor.
Alfred Peron, 69 Rue de la Tombe-lssoire, Paris 14me, is
notably with the NRF & Denoel et Steele. Will you make overtures in the matter, or would you prefer us to do so? Perhaps it would be better to leave it till you are over. When is that?
a novel with Secker in the autumn.
610
8 March 1938, Reavey Physically I am quite well again. Yesterday I played 7 sets of
7
TLS; 1 leaf. 1 side; AH ink checkmark before the names of Yeats, Ussher. Thompson, and Kaun;TxU.
1 Reavey'scardtoSBhasnotbeenfound.
Murphy was published on 7 March 1938. SB wrote to McGreevy, 8 March 1938: "I got some advance copies of Murphy. All green white & yellow. In honour of Celia? They do their best, and not merely with the blurbs, to tum me into an Irishman" (TCD, MS 10402/158). The jacket copy noted: "The reader is carried along on the wave of an abundant creative imagination expressing itself in scene after scene of superlative comedy, ironic situations that only the Irish genius could conceive. "
2 FromSB'slistforpresentationcopies,markingsindicatethatcopiesweresentto Yeats, Ussher, Thompson, and Kaun. SB's presentation copy to "Laz and Dorothy" (Aaronson) is dated May 1938 (InU).
3 AtranslationofSade'sLes120JourneesdeSodomewaspublishedundertheimprint ofJack Kahane's son Maurice Girodias in 1954 (Marquis de Sade, The 120 Days ofSodom; or, The Romance ofthe Schoolfor Libertinage, tr. Pieralessandro Casavini [pseud. ofAustryn Wainhouse] [Paris: Olympia Press, 19541).
4 AsSBwrotetoMcGreevyon8March1938:"ThePrudentaffaire[sic]cameonlast Monday. I was there with Alan. We did not press it, he was ably defended, I became the provocateur in the end, he was sentenced to 2 months imprisonment" (TCD, MS 10402/158). SB wrote to Arland Ussher on 27 March 1938: "The desperado got off with 2 months. Not bad for a 5! ! ! conviction. I am still without my clothes, taken away from me at the time as pieces de conviction & never produced. I have now to prove that they ever belonged to me. But mentally I am speechless" (TxU). "Pieces a conviction" (exhibits in evidence).
5 AlfredPeron,whohadworkedwithSBonthepreliminarytranslationofJoyce's "Anna Livia Plurabelle," encouraged SB to arrange a translation of Murphy; Peron had contacts with the Nouvelle Revue Fran�aise.
The Paris publishing finn Denoel et Steele was founded in 1930 by Bernard Steele (1902-1979) and Robert Denoel (1902-1945), but when Steele returned to the United States at the end of 1936, the firm became Les Editions Denoel.
6 SB had been asked to write a note for the catalogue of the Geer van Velde Exhibition at Guggenheim Jeune.
Anglo-Irish writer and translator James Andrew Stem (1904-1993) and his wife Tania Stem (nee Kurella, 1904-1995) collaborated on translations from the German; SB wrote to McGreevy on 8 March 1938, "I met them at Xmas with Aaronson, very nice. He is Irish and writes. Published I think by Secker" (TCD, MS 10402/158). James
611
tennis at Mirabeau without collapsing. Love to Gwynedd
Ever s/Sam
8 March 1938, Reavey
Stern's Something Wrong: A Collection of Twelve Stories was published by Secker and Warburg in 1938.
Brian Howard (1905-1958) was a member of the organizing committee, headed by Herbert Read, of the "Exhibition of Twentieth-Century German Art" held in July 1938 at the New Burlington Galleries, London. The exhibition drew on work in private collections so it would not compromise any artist still residing in Germany: [Herbert Read], Exhibition of Twentieth Century Gennan Art: July, 1938 (London: New Burlington Galleries, 1938) 5-7. The Finnish-born art historian and Editor of Burlington Magazine from 1940 to 1945 Tancred Borenius (1885-1948) was a patron of the exhibition.
Nancy Cunard had burned herself on a heater (SB to McGreevy, 11 February 1938, TCD, MS 10402/156). Cunard published Brian Howard's God Save the King (Paris: Hours Press, 1930).
