Fur diesen Leute werden Spass und Vorteil allmahlich
so durchaus unvertraglich, dass alle Handlung nur zum Spass
gemacht ihnen wie eine Selbstverstiimmelung scheinen muss.
so durchaus unvertraglich, dass alle Handlung nur zum Spass
gemacht ihnen wie eine Selbstverstiimmelung scheinen muss.
Samuel Beckett
But just as you like.
I don't want to hurry you a bit.
The object of this letter is simply to find out what your own opinion is.
(UoR, MS2444.
CW letterbook 155/91)
17 SB'sreadingintheBritishMuseum:22July1932.
SB describes his walk across London parks from Trafalgar Square in the direction of Chelsea: the Horse Guards' Parade, St. James's Park, Green Park, Buckingham Palace Gardens, Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens. The lake in St. James's Park is a sanctuary for ducks and pelicans.
Marmalade (anything soft, squishy). Reference to Matthew 19:24: "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. " SB refers to Jonathan Swift's "A Voyage to Lilliput" in Gulliver's Travels (1726), in which Catholics are caricatured as Big-Endians and Protestants as Small-Endians,
according to which end of a boiled egg should be broken first.
18 SBreferstohistherapywithBion. SBmayalludetoMatthew12:45andLuke11:26, which both write: "the last state ofthat man is worse than the first. " Or he may allude to the
192
4 March 1934, Morris Sinclair
"second state of man" discussed by Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) in Heaven and Its Wonders and Hell: Drawnfrom Things Heard and Seen, in which "Our Second State of Man After Death" is one in which "we are given access to the deeper reaches of our minds, or our intentions and thoughts" (tr. George F. Dole, with notes by George F. Dole, Robert H. Kirven, and Jonathan Rose, The New CenturyEdition of the Works ofEmanuel Swedenborg, series ed. Jonathan Rose jWest Chester, PA: Swedenborg Foundation, 2000] 380).
"Comedie a tiroirs-vides" (a play with lots of sub-plots, more commonly, a "roman a tiroirs" [a novel with lots of sub-plots]; SB catches up the literal meaning of "tiroirs" ]drawers of a chest] and adds "vides" [empty]).
19 Sordello embraces Virgil twice. With the first embrace, Sordello recognizes Virgil as a fellow Mantuan: "'O Mantovano, io son Sordello / de la tua terra! ' e l'un l'altro abbracciava" ("O Mantuan, I am Sordello of thy city. " And the one embraced the other) (Dante, La Divina Commedia, Purgatorio, Canto VI, lines 74-75; Dante, The Divine Comedy, II. Purgatorio. tr. Sinclair. 85). With the second, Sordello recognizes Virgil in humility: "la 've 'l minor s'appiglia" (clasping where the inferior does) (Dante, La Divina Commedia, Purgatorio, Canto VII, line 15 ]SB writes"ii" for"'! "]; Dante, The Divine Comedy, II, Purgatorio, tr. Sinclair, 95). SB quotes the reference from Canto VIL
MORRIS SINCLAIR DUBLIN
4/3/34 48 Paulson's Square [London]
Cher Ami
Sais rassure. Les peccadilles d'omission n'ont pas d'emprise
sur moi. Je veux dire que j'y suis tellement sujet moi-meme que leur manifestation chez autrui ne peut que me chauffer le coeur, chose dont j'ai assez besoin en ce moment. Merci done de ta lettre qui, pour s'etre fait attendre, ne m'a pas mains charme ! 'esprit et egaye la solitude, et merci aussi de la coupure, ou je trouve que ce vieux chameau paranoi:aque n'est pas suffisam[m] ent maltraite. Mais c'est tout de meme un commencement --
Tuasdelachancedepouvoirjouerdansunorchestre,quelque moche qu'il puisse etre. C'est une occasion nonpareille pour te familiariser avec les details d'une partition--Je n'ai jamais pu me reconcilier avec la Symphonie Pastorale ou j'ai ! 'impression que Beethoven a verse tout ce qu'il avait de vulgaire, de facile et
193
4 March 1934, Mortis Sinclair
d'enfantin (et c'etait beaucoup). pour en finir avec une fois pour
1
Arte, dont j'ai deja parle a Cissie et sur lequel partant je ne revien
drai maintenant pas-- Mais un autre, donne par le Quatuor Busch,
qui presente actuellement dans une serie de cinq concerts tous les
quatuors pour cordes de Beethoven, vaut la peine qu'on y fasse
2
Septieme; le second de 1800; et le troisieme de 1825. C'est pour
celui-ci que je suis alle et je peux dire que je n'ai ete nullement
der;u- - Bien que ce ne soit que l'avant-dernier de ses quatuors il a
pour Finale la derniere composition qui soit venue de sa main, un
Allegro incomparablement beau. Mais c'est la Cavatina qui precede
immediatement cet Allegro qui m'a le plus frappe - mouvement
qui en calme finalite et intensite depasse tout ce que j'ai jamais
entendu du venerable Ludwig et dont je ne l'aurais pas cru
capable - vraiment si tu ne connais pas ce Quatuor deja (B Mol
Mineur, op. 130) [for (si bemol majeur, op. 130)]. tu ferais bien de te
4
toutes. JaientenduunsuperbeconcertdonneparleQuatuorPro
allusion. Leprogrammesecomposaitdetroisquatuors,lepremier ("Harfen") de 1809, c'est a dire je crois, entre la Pastorale et la
3
le procurer. Le demier concert de la serie est pour samedi le dixsept, rete de notre infecte Patrice, et je viens de me garantir en quelque degre contre le souvenir de ses cochonneries zoologiques et botaniques en achetant un billet. 11 yaura le dernier Quatuor en F (op. 135) avec le celebre "Schwer Gefasste Entschluss":
allegro
jJ
II JI;II
Es muss sein! Es muss sein! 5
grave
arP�r,11cj Muss es sein?
Puis quelques jours plus tard, le 20 je crois, il ya Jacques Thibaud
avec un programme formidable - embrassant la Chaconne de
Vitali, le concerto en A du kleiner Wolferl, et une galaxie
6
d'Espagnols. Mais meme en commern;:ant deja a faire des 194
economies, je ne sais si je vais pouvoir me le payer. C'est vrai ment une tempete de musique a Londres en ce moment, un tel embarras de richesses que si l'on pouvait se les payer tous on aurait de la peine a choisir entre les concerts qui ont lieu le meme jour. Mais voila par exemple une [for un] dilemme qui ne me trouble pas! Helas!
Il n'est pas possible d'exprimer les etranges douceurs que je ressens a l'approche du printemps, et si c'est la une phrase qui invite le ridicule tant pis pour moi. Positivementje ne l'aijamais regarde venir avec tant d'impatience et tant de soulagement. Et j'y pense comme a une victoire emportee sur la nuit, les cauche mars, les sueurs, la panique et la folie, et aux crocus et aux narcisses comme aux gages d'une vie au moins tolerable, deja goutee mais dans un passe si lointain que toute trace, etjusqu'au souvenir, en etait presque perdus. Que les puissances veuillent que je ne m'y trompe pas - la peninsule doit etre radieuse. Et le cheval s'est-il un peu renouvele parmi les Zephyrs? Ne manque pas de me rappeler a son souvenir.
Et le travail, cela avance? Cette anthologie Ruddiesque est en effet comme tu dis, une chose puante, et du reste pleine de pieges. Je te conseille d'etudier cela avec une carte de la France sous la main. Comme cela il y a au moins un interet geographique a en extraire. Autrement c'est une corvee intolerable. D'ailleurs je ne l'ai jamais lu. Fais surtout attention a la region proven(ale (Maurras, etc. ), car c'est le pays d'election du noble professeur. Et ce n'est pas la peine de te dire que l'etude des textes qu'on donne a etudier est beaucoup moins importante que celle de celui qui les donne. Autrement dit, mets-toi dans la peau de Ruddy (il y a de la place) et fous-toi plus ou moins de ses anthologies. 7
]'ai sur la conscience de ne pas avoir encore repondu a la lettre de ton auguste pere. Mais a mesure que les heures de
195
4 March 1934, Morris Sinclair
4 March 1934, Morris Sinclair
lumiere [se] developpent et que s'y absorbent celles des tene bres, il se forme dans ! 'immense creuset de mon esprit les seules combinaisons verbales dignes de lui et de moi par rapport a lui. (Re]conforte-le done, quand par hasard il aurait besoin d'un tel soin, au moyen de cet avant-gout de la chose qui se prepare.
