Has just returned from Canada and begun to answer letters. Gives permission to make a Hungarian translation of either "Paul's Case" or "The Sculptor's Funeral." Secretary will send one of the pamphlets Knopf puts out giving biographical information. Can't send a photograph just now. Willa Cather [Stout #1236]
Can send a passport photograph taken some years ago, the only one she has with her to send. Requests like this take so much of her time she can hardly write! Willa Cather [Stout #1237]
Appreciates the book but can't read a word of Hungarian. Willa Cather [Stout #1254]
Enjoyed receiving her card from Quebec. When book of essays comes out, please don't think praise of Thomas Mann is due to Knopf's publishing him. Agreed with Fanny that The Magic Mountain was dull, but likes the Biblical trilogy very much. Willa Cather [Stout #1331]
The debate over Joseph Conrad is endless. Prefers a more direct, unadorned sentence style. Few writers can give themselves up to baroque emotionalism and succeed. Turgenev could. Conrad becomes artificial or decadent. Listened to the king's abdication speech on the radio [Edward VIII abdicated on December 11, 1936] and found it plausible and distinguished. An example of rhetorical control. What does he think of the people close to the king? [letter breaks off] [Stout #1350]
Is not writing many letters but devoting time to work. At tea time, often thinks of Lascar [his book-in-progress]. Looks forward to reading a book about that place [ Marseilles ]. Conrad gives a glimpse of it in The Arrow of Gold before the book goes off in other directions. How is he? and where is he? P.S.: Will probably leave for the Canadian Rockies about July 15. W. S. C. [Stout #1367]
[Quotes a sentence written by him on a postcard that she had apparently tucked into a copy of Salammbo eight years ago: "Marseilles in spring was wonderful—the foliage of the plane trees, the pink evening sky, the old skull-colored city: very wicked and old, with no regrets."] That sentence restores her confidence in Lascar. Tells more about Marseilles than anything in Joseph Conrad's Arrow of Gold—his weakest book, of course. This sentence is authentic. Willa Cather [Stout #1705]
Sending a review from the Nation that she is proud of. [Possibly referring to a review of The Song of the Lark in October 1915 or to one of Joseph Wood Krutch's strongly positive reviews in the Nation: of A Lost Lady, November 28, 1923; of The Professor's House, September 23, 1925; of My Mortal Enemy, November 10, 1926; of Death Comes for the Archbishop, October 12, 1927.] Please return it after she shows Roscoe. Willie [Stout #1785]
Has he been able to loan more of her money? Hopes Mr. Topham won't be late with his interest payment this time. Be sure to deduct the amount father loaned her when she departed last summer. Won't get royalty payment until April and already took a two hundred dollar advance from publishers. Has a question: does the binder or the reaper have the large wheel with flat boards on one side? It's hard to explain; it may resemble a wheel but not be one, and the wheel towers over the rest. Is doing fine and finally making some progress on the new book [ One of Ours ], but it is slow going. Willie
Will father please send Mr. Topham and Joe Pavelik's interest payments? If not available, will he lend her the amount of the payments? Otherwise, will have to borrow from the bank to make it until the March 1 royalties payment. Is going to have operation in the Roosevelt Hospital next month and wants to make sure enough money is on hand then. Thinks possibly father sent Joe Pavelik's payment already; is that true? Will write to mother soon, but has been preoccupied and ill. Willie
