To Loot My Life Clean: The Thomas Wolfe-Maxwell Perkins Correspondence - Hardcover

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

<p><b>Matthew J. Bruccoli </b>(1931–2008) was the Emily Brown Jefferies Distinguished Professor Emeritus of English at the University of South Carolina and the leading authority on the House of Scribner and its authors. He was the editorial director of the <i>Dictionary of Literary Biography</i> and the author or editor of some one hundred books.</p> <p><b>Park Bucker </b>earned his Ph.D. in American literature from the University of South Carolina in Columbia. He is the editor of <i>The Catalogue of the Matthew J. and Arlyn Bruccoli Collection of F. Scott Fitzgerald.</i> Bucker's volume on social fiction is forthcoming.</p>

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Excerpt

The Letters

Late March 1928 TS, 4pp., PUL

NOTE FOR THE PUBLISHER'S READER

    This book, by my estimate, is from 250,000 to 280,000 words long. A bookof this length from an unknown writer no doubt is rashly experimental, and showshis ignorance of the mechanics of publishing. That is true: this is my first book.

    But I believe it would be unfair to assume that because this is a very long bookit is too long a book. A revision would, I think, shorten it somewhat. But I do notbelieve any amount of revision would make it a short book. It could be shortenedby scenes, by pages, by thousands of words. But it could not be shortened by half,or a third, or a quarter.

    There are some pages here which were compelled by a need for fullness ofexpression, and which had importance when the book was written not because theymade part of its essential substance, but because, by setting them forth, the mindwas released for its basic work of creation. These pages have done their work ofcatharsis, and may now be excised. But their excision would not make a short book.

    It does not seem to me that the book is overwritten. Whatever comes out of itmust come out block by block and not sentence by sentence. Generally, I do notbelieve the writing to be wordy, prolix, or redundant. And separate scenes are toldwith as much brevity and economy as possible. But the book covers the life of alarge family intensively for a period of twenty years, and in rapid summary for fiftyyears. And the book tries to describe not only the visible outer lives of all these people,but even more their buried lives.

    The book may be lacking in plot but it is not lacking in plan. The plan is rigidand densely woven. There are two essential movements?one outward and onedownward. The outward movement describes the effort of a child, a boy, and ayouth for release, freedom, and loneliness in new lands. The movement of experienceis duplicated by a series of widening concentric circles, three of which are representedby the three parts of the book. The downward movement is represented bya constant excavation into the buried life of a group of people, and describes thecyclic curve of a family's life-genesis, union, decay, and dissolution.

    To me, who was joined so passionately with the people in this book, it seemedthat they were the greatest people I had ever known and the texture of their lives therichest and strangest; and discounting the distortion of judgment that my nearnessto them would cause, I think they would seem extraordinary to anyone. If I couldget my magnificent people on paper as they were, if I could get down something oftheir strangeness and richness in my book, I believed that no one would object tomy 250,000 words; or, that if my pages swarmed with this rich life, few woulddamn an inept manner and accuse me of not knowing the technique for making abook, as practiced by Balzac, or Flaubert, or Hardy, or Gide. If I have failed to getany of this opulence into my book, the fault lies not in my people?who couldmake an epic?but in me.

    But that is what I wanted to do and tried to do. This book was written in simplenessand nakedness of soul. When I began to write the book twenty months agoI got back something of a child's innocency and wonder. You may question this laterwhen you come to the dirty words. But the dirty words can come out quickly?ifthe book has any chance of publication, they will come out without conscience orcompunction. For the rest, I wrote it innocently and passionately. It has in it muchthat to me is painful and ugly, but, without sentimentality or dishonesty, it seemsto me, because I am a romantic, that pain has an inevitable fruition in beauty. Andthe book has in it sin and terror and darkness?ugly dry lusts, cruelty, a strong sexualhunger of a child?the dark, the evil, the forbidden: But I believe it has manyother things as well, and I wrote it with strong joy, without counting the costs, forI was sure at the time that the whole of my intention?which was to come simplyand unsparingly to naked life, and to tell all of my story without affectation or lewdness?wouldbe apparent. At that time I believed it was possible to write of allthings, so long as it was honestly done. So far as I know there is not a nasty scenein the book,- but there are the dirty words, and always a casual and unimpededvision of everything.