Devant ta magnifique mere, de la part de qui une accusation de reception de la divine lettre que je lui ai recemment adressee est vivement et instamment a souhaiter, je me prosterne et me remplis la bouche avidement de poussiere. Represente-lui cette attitude.
Et a toi, mon cher ami, je souhaite, maintenant et a l'avenir, tout ce qu'il ya de plus bienfaisant et propice dans un monde ou de telles vertus ont l'air de devenir de plus en plus rares.
Affectueusement Sam
ALS; 3 leaves, 3 sides; Sinclair.
4/3/34 48 Paulson's Square [London]
Dear Sunny,
Let me reassure you. Peccadillos ofomission have no hold on
me. I mean that I am myself so subject to them that the fact of their appearing in someone else can only warm my heart, some thing I am rather in need of at the moment. So thank you for your letter, which, for all that it was long in coming, has none the less charmed my mind and enlivened my solitude, and thank you too for the cutting, in which I think that that paranoic old brute is not treated badly enough. But still it is a start.
How lucky you are to be able to play in an orchestra, however third-rate it is. It is a matchless opportunity to get to know the
196
4 March 1934, Morris Sinclair
details ofa score. I have never made my peace with the Pastoral
Symphony into which I have the impression Beethoven poured
everything that was vulgar, facile, and childish in him (and that
1
was a great deal), so as to have done with it once and for all.
I
heard a superb concert by the Pro Arte Quartet that I have already
spoken ofto Cissie, and to which I shall therefore not return now.
But another one, given by the Busch Quartet, which is at the
moment putting on a series of five concerts in which they are
performing all of Beethoven's string quartets, is worth a men
tion. 2 The programme was made up of three quartets, the first
one ('Harfen') from 1809, that is I think between the Pastoral and
3
disappointed. Although it is only his penultimate quartet it has
as its finale the last composition we have from his hand, an
incomparably beautiful Allegro. But it is the Cavatina that imme
diately precedes that Allegro that made the greatest impression
on me. A movement which in calm finality and intensity goes
beyond anything I have ever heard by the venerable Ludwig, and
which I would not have believed him capable of- really, ifyou are
not already familiar with this quartet (B Flat minor, op. 130), you
4
a grave ,11 allegro El;JIIJ;IJII
Muss es sein'? Es muss sein! Es muss sein15
197
theSeventh;thesecondfrom1800;andthethirdfrom1825. This is the one that I went to, and I can say that I was in no way
woulddowelltogetholdofit. Thelastconcertintheseriesison Saturday the 17th, feast of the unspeakable Patrick, and I have just gone some way to protecting myself against the memory of his vulgar zoological and botanical nonsense by buying a ticket. There will be the last Quartet in F (opus 135) with the famous 'Schwer Gefasste Entschluss':
4 March 1934, Morris Sinclair
Then a few days later, on the 20th I think, there is Jacques
Thibaud with a tremendous programme - including the Vitali
Chaconne, the Concerto in A by kleiner Wolfer! , and a galaxy of
6
The strange, gentle pleasures that I feel at the approach of spring are impossible of expression, and if that is a sentence inviting ridicule, so much the worse for me. I have positively never watched it coming with so much impatience and so much relief. And I think of it as a victory over darkness, nightmares, sweats, panic and madness, and of the crocuses and daffodils as the promise of a life at least bearable, once enjoyed but in a past so remote that all trace, even remembrance of it, had been almost lost. May the powers will it that I am not wrong - the peninsula must be radiant. And has the horse revived a little among the Zephyrs? Do remember me to him.
And how is the work going? This Ruddiesque anthology is indeed, as you say, a stinking affair, and moreover full of traps. My advice to you is to study it with a map of France to hand. That way there is at least a geographical interest to be got out of it. Otherwise it is an intolerable chore. Incidentally, I have never read it. Pay particular attention to the Proven�al part (Maurras, etc. ), for that is the domain beloved of the noble Professor. And I need hardly tell you that the study of the texts that are being proposed for study is far less important than that of the person proposing them. In other words, put
yourself in Ruddy's skin (there is room), and to hell more or less
7
Spaniards. Butevenstartingalreadytosaveupforit,Idonot know whether I shall be able to afford it. There is a positive storm of music in London just now, such a wealth of splendid things that even if one could afford them all it would be hard to choose between concerts happening on the same day. Now there is a dilemma that costs me no sleep! Alas!
with his anthologies.
198
4 March 1934, Morris Sinclair
On my conscience is the fact that I have not replied to your august father's letter. But as the hours oflight grow, and those of darkness are absorbed into them, there are forming in the immense crucible of my mind the only verbal combinations worthy of him, and of me in relation to him. Comfort him, then, ifperchance he had need ofsuch care, with this foretaste ofwhat is in preparation.
Before your magnificent mother, from whom an acknowl edgement ofthe divine letter which I recently dispatched to her is most urgently and insistently to be wished, I prostrate myself and eagerly fill my mouth with dust. Go through these move ments for me.
And to you, my dear friend, I wish, now and for the future, all that is most beneficent and propitious in a world where such virtues seem to be growing more and more scarce.
Love Sam
1 Beethoven'sSymphonyno. 6inFmajor,op. 68("Pastoral").
2 The concert given by the Pro Arte Quartet at the BBC Broadcasting House on 16 February 1934 comprised Beethoven's String Quartet no. 14 in C-sharp minor, op. 131; String Quartet no. 4 in C major, op. 91 by Bela Bart6k (1881-1945); and Debussy's String Quartet in G minor, op. 10 ("Music This Week," The Times 12 February 1934: 8).
The Busch Quartet played a series of ten concerts at Wigmore Hall between 24 February and 17 March 1934; they actually played the Beethoven string quartets in six concerts (26 February, and 2, 3, 9, 15, and 17 March).
3 On 2 March the Busch Quartet played Beethoven's String Quartet no. 10 in E-flat major, op. 74 ("Harp"); String Quartet no. 3 in D major, op. 18; and String Quartet no. 13 in B-flat major, op. 130. "Harp" was indeed written between Beethoven's Symphony no. 6 and Symphony no. 7 in A major, op. 92.
4 SBspeaksoftheCavatinaandAllegroofStringQuartetno. 13inB-flatmajor,op. 130. Beethoven originally composed the Grosse Fuge as a finale for this quartet; per suaded that it was too long, he published it separately (Grosse Fuge in B-flat major, op. 133) and composed the Allegro as a second ending (Philip Radcliffe, Beethoven's String Quartets, 2nd edn. ! Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1978] 135-137).
5 Beethoven'sStringQuartetno. 16inFmajor,op. 135,wasperformedinthelast Busch concert of the series on 17 March 1934, St. Patrick's Day. SB quotes the epigraph
199
4 March 1934, Morris Sinclair
of the final movement as well as its musical motif: "Der schwer gefasste Entschluss/ Muss es sein? Es muss sein! Es muss sein! " (The heart-wrenching decision/ Must it be? It must be! It must be! ) Uohn Briggs, The Collector's Beethoven [Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1978] 41-42; Radcliffe, Beethoven's String Quartets, 170-174).
6 From 1905 to 1935, French violinist Jacques Thibaud (1880-1953) often per formed as a member of a trio with French pianist and conductor Alfred Cortot (1877-1962) and Catalan cellist and composer Pablo Casals (1876-1973).
The program of Thibaud's recital at Wigmore Hall. 20 March 1934, included the Chaconne in G minor, then attributed to Italian composer Tomaso Battista Vitali (1663-1745); Violin Concerto in A major, K. 219, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791); the Violin Sonata in G major. by Belgian composer Guillaume Lekeu (1870-1894); "Fountain of Arethusa" from Myths. op. 30, no. 1. by Polish composer Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937); the malaguefla "Rumores de la Caleta," from Rernerdos de viaje, op. 71. no. 6, by Isaac Albeniz (1860-1909), arranged for violin by Austrian-born American violinist and composer Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962); "Danse originale," dedicated to Thibaud, by Enrique Granados y Campifla (1867-1916); and the Suite from the lyric drama La vida breve by Spanish composer Manuel de Falla (1876-1946). (For the current attribution of the Chaconne: Wolfgang Reich, "Die Chaconne g-Moll - von Vitali? " Beitrage zur Musikwissenschaft 2 [1965] 149-152. )
With the phrase. "kleinerWolferl" (littleWolfie), SB refers toWolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
7 In the 1933-1934 Calendar of Trinity College Dublin, Nouvelle Anthologie des troubadours, ed. Jean Audiau (Paris: Delagrave. 1928), is listed for the Michaelmas examinations, although the editor's name is incorrectly given as Audian (127). Rudmose-Brown was very interested in the Proven�al literary renaissance and was a member of the Societe des Felibriges.
