Guide to Reading Letter Transcriptions
Some of these features are only visible when "plain text" is off.
| Textual Feature | Appearance |
|---|---|
| passage deleted with a strikethrough mark | |
| passage deleted by overwritten added letters | |
| passage added above the line | passage with added text above |
| passage added on the line | passage with added text inline |
| passage added in the margin | passage with text added in margin |
| handwritten addition to a typewritten letter | typed passage with added handwritten text |
| missing or unreadable text | missing text noted with "[illegible]" |
| uncertain transcriptions | word[?] |
| notes written by someone other than Willa Cather | Note in another's hand |
| printed letterhead text | printed text |
| text printed on postcards, envelopes, etc. | printed text |
| text of date and place stamps | stamped text |
| passage written by Cather on separate enclosure. | written text |
I have just returned to New York2 for a few days and your kind letter has been brought to my attention. This, I think, is the second time3 you have written me, and if we are going to be correspondents, I must beg you to either drop my middle name or spell it correctly. It is not Siebert, but Sibert. (I haven't used it myself for years.)
Yes, of course, most of the reviewers are indignant because I did not write a conventional historical novel4 with all the great characters up and doing, and behaving themselves in the traditional manner. This does not bother me in the least, and if it bothers the reviewers, I only wish they would write the kind of book they like about old Quebec5. It is a subject open to all – has been standing there for three hundred years.
No, I am not a Catholic, and I do not think I shall become one. On the other hand, I do not regard the Roman Church merely as "artistic material". If the external form and ceremonial of that Church happens to be more beautiful than that of other churches, it certainly corresponds to some beautiful vision within. It is sacred, if for no other reason than that is is the faith that has been most loved by human creatures, and loved over the greatest stretch of centuries.
Very cordially yours, Willa Cather