7 TenniscouvertsMirabeau(coveredtenniscourts)werelocatedat1RueRemusat, Paris 16, near the Mirabeau metro station.
GEORGE REAVEY LONDON
23/3 [1938]
Liberia [Paris]
[no greeting]
Thanks for cuttings. It is gratifying to have my intention
1
revealed to me after all this time. still began with Cezanne.
Sam
Nothing new here. Painting
APCS; 1 leaf, 1 side; Baldovinetti, "La Vierge et l'Enfant"; to George Reavey Esq, 7 Great Ormond Street, LONDON WCl; pm 23-3-38, Paris; TxU.
1 By this date the reviews of Murphy were: Anon. , "Murphy. By Samuel Beckett," Times Literary Supplement 12 March 1938: 172; Dilys Powell, "Flight from Reality," Sunday Times 13 March 1938: 8; Edwin Muir, "New Novels," The Listener 19. 479 (16 March 1938) 597; Dylan Thomas, "Recent Novels," The New English Weekly 12. 23 (17 March 1938) 454-455; and Frank Swinnerton, "People and Puppets," The Observer 20 March 1938: 6.
Dylan Thomas wrote of Murphy: "It is not rightly what it should be, that is what Mr. Beckett intended it to be: a story about the conflict between the inside and the
612
outsides of certain curious people. It fails in its purpose because the minds and the bodies of these characters are almost utterly without relations to each other" (454).
THOMAS McGREEVY LONDON
3/4/38 Liberia [Paris]
Dear Tom
Thanks for your letter.
No, the reviews did not surprise me.
No[t] even those of Messrs. Muir & Thomas. Church was friendly in John O'Londons, as I understand so was Kate O'Brien in the
1
that Routledge are satisfied with sales. Nothing from Ireland so
far that I know of. Brian had a long article to appear in this
month's Ireland To-Day, but the paper expired just in time. My
2
give you a copy and hope you got it. I have sent no copies out
from here, life is laborious enough without making parcels of
books & bringing them to the P. O. And you know how pleased
I shall be to write in the book when we meet. Jack Yeats wrote
3
Zurich. He was very poorly with an eye & then some kind of intestinal flu. 4 [•••]
A French translation by Peron of my Alba appeared in
5
with him every Tuesday & play tennis afterwards. I hope to
arrange for him to translate Murphy. He is anxious to do so.
I sent a copy to Raymond Queneau, who has just been appointed
reader to Gallimard & whom I met in the Volontes galere. But
6
3 April 1938, McGreevy
lastSpectatorbutone,whichIhavenotseen. Reaveytellsme
Bookman experience over again. By the way I told Reavey to
very nicely about it, so did Aaronson & Geoffrey.
I have seen very little of the Joyces since they returned from
Soutes. Notoneofhisbestefforts. Heisingoodform&Ilunch
Denoel & Steele or the Mercure are more likely.
613
3 April 1938, McGreevy
I was at the Flore last night to arrange with Alan to go out &
see his mother who is installed now in some home outside the
Porte d'Orleans. Laugier came in with his woman, but we did not
7
I have the feeling that any poems there may happen to be in the future will be in French.
A note from Pelorson this morning, commanding me to his
presence next Saturday afternoon for a reading of Caligula (his
play). I have seen nothing of them at all lately, I suppose because
I am so little interested in the turn his writing has taken. I think
I told you about my having been so indiscrete [sic] as to say to
Marcelle at the Joyce birthday party, when she invited my opin
ion, that the review might with more justice be called Nolontes.
AlsoJolas, Henry Miller, Guegen [for Gueguen], & Cie. , all ofthem
9
eve of her departure for south of France, to see the exiled Douglas. I also saw Howard again for a moment, very convulsed & aloof. 10
Had a lovely afternoon yesterday in the Louvre, just strol
ling around without working. The topography is all changed, for
the worse I think, though I suppose it is only provisional. For ex.
to get from the Salle des 7 Metres to the Grande Galerie one
has to make a long detour through the French rooms. Half the
Grande Galerie is closed. I had forgotten the little Fabritius. A very
slapdash attribution. More like a Flinck. The Baldovinetti (? ) &
Verocchio [for Verrocchio] Virgins & Childs were lovely & the
Mantegnas all of a sudden extraordinarily disappointing, except
11
money on her little house at Greystones harbour, turning down
614
disturb one another.
I wrote a short poem in French but otherwise nothing.
8
leading lights, are not enticing.