Charles Maurras (1868-1952) was a member of the Ecole romane, founded by Jean Moreas (1856-1910), Ernest Raynaud (1864-1936), Maurice du Plessys (1864-1924), and Raymond de la Tailhede (1867-1938); the group sought a return to the classical tradition in reaction against the Symbolists, the Parnassians, and the Romantics. See also Roger Little, "Beckett's Mentor. Rudmose-Brown: Sketch for a Portrait," Irish University Review 14 (spring 1984) 34-41.
MORRIS SINCLAIR DUBLIN
SB's errors of German in this letter have not been corrected.
5/5/34
48 Paulton's Square London S. W. 3
Lieber Sonny
Wer einst Rosen pfliicken will, der soll die Zeit, die ihm
auferlegt ist, dann und wann ermuntern. Verzeihe mir also,
200
5 May 1934, Morris Sinclair
wenn ich mich benotigt finde, meinen franzosischen Quatsch
augenblicklich fallen zu lassen. Zwar aus dieser unentbehrli
chen Veranderung wird uns keine Vorteil entstehen, doch viel
leicht ein bischen Spass. Vorteil! Was wollen sie eigentlich
1
von Vorteil! Sie furchten sie so schrecklich vor dem Leben, das
wenn sie aus irgendeinem Gegenstand keinen gewissen Gewinn
ziehen konnen, so fuhlen sie sich wie geschlagen, wo nicht fast
ermordet.
Fur diesen Leute werden Spass und Vorteil allmahlich
so durchaus unvertraglich, dass alle Handlung nur zum Spass
gemacht ihnen wie eine Selbstverstiimmelung scheinen muss.
Wenn ich den Glaube hatte, ohne den niemand hassen kann,
2
3
lange keine Musik gehort. Ausser Horowitz, der ein Paar
Konzerten gibt, und dem Ring, d. h. die Saison, schon in vollem
4
Mit meiner Manie fur alles, das mit der Frage nur die mindeste Beziehung hat, wirst du hoffentlich Nachsicht haben.
Ich habe gem diese Sommerzeit, weil dadurch werden die Finstemis und alle seine schlechte Dinge wenigstens aufgescho
5
201
sagen, unsre [? schweizzige] Moralisten, mit ihrem Schreien
wiirde ich sicher diesen Gegenstandsauger hassen.
IchwiinschedirallenmoglichenErfolgimFeis. Ichhabe
GangeundKlange,hatesnichtsgegeben. Jedenfallsistesmir, aus Grunden die mir Gott sei dank unbekannt sind, als ware ich von der Musik ausgeschlossen, und dazu habe ich keinen geringsten Appetit . . . .
Ich wollt' ich war' noch alter, und runziger und kalter . . . .
ben. Da ich Manichaer bin, in was die Dunkelheit betrifft.
Hier spreize ich mich, kann und will nicht anders, und habe keine Ahnung, ob Gott mir hilft, oder nicht. Es gibt doch eine fast nie versagende Freude, namlich, das Denken an jenen Millionen, die weniger gliicklich als ich sind, oder sein sollten. Was fur ein Schmaus ist das! Da es aber klar wird, sobald man die
4 March 1934, Moms Sinclair
Sache ein bischen iiberlegt, dass zwischen Leiden und Fiihlen gar keine Verhaltnis festzustellen ist, so fangt auch jene Freude an, trtigerisch auszusehen. Wenn ich, zum Beispiel, in der Zeitung Iese, der arme Herr Dings solle morgen friih, ehe ich aus meinem Bette sein werde, hinrichten werden, und mich sofort zu gratu lieren beginn, dass ich keine solche Nacht zuzubringen habe, so tausche ich mich, insofern ich zwei Umstande, anstatt zweier Gemiitsbewegungen, vergleiche. Und es ist hochstwahrschein lich, dass der zum Tode Verurteilte wenigere Angst als ich hat. Wenigstens weiss er genau um was es sich handelt und genau um was er sich zu kiimmern hat, und das ist nun ein grosserer Trost als man im allgemeinen zu glauben ptlegt. So gross, dass viele Kranken Verbrecher werden, nur damit sie ihre Angst begrenzen und jenen Trost bekommen mogen. Jenseit der Spekulation kommt erst der Mensch in sein Eden, in jeden [for ? jenen] Schutzort wo keine Gefahr mehr ist, oder vielmehr eine, die bestimmt ist und die man zum Fokus bringen kann.
Neuerdings habe ich an den Lehrer der englischen Sprache
viel gedacht, und mich gefragt, wie es ihm geht. Freilich muss ich
mich bei ihm entschuldigen, dass ich seinen sehr vortrefflichen
6
michvorzustellen,dieseVersaumungseimirzumTrotz. Kaum
nehme ich die Feder in der Hand, um irgendetwas auf englisch
zusammenzusetzen, als ich die Empfindung habe, verpersonifi
ziert zu sein, wenn man einen solchen herrlichen Ausdruck
8
Brief noch nicht beantwortet habe. So bitte ich dich, ihm fur
7
gebrauchendarf. Deshalbwtirdealles,wasichdamalsschreiben konnte, meinem Vorhaben, dessen Wirkung sozusagen momen tanisch gelamt ist, am fernsten liegen. So lohnt es sich kaum. Es ist ein fremdes Gefuhl, unwillkiirlich weit von sich zurtickzu treten und sich wie durch ein Schliisselloch zu beobachten. Fremd ja, und zum Briefschreiben iiberhaupt unpassend.
202
5 May 1934, Morris Sinclair
Ich weiss nicht, wann ich nach Hause zuriickgehen konnen werde. Der Aufenthalt in dieser Stadt gefallt mir nur wenig. Ausser den Bildem, die meistenteils, ihres Fensterladenglases wegen, nur tropfenweise in die Augen kommen, gibt es nichts, das man ansehen darf. 9 Manchmal verlange ich nach jenen Bergen und Feldem, den ich so gut kenne, und die eine ganz andere Ruhe, als die zu dieser groben, englischen Landschaft gehorende, bilden. Wenn nur Dublin ungewohnt ware, so war' es angenehm, sich irgendwo in seiner Nahe niederzulassen.
Was fur ein Schlusszierat gehort zu diesem Klagelied? Man atmet, also . . . ? Oder: Was Hanschen nicht lemt. . . ? Die Symphonie unvollendet zu lassen, das ist jedenfalls die Hauptsache. Dabei kann alles in Ordnung aussehen.
Herzlich Sam
ALS; 3 leaves, 3 sides; Sinclair.
5/5/34
48 Paulton's Square London S. W. 3
Dear Sunny,
Whoever wants to pick roses some day should now and then
cheer up the time imposed on him. Forgive me therefore when I feel the urge to drop my French nonsense right away. It is true that out of this indispensable change no gain will accrue to us, but perhaps a bit of fun. Gain! What actually do they want to say, our[? Swiss] moralists, with their cries about gain! 1 They are so terribly afraid oflife that ifthere is any object from which they can draw no sure profit, they feel beaten, if not nearly murdered. For these people fun and gain slowly become so completely
203
5 May 1934, Morris Sinclair
irreconcilable that any action done just for fun must seem to
them like self-mutilation. IfI had the faith without which no one
2
3
heard any music for a long time. Besides Horowitz, who is giving a few concerts, and the 'Ring' (i. e. the season) already in full
4
I hope you will make allowances for my obsession with every thing that is even the least bit related to that question.
I am fond of this summertime because darkness and all its bad things are at least being postponed thereby. Since I am a
5
have no idea if God helps me or not. There is after all an almost never-failing joy, namely the thought of those millions who are less fortunate than I, or ought to be. What a feast that is! But as it becomes clear as soon as one reflects a bit on the matter that no relationship between suffering and feeling is to be found, then even that joy begins to look deceptive. If, for example, I read in the paper that poor Mr. So-and-so is to be executed early in the morning, before I get out of bed, and immediately start to con gratulate myself that I do not have to spend such a night, I deceive myself in as much as I compare two circumstances instead of two emotions. And it is highly probable that the man condemned to death is less afraid than I. At least he knows exactly what is at stake and exactly what he has to attend to, and that is a greater comfort than one is generally inclined to
204
can hate, I would surely hate this object-gobbler. IwishyoueveryconceivablesuccessintheFeis. Ihavenot
swingandsound,therehasbeennothing. Atanyrate,itseems to me, for reasons unknown to me thank God, as ifl were cut off from music, and I have not the least bit of appetite for that.