    When I wrote the book I seized with delight everything that would give it colorand richness. All the variety and madness of my people?the leper taint, the cruelwaste, the dark flowering evil of life I wrote about with as much exultancy as health,sanity, joy.

    It is, of course, obvious that the book is "autobiographical." But, in a literalsense, it is probably no more autobiographical than Gulliver's Travels. There isscarcely a scene that has its base in literal fact. The book is a fiction?it is loadedwith invention: story, fantasy, vision. But it is a fiction that is, I believe, more truethan fact?a fiction that grew out of a life completely digested in my spirit, a fictionwhich telescopes, condenses, and objectifies all the random or incompleted gesturesof life?which tries to comprehend people, in short, not by telling whatpeople did, but what they should have done. The most literal and autobiographicalpart of the book, therefore, is its picture of the buried life. The most exact thing init is its fantasy?its picture of a child's soul.

    I have never called this book a novel. To me it is a book such as all men mayhave in them. It is a book made out of my life, and it represents my vision of life tomy twentieth year.

    What merit it has I do not know. It sometimes seems to me that it presents astrange and deep picture of American life?one that I have never seen elsewhere;and that I may have some hope of publication. I do not know; I am very close toit. I want to find out about it, and to be told by someone else about: it.

    I am assured that this book will have a good reading by an intelligent personin a publishing house. I have written all this, not to propitiate you, for I have nopeddling instinct, but entreat you, if you spend the many hours necessary for a carefulreading, to spend a little more time in giving me an opinion. If it is not a goodbook, why? If parts are good and parts bad, what are they? If it is not publishable,could it be made so? Out of the great welter of manuscripts that you must read, doesthis one seem distinguished by any excellence, interest, superior merit?

    I need a little honest help. If you are interested enough to finish the book,won't you give it to me?

    1. TW'S explanatory note was included with the TS of O Lost that was submitted topublishers.

    2. The length of O Lost has become inflated. TW's estimate is accurate; the typescriptis approximately 275,000 words.

* * *

CC, 2pp., PUL

Oct. 22, 1928

Dear Mr. Wolfe:

    Mrs. Ernest Boyd left with us some weeks ago, the manuscript of your novel,"O Lost." I do not know whether it would be possible to work out a plan by whichit might be worked into a form publishable by us, but I do know that setting thepractical aspects of the matter aside, it is a very remarkable thing, and that no editorcould read it without being excited by it, and filled with admiration by manypassages in it, and sections of it.

    Your letter that came with it, shows that you realize what difficulties it presents,so that I need not enlarge upon this side of the question. What we should liketo know is whether you will be in New York in a fairly near future, when we can seeyou and discuss the manuscript. We should certainly look forward to such an interviewwith very great interest.

Ever truly yours,
[Maxwell Perkins]

    1. New York literary agent Madeleine Boyd (1885?-1972). Boyd wrote MP on 18October providing TW's Munich address.

    2. "Note for the Publisher's Reader."

* * *

ALS, 7pp., PUL

Vienna, Saturday Nov 17, 1928

Dear Mr Perkins: Your letter of October 22 which was addressed to Munich, wassent on to me here. I have been in Budapest for several weeks and came here lastnight. I got your letter at Cook's this morning.

    Mrs Ernest Boyd wrote me a few weeks ago that she was coming abroad, andsaid that you had my book. I wrote her to Paris but have not heard from her yet.

    I can't tell you how good your letter has made me feel. Your words of praisehave filled me with hope, and are worth more than their weight in diamonds to me.Sometimes, I suppose, praise does more harm than good, but this time it was badlyneeded, whether deserved or not.?I came abroad over four months ago determinedto put the other book out of my mind, and to get to work on a new one.Instead, I have filled one note book after another, my head is swarming with ideas?butI have written nothing that looks like a book yet. In Munich I did write thirtyor forty thousand words; then I got my head and my nose broken, and began tohave things happen thick and fast with a great many people, including the police. Ihave learned to read German fairly well, and have learned something of their multitudinousbooks. But I had indigestion from seeing and trying to take in too much,and I was depressed at my failure to settle down to work. Now I feel better. I havedecided to come back to New York in December, and I shall come to see you verysoon after my arrival.