I had a few minutes with Nancy Cunard the other evening, the
the Sebastian.
News from home good. Mother still very busy spending
3 April 1938, McGreevy offers for Cooldrinagh, and obviously very lonely. Jean appa
rently incredibly enormous 2 months before her time, & Frank
12
Exhibition, & expect to stay with Geoffrey. They may be here for
13
Do you remember the Courbet self-portrait? Airily dis missed in my little book as a pleasant imitation of Titian's Homme au gant! 14
Write soon. God's blessing. Sam
ALS: 2 leaves, 5 sides: letterhead: LA ROTONDE EN MONTPARNASSE, 105 BD DU MONTPARNASSE, PARIS; TCD, MS 10402/159-
1 Dylan Thomas's review was critical of Murphy, but Edwin Muir commented positively on SB's wit, and concluded, "there are very amusing episodes . . . and if this book does not completely bore or exasperate the reader, it will probably give him more than ordinary amusement" (Muir, "New Novels," 597). Richard Church called Murphy "a riot of highbrow fun," and Kate O'Brien (1897-1974) wrote, "Rarely, indeed, have I been so entertained by a book. so tempted to superlatives and perhaps hyper boles ofpraise. It truly is magnificent and a treasure . . . For the right readers it is a book in a hundred thousand" (Richard Church, "Samuel Beckett gives us 'a riot of highbrow fun. ""John O'London's Weekly 39. 990 (1 April 1938) 23; Kate O'Brien, "Fiction," The Spectator 25 March 1938: 546).
2 By 31 March 1938, regular sales of Murphy accounted for 240 copies (UoR, Routledge).
No reviews had appeared in Ireland. Brian Coffey's review ofMurphy, dated "Paris. March, 1938," was written for Ireland To-Day, which discontinued publication with the March 1938 issue (3. 3) (DeU, Coffey, AMS ofreview; TxU, Coffey, TMS ofreview). SB is reminded ofhis essay "Censorship in the Saorstat" that was commissioned by The Bookman but not published because the journal ceased publication in December 1934 (see 8 September 1934, n. 9).
3 ThelettersfromJackYeats,LazAaronson,andGeoffreyThompsontoSBhavenot been found.
615
as usual up to his eyes in work.
I shall probably be in London early in May for the van Velde
a week-end before then.
of a room here, and am very very tired of hotel life and the lack of my books, and know I shall never do any work until I find a place of my own.
So far I have found nothing in the way
3 April 1938, McGreevy
4 TheJoycesleftParisforSwitzerlandon6Februaryandplannedtobegoneabout three weeks, according to SB's letter to McGreevy of 11 February 1938 (TCD, MS 10402/ 156); Joyce returned to Paris early in March 1938 (Norburn, A James Joyce Chronology, 181). Joyce wrote to Carola Giedion-Welcker from Paris on 28 March 1938 that he had been unwell since his return Uoyce, Letters ofJames Joyce, III, 418). AsJoyce wrote to HelenJoyce, SB had dinner with them on 6 April at the Gormans' (419).
5 SamuelBeckett,"Alba,"tr. A. R. Peron,Soutes9(1938)41.
6 French writer and editor Raymond Queneau (1903-1976) was co-founder of Volontes (December 1937-1939) with Georges Pelorson, EugeneJolas, Pierre Gueguen (1889-1965), Henry Miller, Frederic Joliot-Curie (ne Jean-Frederic Joliot, 1900-1958), and Camille Schuwer (1888-1981); SB calls them the "galere" (crew) (for further information on the group: Vincent Giroud, "Transition to Vichy: The Case of Georges Pelorson," Modernism/Modernity 7. 2 [2000] 221-248).
The French publishing house Mercure de France was founded in 1894.
7 Alan Duncan's mother was Ellen Duncan (nee Douglas, known as Ellie, c. 1850-1939), a founder of the United Arts Club in Dublin, and first Curator of the Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Dublin.
SB may have seen Henri Laugier with his companion Marie Cuttoli (1879-1973). who, with Laugier, built an important collection of contemporary art (see Collection Marie Cuttoli - Henri Laugier, Paris [Basel: Galerie Beyeler, 19701).