I wish I were even older
And wrinklier and colder. . . .
Manichaean as far as darkness is concerned.
Here I strut about, I cannot and will not do otherwise, and
believe. So great that many sick people become criminals solely in order to limit their fear and gain that comfort. Only beyond speculation does man reach his Eden, that refuge where there is no more danger, or rather one which is determined and which one can bring into focus.
Lately I have thought a good deal about the teacher of the
English language and have wondered how he is getting on. Of
course, I must apologize to him for not yet having answered his
6
imagine that this omission might be in spite of myself. No
sooner do I take up my pen to compose something in English
than I get the feeling of being "de-personified", if one may use
8
excellent letter. So I ask you to get him, on my behalf, to
7
5 May 1934, Morris Sinclair
such a marvellous expression. Therefore, everything that I might have written at that time would lie furthest away from my intention, the effect of which would be, so to say, momen tarily paralysed. Thus it is hardly worth doing. It is a strange feeling to step back instinctively, well away from oneself, and observe oneself as through a keyhole. Strange, yes, and alto gether unsuitable for letter writing.
I do not know when I shall be able to come home. Staying in
this town gives me little pleasure. Except for the pictures, which
because of their shop-window glass meet the eye for the most
part only drop by drop, there is nothing that one is allowed to
9
What kind of final embellishment might go with this lam entation? One breathes therefore. . . ? Or: What little Johnny does not learn. . . ? To leave the symphony unfinished, that at
205
lookat. SometimesIlongforthosemountainsandfields,which I know so well, and which create a completely different calm from the one associated with this coarse English landscape. If only Dublin were unfamiliar, then it would be pleasant to settle somewhere nearby.
5 May 1934, Moms Sinclair
any rate is the main thing. With that everything can appear to be
in order. Love,
Sam
1 SB writes "schweizzige" but it is unclear what he meant to signify here: possibly "schweizer" (Swiss) or "schweissige" (sweaty) or even "geschwatzige" (chattering).
2 "Gegenstandsauger" (object-gobbler). possibly a play on the German word "Staubsauger" (vacuum cleaner, literally dust sucker).
3 Morris Sinclair was a violinist and competed in the Feis Ce6il. a Dublin music festival and competition. which began on 8 May 1934.
4 Vladimir Horowitz played three concerts in London during the following week: a charity concert at Queen's Hall on 8 May. a BBC concert at Queen's Hall on 9 May. and a recital at Queen"s Hall on 28 May 1934.
Two complete cycles of Wagner's opera festival Der Ring des Nibelungen (Das Rheingold, Die Walkiire, Siegfried, Gotterddmmerung) were performed at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, from 1 to 18 May 1934. On 2 May, the third act of Die Walkiire was broadcast over the London Regional radio station.
5 As it stands, SB's statement of identification with Manichaeism is a grammatical and logical fragment.
6 SB refers to Morris Sinclair's father Boss Sinclair who gave English lessons in Kassel (Morris Sinclair, 1 May 2003; Knowlson, Damned to Fame, 153).
7 SB's German construction would have been correct had he used the word "erkla ren" (explain). By using "vorstellen" instead, he merges the two constructions possible with that verb and thereby the two meanings ("introduce" and "imagine"), with the result that neither form is used correctly. Considering the contents and tone of the letter, we have settled on "imagine. "
8 SB is playing with German, as it were undoing the word "personifiziert" (person ified) with "verpersonifiziert" (de-personified).
9 InGerman,useoftheexpression"tropfenweise"withreferencetopaintingisas startling as "drop by drop" is in English.
NUALA COSTELLO DUBLIN
10/5 [1934]
206
48 Paulton's Sq. [London] S. W. 3
10 May {1934}, Costello You seem to be having a wunnerful time, with your new
1
saw Man ofAran and felt I am afraid irretrievably glued to the
seat. Very smart no doubt as far as it goes, sea, rocks, air and
granite gobs very fine, but a sensationalisation ofAran wouldn't
you be inclined to say, as Synge's embroidery a sentimentalisa
tion. Also I felt the trues of montage and photography, very
keenly, very keenly indeed. The boy fishing is pure Harold
Lloyd. The tempest au ralenti is Eve's Revue. Komrade King
caulking his curragh was very nice. The odd glimpse of the
Pins also. 3 Very depressing film, caricature ofwhat we all do,
struggling to ensure our dying every second, except that we
acquire our 27 foot sharks in a less amusing manner. But so
much mere nature all at once, is it not very dumpling. I was
forgetting the rock flowers, they were a relief, like a preterite in
Corneille at last. And no poteen? 4 Surely a little poteen would
not have been inessential. Didn't the wild waves make a strange
noise, not specially marine I thought. There are better waves in
5
Lautreaval. Pauvres Gens oxygenated.
DearNuala
nastorquemadanyles. Thisisverydeep. IamreadingAmelia. 2I
Epstein's Finis Terrae. Smaller and better. In fact the whole thing was very Hugo, Hugo at his most Asti. Not Lautreamont,
6
possible development ofthis denigration is in indecency. And I
scarcely know you well enough for that. But haven't I been very
7
How can you [? be] so little equitable, when I obviously suffer from the acutest paraesthesia to all that is said and written to and ofme. When I hear a small boy giggle two liberties off I redden to the rotten roots ofmy white hair. The slightest unkindly cut is a dagger stuck in my heart, another dagger. So please never say
207
I now find that the only
amusing. Ochone ochone I seem to have been most amusing. No doubt it[']s good exercise.
10 May {1934}, Costello
anything to me that you know I couldn't care to hear. "Bloody cheek" was an awful thing to have said to me, a positive dumdum. As I cannot give you the glittering account ofmy health that we all would wish, so I shall content myself with remarking, that the various eviscerations characteristic of my distemper are at the very top of their form. Can you imagine a quarry in ebullition. I have now ceased to wish to amuse you. Forgive me. Now whereas this interesting neolithic effervescence had hitherto been so forgiving as to confine itself roughly to my centre of inertia & environs, it has lately begun to embrace me without fear or favour from sinciput to planta. It takes my mind off my corns, no small favour I assure you. No ordinary somer sault will take place one of these days, something tells me in the late autumn, ifsuch generosity ofrecul is any indication, and I am
given to understand that it is an index of a prime order.
"And Autumn LIFE for him did choose
A season damp/dank with mists and rain, And took him, as the ev[e]ning dews Were settling o'er the fields again. "
Pardon our emotion. Unseasonable with Commonwealth day
8
sary to say that I have never read either Leprechaun or Telegraphie
Sans Egal, that my More Pricks are as free from Joycean port
manteaux as from allusion, and that I NEVER contract, can't do it
9
I postcarded you that I was sending Tom McGreevy's poems just released, with the fond hope that you would do the best you could for them. ls this an age of aesthetic integrity? I think not.
208
so nigh.
Was the blurb in the Observer sufficiently imbecile? Is it neces
my dear, I only bid. The major influences are Grock, Dante, Chaucer, Bernard de Mandeville and Uccello. 10 Publication on Commonwealth Day fills my mind with a thousand tender fancies.
I have not yet sent them, but shall, to-day or to-morrow, which is
also a day. Heap abuse on hardhearted Hanna when he has not
au coeur, organe qui n'offre plus de prise, mais enfin a une
10 May {1934}, Costello
got hundreds ofcopies in his window. Ceci me tient, je ne dis pas
11
The Cyprus Isle, Miss LouisaStuart Costello? 12
I hear Percy has withdrawn definitively to Cappagh.
andouille quelconque.
Are you connected, how remotely soever, with The Maid Of
13
But I
have no doubt I am misinformed.
If you haven't read Green's Adrienne Mesurat, my advice to
you is, don't. I paid a flying visit to The Country Boneyard. Never do this.
Up he went & in he passed
& down he came with such endeavour As he shall rue until at last
He rematriculate for ever. 14
I grow gnomic. It is the last phase. Beautiful Greetings
s/Sam
TLS; 1 leaf. 2 sides; Costello. Dating: from the publication of More Pricks Than Kicks, 24 May 1934.
