Letter of the Week

Every week, on this page, we will show a different letter from a selection of letters from Paul O'Prey's books on Robert Graves correspondence In Broken Images and Between Moon and Moon.

Date: 04 DEC 1957

Recipient: Reeves, James (1909-1978)

Location: Canellun

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Deyá

4 December 1957

Dearest James

Glad you got the record safe. I read the poems too fast, but I think the pace has been speeded up also and my voice made higher.

I am speaking to the Washington ICA in February — in fact, they are my sponsors in USA and my! they have arranged a big tour for me. (But if Alastair strings along it should be all right.) So I feel well-disposed to the ICA wherever it grows; and thank you for your tribute to me, in anticipation.

Today I have just finished a poem about walking around a mountain, which I think is so-called typical Graves, and serious; after four or five short jokeish ones. I was wondering whether I had reached my menopause. 'Every poet has good cause, To fear the dreaded menopause . . .' continue, please! Not that it matters stopping, but it is very enjoyable to work on a poem and get it right . . . A?

So now I don't mind doing a light story, as pleadingly asked, for New Yorker. The subject will be old Gelat and the Lady Carnarvon divorce case.3 But I'll have to trick a bit, because the co-respondent of her husband's ex-wife is still alive. I don't want to work for OUP because they are difficult people, and Cassell now publishes all I offer. The next thing is a book of my new poems and essays, etc.,4 since Crowning Privilege . . . We are now definitely spending Christmas at Rome with Jenny —- all of us — and then going on to Jugoslavia, unless we can get dinars exchanged for Austrian schillings (at whatever rate) and ski in the Austrian Alps instead.

No film news; but I never sniff at options when paid for, and these I have got. Tomas is learning to read very fast. Ygrec's pups are in the slipper-training stage.

I have been doing reviews for New Republic and Sunday Times I (see next issue on Mont Blanc) and have now finished four 8000 word talks for USA. It is very wet and wet and wet; how good your 'Waterfall' poem is on the subject!

Love to all

Robert

New York Times have asked me to review South African Campbell's Collected Poems; he's dead, so why not?