Went to Maine June 7 and returned home yesterday. Had a wonderful time with Fremstad and then visited Mary Jewett. With Fremstad, was active every minute, fishing, rowing, hiking, and cooking. What a vigorous woman! Thornton Oakley would do good illustrations for a book on Provence. Scribner's would be a good publisher for it. Going to Wyoming soon. Isabelle will probably go to Italy during that time. W. [Stout #284]
Can't remember if she ever wrote about Elizabeth's mother's surgery. Life has been very disordered. Has been at Grand Manan, off the coast of New Brunswick, at the house she and Miss Lewis have there. Expects to go to Quebec in a few weeks. It has been a hard year. Likes the essay on herself in Whipple's book Spokesmen [R. K. Whipple, Spokesmen: Modern Writers and American Life, 1928], which has a fine essay on Henry Adams. Greetings to her mother. P.S.: Likes Thornton Wilder's new book [probably The Bridge of San Luis Rey, 1927]. Willa Cather [Stout #944]
Right hand was smashed in a drug store door in May. Can't write. Appreciated the orange blossoms, which came while she was in Atlantic City but were still fragrant when she returned. Orange marmalade a treasure. Is feeling reconciled to Hephzibah's and Yehudi's marriages. Isabelle wrote from Sorrento that the entire family, including the new husband and the new wife, visited her there. Though usually so critical of people's shortcomings, Isabelle likes them in spite of theirs. Is herself somewhat like a porcupine when meeting people, so is glad Isabelle reassured her about these new members of the Menuhin family. Thinks Thornton Wilder's new play quite good, authentically in the spirit of New England. Has felt that the dead remain part of people's lives there, as in the play. Willa [Stout #1407]
Is honored to have been asked to serve on the nomination committee for the Howells Medal and would enjoy working with the other members of the committee [Ellen Glasgow, Stewart E. White, and Thornton Wilder] but feels too little acquainted with recent fiction to be able to contribute to the task. Has mostly been reading about 13th century France for several years. Willa Cather [Stout #1481]
. . . So cannot travel to Red Cloud this year. Has been forced to give up a lot. Enclosed is a request from the Carnegie Corporation [the letter invited Cather to represent the United States on the Permanent Committee on Arts and Letters of the League of Nations], which she declined; it would be too exhausting. Suggested that Mr. Keppel invite Thornton Wilder instead, and Wilder agreed. Wilder is fluent in French and Italian and is both scholarly and gregarious. Keep this quiet. Would like Wilder to think he was the top pick. Tell Carrie and Mary, however. Hopes Red Cloud won't have too much heat and that Elsie will enjoy another summer there. Hopes Elsie will use check to pay for household help. Likes the nieces very much and will write more about them soon. Also loved Mary Creighton's wonderful letters. Willie
Has been meaning to write for a year to tell him that she believes Our Town to be the most wonderful and honest production in the United States in a long while. It is technically accomplished, of course, but its real value is in its ability to communicate a more intangible sacredness, one that requires multiple encounters with the play. Having spend a good deal of time in Jaffrey, New Hampshire, over the last fifteen years, she recognizes the spirit of that area in the play. Like Mount Monadnock's persistent presence in the life of the villages which surround it, a dignified solidity is at the foundation of the play. Americans living abroad long for home upon reading it. Though she has enjoyed all of his work, Our Town is his biggest triumph, and she is grateful for it. Willa Cather
Appreciates his calling at the Shattuck Inn, but she followed her physician's orders and kept to her bed while in Jaffrey. Has a few quiet rooms under the roof that she typically takes because the only sound she hears are the raindrops hitting the roof. Considered inviting him over, but had to return to New York after two weeks. Feels much better, though, and has been working. Is worried about friends in France and England, however. Hopes his work is going well. Has discovered a secret in the forest: orchids are growing there again. Willa Cather
Apologizes if previous letter seemed lethargic, but it is hard to maintain energy when dealing with a lot of correspondence. Appreciates his kind words about Obscure Destinies. She has a very direct, intimate connection to those stories. Also, she wants American readers to better appreciate the long short story and not dismiss such works automatically. It is that prejudice which values Conrad's Arrow of Gold over his "Youth." The French have valued the genre for a long while, and hopes Americans can, too. Is not worried that a Baltimore man is writing a thesis, but hopes it is better that Mr. MacNamara's article in the Catholic World [McNamara, R., "Phases of American Religion in Thornton Wilder and Willa Cather," Catholic World 135 (May 1932): 641-649]. His sense that spiritual and intellectual advancement is linear is silly; it comes in bursts. Believes Catholicism is wise and humane enough to understand this about people. Willa Cather