1 "Nastorquemada nyles" has not been identified with certainty. The segment "Torquemada" may refer either to the Inquisitor General of the Spanish Holy Office, Tomas de Torquemada (1420-1498), or to the deviser of the cryptic crossword in The Observer from 1926 to 1939, Edward Powys Mathers (pseud. Torquemada, 1892-1939).
2 HenryFielding,Amelia(1751).
17 SB'sreadingintheBritishMuseum:22July1932.
SB describes his walk across London parks from Trafalgar Square in the direction of Chelsea: the Horse Guards' Parade, St. James's Park, Green Park, Buckingham Palace Gardens, Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens. The lake in St. James's Park is a sanctuary for ducks and pelicans.
Marmalade (anything soft, squishy). Reference to Matthew 19:24: "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. " SB refers to Jonathan Swift's "A Voyage to Lilliput" in Gulliver's Travels (1726), in which Catholics are caricatured as Big-Endians and Protestants as Small-Endians,
according to which end of a boiled egg should be broken first.
18 SBreferstohistherapywithBion. SBmayalludetoMatthew12:45andLuke11:26, which both write: "the last state ofthat man is worse than the first. " Or he may allude to the
192
4 March 1934, Morris Sinclair
"second state of man" discussed by Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) in Heaven and Its Wonders and Hell: Drawnfrom Things Heard and Seen, in which "Our Second State of Man After Death" is one in which "we are given access to the deeper reaches of our minds, or our intentions and thoughts" (tr. George F. Dole, with notes by George F. Dole, Robert H. Kirven, and Jonathan Rose, The New CenturyEdition of the Works ofEmanuel Swedenborg, series ed. Jonathan Rose jWest Chester, PA: Swedenborg Foundation, 2000] 380).
"Comedie a tiroirs-vides" (a play with lots of sub-plots, more commonly, a "roman a tiroirs" [a novel with lots of sub-plots]; SB catches up the literal meaning of "tiroirs" ]drawers of a chest] and adds "vides" [empty]).
19 Sordello embraces Virgil twice. With the first embrace, Sordello recognizes Virgil as a fellow Mantuan: "'O Mantovano, io son Sordello / de la tua terra! ' e l'un l'altro abbracciava" ("O Mantuan, I am Sordello of thy city. " And the one embraced the other) (Dante, La Divina Commedia, Purgatorio, Canto VI, lines 74-75; Dante, The Divine Comedy, II. Purgatorio. tr. Sinclair. 85). With the second, Sordello recognizes Virgil in humility: "la 've 'l minor s'appiglia" (clasping where the inferior does) (Dante, La Divina Commedia, Purgatorio, Canto VII, line 15 ]SB writes"ii" for"'! "]; Dante, The Divine Comedy, II, Purgatorio, tr. Sinclair, 95). SB quotes the reference from Canto VIL
MORRIS SINCLAIR DUBLIN
4/3/34 48 Paulson's Square [London]
Cher Ami
Sais rassure. Les peccadilles d'omission n'ont pas d'emprise
sur moi. Je veux dire que j'y suis tellement sujet moi-meme que leur manifestation chez autrui ne peut que me chauffer le coeur, chose dont j'ai assez besoin en ce moment. Merci done de ta lettre qui, pour s'etre fait attendre, ne m'a pas mains charme ! 'esprit et egaye la solitude, et merci aussi de la coupure, ou je trouve que ce vieux chameau paranoi:aque n'est pas suffisam[m] ent maltraite. Mais c'est tout de meme un commencement --
Tuasdelachancedepouvoirjouerdansunorchestre,quelque moche qu'il puisse etre. C'est une occasion nonpareille pour te familiariser avec les details d'une partition--Je n'ai jamais pu me reconcilier avec la Symphonie Pastorale ou j'ai ! 'impression que Beethoven a verse tout ce qu'il avait de vulgaire, de facile et
193
4 March 1934, Mortis Sinclair
d'enfantin (et c'etait beaucoup). pour en finir avec une fois pour
1
Arte, dont j'ai deja parle a Cissie et sur lequel partant je ne revien
drai maintenant pas-- Mais un autre, donne par le Quatuor Busch,
qui presente actuellement dans une serie de cinq concerts tous les
quatuors pour cordes de Beethoven, vaut la peine qu'on y fasse
2
Septieme; le second de 1800; et le troisieme de 1825. C'est pour
celui-ci que je suis alle et je peux dire que je n'ai ete nullement
der;u- - Bien que ce ne soit que l'avant-dernier de ses quatuors il a
pour Finale la derniere composition qui soit venue de sa main, un
Allegro incomparablement beau. Mais c'est la Cavatina qui precede
immediatement cet Allegro qui m'a le plus frappe - mouvement
qui en calme finalite et intensite depasse tout ce que j'ai jamais
entendu du venerable Ludwig et dont je ne l'aurais pas cru
capable - vraiment si tu ne connais pas ce Quatuor deja (B Mol
Mineur, op. 130) [for (si bemol majeur, op. 130)]. tu ferais bien de te
4
toutes. JaientenduunsuperbeconcertdonneparleQuatuorPro
allusion. Leprogrammesecomposaitdetroisquatuors,lepremier ("Harfen") de 1809, c'est a dire je crois, entre la Pastorale et la
3
le procurer. Le demier concert de la serie est pour samedi le dixsept, rete de notre infecte Patrice, et je viens de me garantir en quelque degre contre le souvenir de ses cochonneries zoologiques et botaniques en achetant un billet. 11 yaura le dernier Quatuor en F (op. 135) avec le celebre "Schwer Gefasste Entschluss":
allegro
jJ
II JI;II
Es muss sein! Es muss sein! 5
grave
arP�r,11cj Muss es sein?
Puis quelques jours plus tard, le 20 je crois, il ya Jacques Thibaud
avec un programme formidable - embrassant la Chaconne de
Vitali, le concerto en A du kleiner Wolferl, et une galaxie
6
d'Espagnols. Mais meme en commern;:ant deja a faire des 194
economies, je ne sais si je vais pouvoir me le payer. C'est vrai ment une tempete de musique a Londres en ce moment, un tel embarras de richesses que si l'on pouvait se les payer tous on aurait de la peine a choisir entre les concerts qui ont lieu le meme jour. Mais voila par exemple une [for un] dilemme qui ne me trouble pas! Helas!
Il n'est pas possible d'exprimer les etranges douceurs que je ressens a l'approche du printemps, et si c'est la une phrase qui invite le ridicule tant pis pour moi. Positivementje ne l'aijamais regarde venir avec tant d'impatience et tant de soulagement. Et j'y pense comme a une victoire emportee sur la nuit, les cauche mars, les sueurs, la panique et la folie, et aux crocus et aux narcisses comme aux gages d'une vie au moins tolerable, deja goutee mais dans un passe si lointain que toute trace, etjusqu'au souvenir, en etait presque perdus. Que les puissances veuillent que je ne m'y trompe pas - la peninsule doit etre radieuse. Et le cheval s'est-il un peu renouvele parmi les Zephyrs? Ne manque pas de me rappeler a son souvenir.
Et le travail, cela avance? Cette anthologie Ruddiesque est en effet comme tu dis, une chose puante, et du reste pleine de pieges. Je te conseille d'etudier cela avec une carte de la France sous la main. Comme cela il y a au moins un interet geographique a en extraire. Autrement c'est une corvee intolerable. D'ailleurs je ne l'ai jamais lu. Fais surtout attention a la region proven(ale (Maurras, etc. ), car c'est le pays d'election du noble professeur. Et ce n'est pas la peine de te dire que l'etude des textes qu'on donne a etudier est beaucoup moins importante que celle de celui qui les donne. Autrement dit, mets-toi dans la peau de Ruddy (il y a de la place) et fous-toi plus ou moins de ses anthologies. 7
]'ai sur la conscience de ne pas avoir encore repondu a la lettre de ton auguste pere. Mais a mesure que les heures de
195
4 March 1934, Morris Sinclair
4 March 1934, Morris Sinclair
lumiere [se] developpent et que s'y absorbent celles des tene bres, il se forme dans ! 'immense creuset de mon esprit les seules combinaisons verbales dignes de lui et de moi par rapport a lui. (Re]conforte-le done, quand par hasard il aurait besoin d'un tel soin, au moyen de cet avant-gout de la chose qui se prepare.
Devant ta magnifique mere, de la part de qui une accusation de reception de la divine lettre que je lui ai recemment adressee est vivement et instamment a souhaiter, je me prosterne et me remplis la bouche avidement de poussiere. Represente-lui cette attitude.