    I have not looked at my book since I gave a copy to Mrs. Boyd?at the time Irealized the justice of all people said?particularly the impossibility of printing it inits present form and length. But at that time I was "written out" on it?I could notgo back and revise. Now I believe I can come back to it with a much fresher andmore critical feeling.?I have no right to expect others to do for me what I shoulddo for myself, but, although I am able to criticize wordiness and over-abundance inothers, I am not able practically to criticize it in myself. The business of selection,and of revision is simply hell for me?my efforts to cut out 50000 words may sometimesresult in my adding 75000.

    ?As for the obscene passages and the dirty words, I know perfectly well thatno publisher could print them. Yet, I swear to you, it all seemed to me very easy andpractical when I wrote them.?But already I have begun to write a long letter toyou, when all I should do is to thank you for your letter and say when I am comingback Then the other things can come out when I see you.

    But your letter has given me new hope for the book?I have honestly alwaysfelt that there are parts of it of which I need not be ashamed, and which might justifysome more abiding form. I want you to know that you have no very stiff neckedperson to deal with as regards the book?I shall probably agree with most of thecriticisms, although I hope that my own eagerness and hopefulness will not lead meinto a weak acquiescence to everything.

    I want the direct criticism and advice of an older and more critical person. Iwonder if at Scribners I can find Someone who is interested enough to talk over thewhole huge Monster with me?part by part. Most people will say "it's too long,""its got to be cut," "parts have to come out," and so on?but obviously this is nogreat help to the poor wretch who has done the deed, and who knows all this, withoutalways knowing how he's going to remedy it.

    I am sorry that Mrs Boyd sent you the letter that I wrote for the Reader. Shesaid it was a very foolish letter, but added cheerfully that I would learn as I growolder. I wish I had so much faith. I told her to tear the letter out of the binding;but if it indicated to you that I did realize some of the difficulties, perhaps it was ofsome use. And I realize the difficulties more than ever now.

    I am looking forward to meeting you, and I am still youthful enough to hopethat something may come of it. It will be a strange thing indeed to me if at last Ishall manage to make a connection with such a firm as Scribner's which, in my profoundignorance of all publishing matters, I had always thought vaguely was a solidand somewhat conservative house. But it may be that I am a conservative and atbottom very correct person. If this is true, I assure you I will have no very greatheartache over it, although once it might have caused me trouble. At any rate, Ibelieve I am through with firing off pistols just for the fun of seeing people jump?mynew book has gone along for 40000 words without improprieties of language?andI have not tried for this result.

    Please forgive my use of the pencil?in Vienna papers and pen and ink, as wellas many other things that abound in our own fortunate country, are doled out bitby bit under guard. I hope you are able to make out my scrawl which is more thanmany people do?and that you will not forget about me before I come back.

Cordially Yours
Thomas Wolfe

    My address in New York is The Harvard Club?I get my mail there. Here inVienna, at Thomas Cook's, but as I'm going to Italy in a week, I shall probably haveno more mail before I get home

    1. Thomas Cook and Sons, travel agency.

    2. The ribbon copy for O Lost submitted to Scribners does not survive; presumablyit was in several binders.

    3. TW ended his first draft of this letter, mistakenly addressed to "Mr. Peters," with"Is there someone on Scribner's staff who might be interested enough in my book to arguewith me? On many points I am sure he would not have to argue at all. But it would bewrong for me to say `Yes, sir,' to everything in a spirit of a weak agreement" (The Notebooksof ThomasWolfe, ed. Richard S. Kennedy and Paschal Reeves [Chapel Hill: University ofNorth Carolina Press, 1970], p. 243).

* * *

CC, 1 p., PUL

Dec. 7, 1928

Dear Mr. Wolfe:

    Thanks very much indeed for your letter of November 19th. I look forwardimpatiently to seeing you, and I hope you will call up as soon as you convenientlycan after reading this. Then we can have a talk.

