Letters in which TS Eliot discloses himself as a man both haunted and magically tender-hearted are to be auctioned in London. In the most striking, the poet goes further than in almost anything he wrote in betraying his torment over his marriage to his first wife, Vivien, whom he committed to a mental hospital.
The morning after hearing of her death in January 1947, he wrote to a friend: "You will not know how helpful it was to me to dine with you last night. I am going through an infernal passage which, like all infernos, is incommunicable, though perhaps some of it may be explainable at a late time, and any support from the few friends upon whom one can lean is a great help."
On Thursday, the auction house Bonham's called the letter remarkable: "For a man who wore many masks during his lifetime, this correspondence reveals aspects of his character previously hidden."
The letter, to be sold on Sept. 10, was to Enid Faber, the wife of Eliot's publishing colleague, Geoffrey Faber. Other letters show that she comforted him by being one of the few to attend Vivien's lonely funeral -- and that he countermanded Vivien's intention that Geoffrey Faber should be appointed an executive to her will.
After he died in 1965, Eliot was blamed for causing, or contributing to, Vivien's mental instability -- a theme of the play and film Tom and Viv.
At the time they married, in 1917, she had been acknowledged as a woman of high talent, believed to have contributed to The Waste Land and to Eliot's other poems. They parted, though she pressed continually for a reconciliation until, in 1938, she was committed.
Other letters from their relationship have yet to be published.
Of Virginia Woolf's death, he wrote: "She was a personal friend who seemed to be ... like a member of my own family; and I miss her dreadfully. But ... my admiration for the idea of her milieu, now rather old fashioned, is decidedly qualified."
However, beside this dig at the novelist, others among the letters are "tremendous fun."
For the third birthday of Enid's son -- Tom, to whom Eliot was godfather -- he introduced his cat verses by writing of one feline: "Its Name is JELLYORUM and its one Idea is to be Useful!! For Instance It Straightens The Pictures -- It Does The Grates -- Looks Into the Larder To See What's Needed."
Then he sent an invitation for Tom's fourth birthday: "Pollicle Dogs and Jellicle Cats!/Come from your Kennels & Houses & Flats."
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel
RSS