Et a toi, mon cher ami, je souhaite, maintenant et a l'avenir, tout ce qu'il ya de plus bienfaisant et propice dans un monde ou de telles vertus ont l'air de devenir de plus en plus rares.
Affectueusement Sam
ALS; 3 leaves, 3 sides; Sinclair.
4/3/34 48 Paulson's Square [London]
Dear Sunny,
Let me reassure you. Peccadillos ofomission have no hold on
me. I mean that I am myself so subject to them that the fact of their appearing in someone else can only warm my heart, some thing I am rather in need of at the moment. So thank you for your letter, which, for all that it was long in coming, has none the less charmed my mind and enlivened my solitude, and thank you too for the cutting, in which I think that that paranoic old brute is not treated badly enough. But still it is a start.
How lucky you are to be able to play in an orchestra, however third-rate it is. It is a matchless opportunity to get to know the
196
4 March 1934, Morris Sinclair
details ofa score. I have never made my peace with the Pastoral
Symphony into which I have the impression Beethoven poured
everything that was vulgar, facile, and childish in him (and that
1
was a great deal), so as to have done with it once and for all.
I
heard a superb concert by the Pro Arte Quartet that I have already
spoken ofto Cissie, and to which I shall therefore not return now.
But another one, given by the Busch Quartet, which is at the
moment putting on a series of five concerts in which they are
performing all of Beethoven's string quartets, is worth a men
tion. 2 The programme was made up of three quartets, the first
one ('Harfen') from 1809, that is I think between the Pastoral and
3
disappointed. Although it is only his penultimate quartet it has
as its finale the last composition we have from his hand, an
incomparably beautiful Allegro. But it is the Cavatina that imme
diately precedes that Allegro that made the greatest impression
on me. A movement which in calm finality and intensity goes
beyond anything I have ever heard by the venerable Ludwig, and
which I would not have believed him capable of- really, ifyou are
not already familiar with this quartet (B Flat minor, op. 130), you
4
a grave ,11 allegro El;JIIJ;IJII
Muss es sein'? Es muss sein! Es muss sein15
197
theSeventh;thesecondfrom1800;andthethirdfrom1825. This is the one that I went to, and I can say that I was in no way
woulddowelltogetholdofit. Thelastconcertintheseriesison Saturday the 17th, feast of the unspeakable Patrick, and I have just gone some way to protecting myself against the memory of his vulgar zoological and botanical nonsense by buying a ticket. There will be the last Quartet in F (opus 135) with the famous 'Schwer Gefasste Entschluss':
4 March 1934, Morris Sinclair
Then a few days later, on the 20th I think, there is Jacques
Thibaud with a tremendous programme - including the Vitali
Chaconne, the Concerto in A by kleiner Wolfer! , and a galaxy of
6
The strange, gentle pleasures that I feel at the approach of spring are impossible of expression, and if that is a sentence inviting ridicule, so much the worse for me. I have positively never watched it coming with so much impatience and so much relief. And I think of it as a victory over darkness, nightmares, sweats, panic and madness, and of the crocuses and daffodils as the promise of a life at least bearable, once enjoyed but in a past so remote that all trace, even remembrance of it, had been almost lost. May the powers will it that I am not wrong - the peninsula must be radiant. And has the horse revived a little among the Zephyrs? Do remember me to him.
And how is the work going? This Ruddiesque anthology is indeed, as you say, a stinking affair, and moreover full of traps. My advice to you is to study it with a map of France to hand. That way there is at least a geographical interest to be got out of it. Otherwise it is an intolerable chore. Incidentally, I have never read it. Pay particular attention to the Proven�al part (Maurras, etc. ), for that is the domain beloved of the noble Professor. And I need hardly tell you that the study of the texts that are being proposed for study is far less important than that of the person proposing them. In other words, put
yourself in Ruddy's skin (there is room), and to hell more or less
7
Spaniards. Butevenstartingalreadytosaveupforit,Idonot know whether I shall be able to afford it. There is a positive storm of music in London just now, such a wealth of splendid things that even if one could afford them all it would be hard to choose between concerts happening on the same day. Now there is a dilemma that costs me no sleep! Alas!
with his anthologies.
198
4 March 1934, Morris Sinclair
On my conscience is the fact that I have not replied to your august father's letter. But as the hours oflight grow, and those of darkness are absorbed into them, there are forming in the immense crucible of my mind the only verbal combinations worthy of him, and of me in relation to him. Comfort him, then, ifperchance he had need ofsuch care, with this foretaste ofwhat is in preparation.
Before your magnificent mother, from whom an acknowl edgement ofthe divine letter which I recently dispatched to her is most urgently and insistently to be wished, I prostrate myself and eagerly fill my mouth with dust. Go through these move ments for me.
And to you, my dear friend, I wish, now and for the future, all that is most beneficent and propitious in a world where such virtues seem to be growing more and more scarce.
Love Sam
1 Beethoven'sSymphonyno. 6inFmajor,op. 68("Pastoral").
2 The concert given by the Pro Arte Quartet at the BBC Broadcasting House on 16 February 1934 comprised Beethoven's String Quartet no. 14 in C-sharp minor, op. 131; String Quartet no. 4 in C major, op. 91 by Bela Bart6k (1881-1945); and Debussy's String Quartet in G minor, op. 10 ("Music This Week," The Times 12 February 1934: 8).
The Busch Quartet played a series of ten concerts at Wigmore Hall between 24 February and 17 March 1934; they actually played the Beethoven string quartets in six concerts (26 February, and 2, 3, 9, 15, and 17 March).
3 On 2 March the Busch Quartet played Beethoven's String Quartet no. 10 in E-flat major, op. 74 ("Harp"); String Quartet no. 3 in D major, op. 18; and String Quartet no. 13 in B-flat major, op. 130. "Harp" was indeed written between Beethoven's Symphony no. 6 and Symphony no. 7 in A major, op. 92.
4 SBspeaksoftheCavatinaandAllegroofStringQuartetno. 13inB-flatmajor,op. 130. Beethoven originally composed the Grosse Fuge as a finale for this quartet; per suaded that it was too long, he published it separately (Grosse Fuge in B-flat major, op. 133) and composed the Allegro as a second ending (Philip Radcliffe, Beethoven's String Quartets, 2nd edn. ! Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1978] 135-137).
5 Beethoven'sStringQuartetno. 16inFmajor,op. 135,wasperformedinthelast Busch concert of the series on 17 March 1934, St. Patrick's Day. SB quotes the epigraph
199
4 March 1934, Morris Sinclair
of the final movement as well as its musical motif: "Der schwer gefasste Entschluss/ Muss es sein? Es muss sein! Es muss sein! " (The heart-wrenching decision/ Must it be? It must be! It must be! ) Uohn Briggs, The Collector's Beethoven [Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1978] 41-42; Radcliffe, Beethoven's String Quartets, 170-174).
6 From 1905 to 1935, French violinist Jacques Thibaud (1880-1953) often per formed as a member of a trio with French pianist and conductor Alfred Cortot (1877-1962) and Catalan cellist and composer Pablo Casals (1876-1973).
The program of Thibaud's recital at Wigmore Hall. 20 March 1934, included the Chaconne in G minor, then attributed to Italian composer Tomaso Battista Vitali (1663-1745); Violin Concerto in A major, K. 219, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791); the Violin Sonata in G major. by Belgian composer Guillaume Lekeu (1870-1894); "Fountain of Arethusa" from Myths. op. 30, no. 1. by Polish composer Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937); the malaguefla "Rumores de la Caleta," from Rernerdos de viaje, op. 71. no. 6, by Isaac Albeniz (1860-1909), arranged for violin by Austrian-born American violinist and composer Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962); "Danse originale," dedicated to Thibaud, by Enrique Granados y Campifla (1867-1916); and the Suite from the lyric drama La vida breve by Spanish composer Manuel de Falla (1876-1946). (For the current attribution of the Chaconne: Wolfgang Reich, "Die Chaconne g-Moll - von Vitali? " Beitrage zur Musikwissenschaft 2 [1965] 149-152. )
With the phrase. "kleinerWolferl" (littleWolfie), SB refers toWolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
7 In the 1933-1934 Calendar of Trinity College Dublin, Nouvelle Anthologie des troubadours, ed. Jean Audiau (Paris: Delagrave. 1928), is listed for the Michaelmas examinations, although the editor's name is incorrectly given as Audian (127). Rudmose-Brown was very interested in the Proven�al literary renaissance and was a member of the Societe des Felibriges.
