Denver

31 January 1972

Dear Martin [Jarrett-Kerr],

I have not written in a long time. Time contracts so. One tumbles from one block of time to another so and yet there's little to show for it. The novel I began last time has been nagging me and I could scream to take time off to continue; but one must earn one's keep. Must wait for the next summer.

I enjoyed the Faulkner monograph. I find it so stimulating, so balanced, so sane, so economically done, yet with so much intellectual toughness. I always wondered what to make of Faulkner's religious beliefs and moral stand. Now I think I see. Thanks for the illumination. I am sending you an article by a colleague of mine here on WF. He is working on a book about Faulkner. A very warm person.

Whatever happened about Roger? You mentioned some time ago that he was very ill. It was sad of course to hear of Arthur Blaxall.

Life is still good to us here, such as it is. So many things make one angry, and that is ironically elevating: Pakistan and Bangladesh, Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), the lot.

Macmillan in London has sent me a copy of the edition of their The Wanderers. Their publication date is February 24th. A neat little product. Lots of things changed regarding ‘Cecil Sprite’ etc, which verge on libel, their lawyer said. Also, it is much freer of errors. As soon as the essays come out this Spring, I'll send you a copy. Macmillan will bring out that too. Fontana Books bought the paperback rights of The Wanderers. Give my very best to Arthur Ravenscroft. Had a letter from a friend in Cape Town (incidentally) who has finished her Ph.D. thesis and graduated, but cannot let any library keep a copy because she has quoted and discussed banned writers, like me!! Ca c'est le comble!

Denver

24 February 1972

Dear Martin,

I am concluding a seminar on Blake, Wordsworth and Coleridge and the 18th Century Background. I try whenever I teach these guys to emphasize that they are a product of the 18th Century philosophy and poetic practice and 17th and 18th Century science, even while they use their heritage to explore further the psychology of perception, both in writer and reader and the imagination as the writer's equipment.