Like Henry Seidel Canby, does not believe in teaching contemporary literature. More important to use limited school time to teach classics of English literature. Essential reading in school includes Shakespeare, Milton, Fielding, Jane Austen, with Thackeray, George Eliot, George Meredith, and Thomas Hardy as the most recent. Young people should read contemporary literature as they want to, not as assignments. True literary taste is as rare as perfect pitch, but students can glean something from exposure to the classics, even if they don't have real aptitude. [Stout #1454]
Thanks for the books. Notes errors in biographical information on William Archer, whom she knew beginning in 1908. Attended George Meredith's funeral with Archer in London and sat with him in [William Butler] Yeats's box with Lady Gregory at a performance by the Abbey Theatre Company in London. He was one of the first critics to recognize John Millington Synge's work. Was a great enthusiast of Ibsen and translated several of his plays. Hopes this can be corrected. Willa Cather [Stout #1458]
Has received two letters from John J. Walsh about his thesis. Is not a Catholic, though published reports have said so. Please tell this student he can't always believe what he reads in books. Is sorry people write things about her that are not true. Willa Cather [Stout #1471]
Sorry to see an old friend of his [John Buchan, Lord Tweedsmuir] has died. Knows by experience how empty one's world begins to look. Realizes she is often shrewish, but does grieve for her friends' losses. Willa Cather [Stout #1472]
Doesn't speak to learned organizations; changes her mind too often to make definitive pronouncements. Willa Cather [Stout #1475]
Very pleased with the autobiography of John Buchan being serialized in the Atlantic. Congratulations on securing a book of such good sense that allows one to think about a different life than that in the present troubled state of the world—as different as Virgilian pastoral. Has been accused of escapism, but realizes one can't escape everything. Is utterly unable to escape the sorrow now threatening all that has made life worth living in this world. Her doctor says people in hospitals these days lack the will to get well. He has forbidden her to go to Philadelphia to accept an honorary degree from the University of Pennsylvania this month because her physical resistance is so low. P.S.: Please check current edition of My Ántonia from the Riverside Press and see what poor quality paper they are using. One side of the page bleeds through to the other. Willa Cather [Stout #1484]
Appreciated his offering her a copy of Lord Tweedsmuir, but didn't answer because completing her new book. Knopf pleased with it. Has not yet received Audubon's America, and looks forward to it as well as the book on Tweedsmuir. Glad they have both known such fine people. Greatly admires the present conduct of the British. Even Stephen Tennant, as pampered as he has been, says he is proud to be in England now. Finished reading Churchill's Life of Marlborough at Grand Manan and considers it a very great work. P.S.: The books have arrived. Willa Cather [Stout #1491]
Liked his magazine article "Modern Authors Can Be Gentlemen" and appreciated his comment on her. Steinbeck and Saroyan do not use the full range of the English language, but only write in monosyllables. Samuel Morison manages to use even ordinary slang in such a way that it fits the need of the moment, without destroying the dignity of his writing. Enjoyed Morison's book about Columbus [1942]; had not known the role of religion in Columbus's life. [Stout #1527]
Does not believe General Pershing was ever a teacher, but he was military commandant at the University of Nebraska in 1894 and replaced her mathematics instructor for a week when he was ill. Please correct untrue reports. Gets very tired of untruths being published, such as reports that she is a Catholic. [Stout #1531]
Appreciates his kind words in his Second Reader, three years ago now, and appreciates his reprinting of Kenneth Grahame's Golden Age, as well as his bringing to her attention the paper on Boswell by Pottle. Recommends Johnson without Boswell, recently published by Knopf. Is it really he who is acting in The Man Who Came to Dinner? Such a surprise! Recommends French Hospital, where nurses speak French and even cooks are French. Had very good care and good food. A Catholic hospital, but nurses not nuns, so no black habits about. One accompanied the wife of ex-president of Chile on airplane when President Roosevelt provided her transportation back to Santiago. American airmen so fine—keep up her faith in America in spite of Communists having gotten hold of much of the country. Willa Cather [Stout #1533]