Charles Maurras (1868-1952) was a member of the Ecole romane, founded by Jean Moreas (1856-1910), Ernest Raynaud (1864-1936), Maurice du Plessys (1864-1924), and Raymond de la Tailhede (1867-1938); the group sought a return to the classical tradition in reaction against the Symbolists, the Parnassians, and the Romantics. See also Roger Little, "Beckett's Mentor. Rudmose-Brown: Sketch for a Portrait," Irish University Review 14 (spring 1984) 34-41.
MORRIS SINCLAIR DUBLIN
SB's errors of German in this letter have not been corrected.
5/5/34
48 Paulton's Square London S. W. 3
Lieber Sonny
Wer einst Rosen pfliicken will, der soll die Zeit, die ihm
auferlegt ist, dann und wann ermuntern. Verzeihe mir also,
200
5 May 1934, Morris Sinclair
wenn ich mich benotigt finde, meinen franzosischen Quatsch
augenblicklich fallen zu lassen. Zwar aus dieser unentbehrli
chen Veranderung wird uns keine Vorteil entstehen, doch viel
leicht ein bischen Spass. Vorteil! Was wollen sie eigentlich
1
von Vorteil! Sie furchten sie so schrecklich vor dem Leben, das
wenn sie aus irgendeinem Gegenstand keinen gewissen Gewinn
ziehen konnen, so fuhlen sie sich wie geschlagen, wo nicht fast
ermordet.
Fur diesen Leute werden Spass und Vorteil allmahlich
so durchaus unvertraglich, dass alle Handlung nur zum Spass
gemacht ihnen wie eine Selbstverstiimmelung scheinen muss.
Wenn ich den Glaube hatte, ohne den niemand hassen kann,
2
3
lange keine Musik gehort. Ausser Horowitz, der ein Paar
Konzerten gibt, und dem Ring, d. h. die Saison, schon in vollem
4
Mit meiner Manie fur alles, das mit der Frage nur die mindeste Beziehung hat, wirst du hoffentlich Nachsicht haben.
Ich habe gem diese Sommerzeit, weil dadurch werden die Finstemis und alle seine schlechte Dinge wenigstens aufgescho
5
201
sagen, unsre [? schweizzige] Moralisten, mit ihrem Schreien
wiirde ich sicher diesen Gegenstandsauger hassen.
IchwiinschedirallenmoglichenErfolgimFeis. Ichhabe
GangeundKlange,hatesnichtsgegeben. Jedenfallsistesmir, aus Grunden die mir Gott sei dank unbekannt sind, als ware ich von der Musik ausgeschlossen, und dazu habe ich keinen geringsten Appetit . . . .
Ich wollt' ich war' noch alter, und runziger und kalter . . . .
ben. Da ich Manichaer bin, in was die Dunkelheit betrifft.
Hier spreize ich mich, kann und will nicht anders, und habe keine Ahnung, ob Gott mir hilft, oder nicht. Es gibt doch eine fast nie versagende Freude, namlich, das Denken an jenen Millionen, die weniger gliicklich als ich sind, oder sein sollten. Was fur ein Schmaus ist das! Da es aber klar wird, sobald man die
4 March 1934, Moms Sinclair
Sache ein bischen iiberlegt, dass zwischen Leiden und Fiihlen gar keine Verhaltnis festzustellen ist, so fangt auch jene Freude an, trtigerisch auszusehen. Wenn ich, zum Beispiel, in der Zeitung Iese, der arme Herr Dings solle morgen friih, ehe ich aus meinem Bette sein werde, hinrichten werden, und mich sofort zu gratu lieren beginn, dass ich keine solche Nacht zuzubringen habe, so tausche ich mich, insofern ich zwei Umstande, anstatt zweier Gemiitsbewegungen, vergleiche. Und es ist hochstwahrschein lich, dass der zum Tode Verurteilte wenigere Angst als ich hat. Wenigstens weiss er genau um was es sich handelt und genau um was er sich zu kiimmern hat, und das ist nun ein grosserer Trost als man im allgemeinen zu glauben ptlegt. So gross, dass viele Kranken Verbrecher werden, nur damit sie ihre Angst begrenzen und jenen Trost bekommen mogen. Jenseit der Spekulation kommt erst der Mensch in sein Eden, in jeden [for ? jenen] Schutzort wo keine Gefahr mehr ist, oder vielmehr eine, die bestimmt ist und die man zum Fokus bringen kann.
Neuerdings habe ich an den Lehrer der englischen Sprache
viel gedacht, und mich gefragt, wie es ihm geht. Freilich muss ich
mich bei ihm entschuldigen, dass ich seinen sehr vortrefflichen
6
michvorzustellen,dieseVersaumungseimirzumTrotz. Kaum
nehme ich die Feder in der Hand, um irgendetwas auf englisch
zusammenzusetzen, als ich die Empfindung habe, verpersonifi
ziert zu sein, wenn man einen solchen herrlichen Ausdruck
8
Brief noch nicht beantwortet habe. So bitte ich dich, ihm fur
7
gebrauchendarf. Deshalbwtirdealles,wasichdamalsschreiben konnte, meinem Vorhaben, dessen Wirkung sozusagen momen tanisch gelamt ist, am fernsten liegen. So lohnt es sich kaum. Es ist ein fremdes Gefuhl, unwillkiirlich weit von sich zurtickzu treten und sich wie durch ein Schliisselloch zu beobachten. Fremd ja, und zum Briefschreiben iiberhaupt unpassend.
202
5 May 1934, Morris Sinclair
Ich weiss nicht, wann ich nach Hause zuriickgehen konnen werde. Der Aufenthalt in dieser Stadt gefallt mir nur wenig. Ausser den Bildem, die meistenteils, ihres Fensterladenglases wegen, nur tropfenweise in die Augen kommen, gibt es nichts, das man ansehen darf. 9 Manchmal verlange ich nach jenen Bergen und Feldem, den ich so gut kenne, und die eine ganz andere Ruhe, als die zu dieser groben, englischen Landschaft gehorende, bilden. Wenn nur Dublin ungewohnt ware, so war' es angenehm, sich irgendwo in seiner Nahe niederzulassen.
Was fur ein Schlusszierat gehort zu diesem Klagelied? Man atmet, also . . . ? Oder: Was Hanschen nicht lemt. . . ? Die Symphonie unvollendet zu lassen, das ist jedenfalls die Hauptsache. Dabei kann alles in Ordnung aussehen.
Herzlich Sam
ALS; 3 leaves, 3 sides; Sinclair.
5/5/34
48 Paulton's Square London S. W. 3
Dear Sunny,
Whoever wants to pick roses some day should now and then
cheer up the time imposed on him. Forgive me therefore when I feel the urge to drop my French nonsense right away. It is true that out of this indispensable change no gain will accrue to us, but perhaps a bit of fun. Gain! What actually do they want to say, our[? Swiss] moralists, with their cries about gain! 1 They are so terribly afraid oflife that ifthere is any object from which they can draw no sure profit, they feel beaten, if not nearly murdered. For these people fun and gain slowly become so completely
203
5 May 1934, Morris Sinclair
irreconcilable that any action done just for fun must seem to
them like self-mutilation. IfI had the faith without which no one
2
3
heard any music for a long time. Besides Horowitz, who is giving a few concerts, and the 'Ring' (i. e. the season) already in full
4
I hope you will make allowances for my obsession with every thing that is even the least bit related to that question.
I am fond of this summertime because darkness and all its bad things are at least being postponed thereby. Since I am a
5
have no idea if God helps me or not. There is after all an almost never-failing joy, namely the thought of those millions who are less fortunate than I, or ought to be. What a feast that is! But as it becomes clear as soon as one reflects a bit on the matter that no relationship between suffering and feeling is to be found, then even that joy begins to look deceptive. If, for example, I read in the paper that poor Mr. So-and-so is to be executed early in the morning, before I get out of bed, and immediately start to con gratulate myself that I do not have to spend such a night, I deceive myself in as much as I compare two circumstances instead of two emotions. And it is highly probable that the man condemned to death is less afraid than I. At least he knows exactly what is at stake and exactly what he has to attend to, and that is a greater comfort than one is generally inclined to
204
can hate, I would surely hate this object-gobbler. IwishyoueveryconceivablesuccessintheFeis. Ihavenot
swingandsound,therehasbeennothing. Atanyrate,itseems to me, for reasons unknown to me thank God, as ifl were cut off from music, and I have not the least bit of appetite for that.
