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britannica - americana
Mais s’il avait su qu’il devait passer tout son temps à remplir des lettres,
il n’aurait pas laisser Robert prendre ce boulot. Il évoque une troisième
bombe, et indique des pages qu’il ne faudrait pas imprimer ; Knopf
doit être du même avis : après tout, ils veulent vendre des livres… Il
parle longuement encore de leur livre, esquissant des dialogues et
réponses à des lettres ou des conversations…
Puis il revient sur son voyage. L’Italie fabrique les meilleurs stylo-bille
au monde. Il est maintenant au lendemain de Pâques. La Vita va plutôt
Dolce. Les play-boys, qui accusent leur âge, sont venus de Rome
avec leurs mannequins, qui montrent les résultats de leur malnutrition.
Elaine et lui évitent la Dolce Vita. Ils viennent juste de se saouler : deux
aspirines et un bloody Mary… Ils vont prendre jeudi le bateau pour
Athènes, où ils séjourneront sur la plage à Vouliagmini… Il a été fait
étranger d’honneur de Positano. On lui a posé des questions pour
un magazine, demandant notamment ce que ça lui ferait d’avoir une
rue de Positano portant son nom ; il a répondu qu’il trouverait cela
flatteur mais ridicule…
STEINBECK JOHN
(1902-1968).
Signed autograph letter, signed « John », [Salerno] « Good
Friday » [20 April 1962], to Robert WALLSTON in New York ;
5 pages in-fol., on yellow ruled legal paper, envelope;
in English.
4 500 / 5 000 €
Long, literary letter to Robert Wallston in New York, addressed to
Robert “and Little Muddy” written the year Steinbeck won the Nobel
Prize in Literature.
Steinbeck writes “[...] arrived by boat from Capri [...] the whole family
is famished for Lotuses or is it Loti. Seems to be a good lotus crop
here complete with Bongo drums [...] Tonight [...] they are going to
bless the boats, the tourists and next year’s budget and maybe a little
will splash off on us. Robert, I thought, told you [...] never to show
unfinished mss [manuscripts] to an amateur. Everyone is a writer and
all will help. The less they know the more they will help [...].”
He gives an example of his attorney saying that he would not have
begun Steinbeck’s “Sea of Cortez” the way Steinbeck did. Steinbeck
writes in quotes his retort to his lawyer: “‘You stupid son of a bitch [...]
I don’t tell you how to try a case [...]”. He continues, “Your little
Queen of the May [...] hereafter known as G. M. [...] If she wanted
fiction she should have employed Dick Nixon’s ghost writer [...]”. He
continues to give advice and offers a retort that his correspondent
could say to “Dame G. M.” “Dahling - the most wonderful thing has
happened and it’s all due to your greatness. The Library of Congress
has asked for all those tapes and I have deposited them there [...]
They are now the property of the nation [...].” He goes on for a long
paragraph ending with the comment, “That is your speech [...] my
observation is [...] she hasn’t any idea what she said on those tapes
[...]”. He devises another speech for his correspondent to deliver to
the woman and moves onto a new paragraph. “Now that is your first
bomb. The second is a kind of mutual germ warfare. Little Muddy
can press the button on that”. He offers dialogue for Little Muddy to
say, “Complainingly with her little lower lip stuck out. ‘If I had known
I’d have to spend all my time filing letters I wouldn’t have let Robert
take this job [...]’”. Steinbeck continues, “Now, the third small bomb
I can drop. I will write you a terse letter on my letter head saying
[...] My first thought is that pp. 170-286 should not be printed [...] will
Knopf feel the same. After all, they want to sell books [...]”. The letter
he contrives continues for a full paragraph. He proceeds with more
examples of dialogue for possible letters or conversations identifying
three examples of what he calls, “Small arms fire.” He follows with a
paragraph he begins with, “Now - my last” and again offers a speech
for his correspondent to say regarding “‘Our book.’” Several paragraphs
follow containing alternative suggestions. On the fifth and last page
of his letter, he returns to the subject of Italy. “Italy makes the best
ball point pens in the world [...] Now it is the day after Easter [...] La
Vita got pretty Dolce. The gay Roman play boys came down with
their fashion models [...] The play boys now look their age and the
models re showing the results of their normal malnutrition. Elaine
and I avoided the Dolce Vita. We just got drunk and laid [...] Two
aspirins and a bloody Mary and we were pawing the earth again.
Next Thursday we are taking [a] ship [...] for Athens [...] I can neither
spell nor pronounce it. It is a cottage hotel on a beach 15 minutes
from Athens. We straggle from beach to beach. I have been made
an honorary Stranger of Positano [...] This morning on our breakfast
tray there was a list of 20 questions for a magazine. My favorite was
– ‘What would be your feeling if a street in Positano were named
for you?’ My answer was, ‘I would find it flattering but ridiculous’ [...]
it’s just as well we are leaving Thursday [...]”.
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