8 Thispoemmayhavebeenoneofthetwelvepublishedas"Poemes38-39,"Les Temps Modernes, 288-293.
9 Pelorson'splayCaligula,basedonthelifeofGaiusCaesarAugustusGermanicus (AD 12-41), Emperor of Rome from AD 37 to 41, was partially published in three issues ofVolontes: "Caligula - Prologue," Volontes 1 Uanuary 1938) 18-27; "Caligula - Acte III," Volontes 3 (March 1938) 41-59; "Caligula - Acte IV," Volontes 8 (August 1938) 30-35.
According to EugeneJolas's notes for an autobiography, "Pelorson was writing plays with a fascist tendency then and he would invite his friends to listen to his reading of them" (CtY, Eugene and MariaJolas Papers, GEN MS 108/Boxes 5-12 [Drafts of Man from Babel]; not included inJolas, Manfrom Babel).
SB had written to McGreevy on 11 February 1938: "I told Marcelle Pelorson bluntly at theJoyce party that I found Georges' editorials negative & far too angry & that a better title for the review, to judge by its appearances to date, would be Nolontes" (TCD, MS 10402/156). "Volontes" (acts of will), a noun ultimately derived from the Latin verb "velle" (to want); SB invents an antonym similarly derived from the Latin verb "nolle" (not to want): "Nolontes. "
"Cie. " (Co. ).
10 Nancy Cunard left to see Norman Douglas, who had been an expatriate in Florence for many years, but who left Italy hurriedly inJune 1937 on account of legal difficulties that were unresolved untilJanuary 1938, whereupon he decided he would remain in France (see Mark Holloway, Norman Douglas: A Biography [London: Secker and Warburg. 1976] 430-438).
Brian Howard.
11 TheLouvre'sSalledes7Metres,offtheStaircaseDarn,normallywouldhaveled directly into the Grande Galerie de Peinture; however, the adjacent portion of the
616
22 Avril {1938}, Reavey
Grande Galerie was closed, leaving access through the French rooms (at that time the Salle Daru, the Salle Denon, and the Salle des Etats, or possibly even a further detour through the Salle Moilien and the small galleries facing the Cour Lefuel).
It is not known to which painting by Carel Fabritius SB refers. Head ofan Elderly Man (Louvre, R. F. 3834) is a relatively small portrait (24 x 20. 7 cm); it was acquired by the Louvre in 1934 and is attributed to Carel Fabritius, but this attribution is considered doubtful by Christopher Brown (Carel Fabritius: Complete Edition with a Catalogue Raisonne [Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1981] 129). The Louvre did not own a painting by Carel's brother Barent Fabritius (1624-1673) at this time. Dutch painter Govaert Flinck (1615-1660).
The image of Vir. gin and Child (Louvre, R. F. 1112) by Florentine painter Alesso Baldovinetti (c. 1425-1499) was on the card SB had sent to George Reavey on 23 March 1938.
Florentine sculptor and painter Andrea de! Verrocchio (Andrea di Michele di Francesco Cioni, 1435 - c. 1488) was a pupil of Baldovinetti, whose workshop also included Leonardo da Vinci, Lorenzo di Credi (c. 1456-1536), Perugino, and Domenico Ghirlandaio. There are few paintings ascribed to Verrocchio and none in the Louvre; however, the association of his workshop may have been mentioned in the many depictions of "Virgin and Child" by da Vinci and his other pupils; Ghirlandaio's Vir. gin and Child (Louvre, R. F. 1266) is described by the Louvre as influenced by Verrocchio.
Andrea Mantegna's St. Sebastian (Louvre, R. F. 1766).
12 GreystonesisonthecoastinCo. Wicklow. FrankandJeanBeckettwereexpect
ing their first child.
13 The Geer van Velde Exhibition at Guggenheim Jeune: 5 January 1938, n. 4. Geoffrey and Ursula Thompson.
14 Theself-portraitbyGustaveCourbettowhichSBrefersisManwiththeLeatherBelt (Louvre R. F. 339, now in the Musee d'Orsay); Titian's Portrait ofa Man is also known as Man with the Glove (Louvre, inv. 757).
GEORGE REAVEY LONDON
22 Avril (1938]
6 Rue des Favorites (Paris] 15me
Dear George
Thanks for letter & article, which I liked very much indeed,
though I find him less quietist than you suggest. However it is a
good line for the public. The Fabritius street-comer by the way in
the National is very Japanese.