I wish I were even older
And wrinklier and colder. . . .
Manichaean as far as darkness is concerned.
Here I strut about, I cannot and will not do otherwise, and
believe. So great that many sick people become criminals solely in order to limit their fear and gain that comfort. Only beyond speculation does man reach his Eden, that refuge where there is no more danger, or rather one which is determined and which one can bring into focus.
Lately I have thought a good deal about the teacher of the
English language and have wondered how he is getting on. Of
course, I must apologize to him for not yet having answered his
6
imagine that this omission might be in spite of myself. No
sooner do I take up my pen to compose something in English
than I get the feeling of being "de-personified", if one may use
8
excellent letter. So I ask you to get him, on my behalf, to
7
5 May 1934, Morris Sinclair
such a marvellous expression. Therefore, everything that I might have written at that time would lie furthest away from my intention, the effect of which would be, so to say, momen tarily paralysed. Thus it is hardly worth doing. It is a strange feeling to step back instinctively, well away from oneself, and observe oneself as through a keyhole. Strange, yes, and alto gether unsuitable for letter writing.
I do not know when I shall be able to come home. Staying in
this town gives me little pleasure. Except for the pictures, which
because of their shop-window glass meet the eye for the most
part only drop by drop, there is nothing that one is allowed to
9
What kind of final embellishment might go with this lam entation? One breathes therefore. . . ? Or: What little Johnny does not learn. . . ? To leave the symphony unfinished, that at
205
lookat. SometimesIlongforthosemountainsandfields,which I know so well, and which create a completely different calm from the one associated with this coarse English landscape. If only Dublin were unfamiliar, then it would be pleasant to settle somewhere nearby.
5 May 1934, Moms Sinclair
any rate is the main thing. With that everything can appear to be
in order. Love,
Sam
1 SB writes "schweizzige" but it is unclear what he meant to signify here: possibly "schweizer" (Swiss) or "schweissige" (sweaty) or even "geschwatzige" (chattering).
2 "Gegenstandsauger" (object-gobbler). possibly a play on the German word "Staubsauger" (vacuum cleaner, literally dust sucker).
3 Morris Sinclair was a violinist and competed in the Feis Ce6il. a Dublin music festival and competition. which began on 8 May 1934.
4 Vladimir Horowitz played three concerts in London during the following week: a charity concert at Queen's Hall on 8 May. a BBC concert at Queen's Hall on 9 May. and a recital at Queen"s Hall on 28 May 1934.
Two complete cycles of Wagner's opera festival Der Ring des Nibelungen (Das Rheingold, Die Walkiire, Siegfried, Gotterddmmerung) were performed at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, from 1 to 18 May 1934. On 2 May, the third act of Die Walkiire was broadcast over the London Regional radio station.
5 As it stands, SB's statement of identification with Manichaeism is a grammatical and logical fragment.
6 SB refers to Morris Sinclair's father Boss Sinclair who gave English lessons in Kassel (Morris Sinclair, 1 May 2003; Knowlson, Damned to Fame, 153).
7 SB's German construction would have been correct had he used the word "erkla ren" (explain). By using "vorstellen" instead, he merges the two constructions possible with that verb and thereby the two meanings ("introduce" and "imagine"), with the result that neither form is used correctly. Considering the contents and tone of the letter, we have settled on "imagine. "
8 SB is playing with German, as it were undoing the word "personifiziert" (person ified) with "verpersonifiziert" (de-personified).
9 InGerman,useoftheexpression"tropfenweise"withreferencetopaintingisas startling as "drop by drop" is in English.
NUALA COSTELLO DUBLIN
10/5 [1934]
206
48 Paulton's Sq. [London] S. W. 3
10 May {1934}, Costello You seem to be having a wunnerful time, with your new
1
saw Man ofAran and felt I am afraid irretrievably glued to the
seat. Very smart no doubt as far as it goes, sea, rocks, air and
granite gobs very fine, but a sensationalisation ofAran wouldn't
you be inclined to say, as Synge's embroidery a sentimentalisa
tion. Also I felt the trues of montage and photography, very
keenly, very keenly indeed. The boy fishing is pure Harold
Lloyd. The tempest au ralenti is Eve's Revue. Komrade King
caulking his curragh was very nice. The odd glimpse of the
Pins also. 3 Very depressing film, caricature ofwhat we all do,
struggling to ensure our dying every second, except that we
acquire our 27 foot sharks in a less amusing manner. But so
much mere nature all at once, is it not very dumpling. I was
forgetting the rock flowers, they were a relief, like a preterite in
Corneille at last. And no poteen? 4 Surely a little poteen would
not have been inessential. Didn't the wild waves make a strange
noise, not specially marine I thought. There are better waves in
5
Lautreaval. Pauvres Gens oxygenated.
DearNuala
nastorquemadanyles. Thisisverydeep. IamreadingAmelia. 2I
Epstein's Finis Terrae. Smaller and better. In fact the whole thing was very Hugo, Hugo at his most Asti. Not Lautreamont,
6
possible development ofthis denigration is in indecency. And I
scarcely know you well enough for that. But haven't I been very
7
How can you [? be] so little equitable, when I obviously suffer from the acutest paraesthesia to all that is said and written to and ofme. When I hear a small boy giggle two liberties off I redden to the rotten roots ofmy white hair. The slightest unkindly cut is a dagger stuck in my heart, another dagger. So please never say
207
I now find that the only
amusing. Ochone ochone I seem to have been most amusing. No doubt it[']s good exercise.
10 May {1934}, Costello
anything to me that you know I couldn't care to hear. "Bloody cheek" was an awful thing to have said to me, a positive dumdum. As I cannot give you the glittering account ofmy health that we all would wish, so I shall content myself with remarking, that the various eviscerations characteristic of my distemper are at the very top of their form. Can you imagine a quarry in ebullition. I have now ceased to wish to amuse you. Forgive me. Now whereas this interesting neolithic effervescence had hitherto been so forgiving as to confine itself roughly to my centre of inertia & environs, it has lately begun to embrace me without fear or favour from sinciput to planta. It takes my mind off my corns, no small favour I assure you. No ordinary somer sault will take place one of these days, something tells me in the late autumn, ifsuch generosity ofrecul is any indication, and I am
given to understand that it is an index of a prime order.
"And Autumn LIFE for him did choose
A season damp/dank with mists and rain, And took him, as the ev[e]ning dews Were settling o'er the fields again. "
Pardon our emotion. Unseasonable with Commonwealth day
8
sary to say that I have never read either Leprechaun or Telegraphie
Sans Egal, that my More Pricks are as free from Joycean port
manteaux as from allusion, and that I NEVER contract, can't do it
9
I postcarded you that I was sending Tom McGreevy's poems just released, with the fond hope that you would do the best you could for them. ls this an age of aesthetic integrity? I think not.
208
so nigh.
Was the blurb in the Observer sufficiently imbecile? Is it neces
my dear, I only bid. The major influences are Grock, Dante, Chaucer, Bernard de Mandeville and Uccello. 10 Publication on Commonwealth Day fills my mind with a thousand tender fancies.
I have not yet sent them, but shall, to-day or to-morrow, which is
also a day. Heap abuse on hardhearted Hanna when he has not
au coeur, organe qui n'offre plus de prise, mais enfin a une
10 May {1934}, Costello
got hundreds ofcopies in his window. Ceci me tient, je ne dis pas
11
The Cyprus Isle, Miss LouisaStuart Costello? 12
I hear Percy has withdrawn definitively to Cappagh.
andouille quelconque.
Are you connected, how remotely soever, with The Maid Of
13
But I
have no doubt I am misinformed.
If you haven't read Green's Adrienne Mesurat, my advice to
you is, don't. I paid a flying visit to The Country Boneyard. Never do this.
Up he went & in he passed
& down he came with such endeavour As he shall rue until at last
He rematriculate for ever. 14
I grow gnomic. It is the last phase. Beautiful Greetings
s/Sam
TLS; 1 leaf. 2 sides; Costello. Dating: from the publication of More Pricks Than Kicks, 24 May 1934.
1 "Nastorquemada nyles" has not been identified with certainty. The segment "Torquemada" may refer either to the Inquisitor General of the Spanish Holy Office, Tomas de Torquemada (1420-1498), or to the deviser of the cryptic crossword in The Observer from 1926 to 1939, Edward Powys Mathers (pseud. Torquemada, 1892-1939).
2 HenryFielding,Amelia(1751).