1
617
22 Avril {1938}, Reavey
I hope some American mug takes Murphy soon. I want money very badly at the moment. 2 Keep the 50 fr till we meet.
I have been camping in the new place for the past week & am slowly getting installed. I like it. It is bright & there is a staircase to stagger up at night. I hope next time you come you will stay with me. 3
I had a letter from Peggy very worried about the triage of
pictures & anxious for the "Picassos" to be excluded as far as
possible. I replied telling her not to worry, that Geer's most
Picasso was about as Picasso as Dawson's ex-surrealist's arse.
She informs me further that she is using my note after all. And
4
vemissage is all I can say for certain. There is a possibility of my getting a free ride par les airs. 5
Must I see Routledge & Co? With nothing in my hand? 6
I wrote another French poem. Will the ELB publish Poems in French & English? 7
Love to you both Sam
ALS; 2 leaves, 2 sides; letterhead: LA ROYALE, 25, RUE ROYALE; TxU.
1 SBreferstoGeorgeReavey'sintroductionfortheGeervanVeldeExhibitionatthe Guggenheim Jeune ("Geer van Velde," London Bulletin 2 [May 1938] 16). Reavey writes: "In the case of Geer van Velde, the motive of desire is already dead because life has been lived unsparingly. In its place there is a timeless nostalgia, a sort of disembodied all-pervading harmony more akin to Chinese than to western European philosophy. "
SB refers to Carel Fabritius's painting A View ofDelft with Musical Instrument Seller's Stall in the National Gallery, London (NGL 3714).
2 ReaveywassendingMurphytoAmericanpublishers.
3 SBwritesfromhisnewapartment,6RuedesFavorites,Paris15. Itwasonthetop
floor and had inside stairs to a sleeping loft (see Knowlson, Damned to Fame, 265-266). 4 PeggyGuggenheimwantedtoexcludethosepaintingsbyGeervanVeldethatshe
felt were derived from Picasso's style; this may have prompted the final lines of SB's
618
my name. Tant pis pour tout le monde.
I am not sure when I shall arrive in London. In time for the
22 Avril {1938}, McGreevy
note introducing Geer van Velde's work: "Believes painting should mind its own business, i. e. colour. I. e. no more say Picasso than Fabritius. Vermeer. Or inversely" ("Geer van Velde," London Bulletin 2 ! May 1938] 15; rpt. Beckett, Disjecta, 117). SB's note on Geer van Velde is signed. "Tant pis pour tout le monde" (Too bad for everyone). The catalogue for the van Velde Exhibition appeared in the May issue of London Bulletin, which published the catalogues of three adjacent galleries on Cork Street (the London, the Major, and Guggenheim Jeune) ("Art: Popular Front," Cavalcade [21 May 1938] n. p. ).
Peter Norman Dawson (1902-1960), English surrealist painter, graphic artist and ceramicist. a member of the "London Group," and at this time Deputy Principal of the Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts, London; his work was included in the Contemporary Painting and Sculpture exhibition at Guggenheim Jeune, 21 June to2 July 1938.
5 The "vemissage" (private view) of theGeer van VeldeExhibition was held on 5 May 1938.
"Par Jes airs" (borne through the airs). On 28 April 1938, SB wrote to Reavey: "As there is no news of the flying-machine it is hard for me to say definitely when I arrive. But unless I am offered a free seat for Wednesday the 4! ! ! I shall be in London evening of Tuesday 3! ! ! " (TxU). And to McGreevy, 1 May 1938: "Will you reserve me a room at49 [HarringtonRoad] for Tuesday evening, if there is one to spare. I expect to arrive London about 6 p. m via Dieppe-Newhaven" (TCD, MS 10402/165).
6 RoutledgewasthepublisherofMurphy. T. M. Ragg,havingdealtexclusivelywith Reavey, had not met SB.
7 The French poem just written by SB has not been identified, but it is one of those published in the group "Poemes 38-39," Les Temps Modernes 288-293. Reavey's agency in London was theEuropean Literary Bureau; itsEuropa Press had published SB's first collection of poems, Echo's Bones and Other Precipitates. SB may be asking if
Reavey, now that he is based in London, would publish work that was in both French andEnglish.
THOMAS McGREEVY LONDON
22 Avril [1938]
6 Rue des Favorites Paris 15me
Dear Tom
Herewith my new address.