Ever sincerely yours,
[Maxwell Perkins]

* * *

CC, 2pp., PUL

Jan. 8, 1929

Dear Mr. Wolfe:

    This is to tell you that we have formally considered "O Lost" and shall bedelighted to publish it on the basis of a 10% royalty on the first 2,000 copies andof 15% thereafter;- and as soon as we hear that the terms suit you, we shall send acheque for five hundred dollars as an advance. The question of terms would naturallybe taken up with Mrs. Boyd who brought us the book and acts as literaryagent. I'd be glad to get into touch with her if she's in New York, or you might doit;- or if she's out of reach, we could make the terms dependent on her approval,which I hardly doubt she would give, and send you the advance immediately. Youcould simply give us a note accepting provisionally.

Ever sincerely yours,
[Maxwell Perkins]

ALS, 4pp., PUL Harvard Club letterhead

Jan 9, 1929

Dear Mr Perkins: I got your letter this morning and I have just come from a talkwith Mrs Madeleine Boyd, my literary agent.

    I am very happy to accept the terms you offer me for the publication of mybook, O Lost. Mrs Boyd is also entirely satisfied.

    I am already at work on the changes and revisions proposed in the book, andI shall deliver to you the new beginning some time next week.

    Although this should be only a business letter I must tell you that I look forwardwith joy and hope to my connection with Scribner's. To-day?the day of yourletter?is a very grand day in my life. I think of my relation to Scribner's thus farwith affection and loyalty, and I hope this marks the beginning of a long associationthat they will not have cause to regret. I have a tremendous lot to learn, but I believeI shall go ahead with it; and I know that there is far better work in me than I haveyet done.

    If you have any communication for me before I see you next, you can reach meat 27 West 15th Street (2nd Floor Rear).

Faithfully Yours,
Thomas Wolfe

    1. This letter followed TW's first meeting with MP.

CC, 1 p., PUL

Jan. 11, 1929

    Dear Mr. Wolfe:

    I sent the contract and check to Mrs. Boyd yesterday. She said she wouldimmediately get in touch with you. I look forward eagerly to seeing the first sectionof the revised manuscript. You can certainly be sure that your novel will have thegreatest personal support and interest in this establishment. Many thanks for yourletter.

Ever sincerely yours,
[Maxwell Perkins]

* * *

CC, 1 p., PUL

March 28, 1929

    Dear Mr. Wolfe:

    I am writing you in order to avoid disturbing you by phone in case you are stilldoing your sleeping by day. I want to arrange to go over the manuscript thus far, inorder to show cuts I would like to suggest, and to consider others;- and this mighttake an hour or two.

    Besides, we ought to get on now as rapidly as we possibly can with the book.

Ever sincerely yours,
[Maxwell Perkins]

    1. On 12 April MP wrote Madeleine Boyd: "We are making progress with Wolfe'sbook. I believe we shall soon have it short enough to be got into one volume form. Andthe more I see of it, the more I think of it" (PUL).

* * *

TO: John Hall Wheelock ALS, 3 pp., PUL Hotel Bellevue letterhead, Boston

Tuesday July 16, 1929

    Dear Mr Wheelock: My address will be Ocean Point, Maine, Boothbay Harbor,Care of Mrs Jessie Benge, Snow Cottage. Somewhat complicated, but if youhave proofs for me send them there I'm going up to-day and glad to be out of thecity.

    I noticed the enclosed cartoon in the Boston Herald this morning, and thinkit was probably inspired by Scribners' Magazine-Hemingway affair. Dashiell ismaking a collection?if you think it would interest him please send it down.

    I went out to the Arnold Arboretum yesterday?it was very beautiful, but thebirds were inciting one another to lust, in a lewd and uncensored manner, all overthe place.

Yours faithfully,
Wolfe.

FROM: John Hall Wheelock CCS, 5 pp., PUL

July 17, 1929

Dear Wolfe:

    I hope you don't mind my omitting the "Mr," and that you will do the samein writing me. I was very glad to get your note of the 16th this morning, giving yourcomplete address. Thanks so much for the cartoon from the Boston Herald, whichwas undoubtedly inspired by Scribner's Magazine, as you surmise - and which Ihave passed on to Mr. Dashiell. I am surprised that the Boston authorities haven'tlooked into the moral situations which seem to be prevailing in the Arnold Arboretum,according to your ornithological report.

    I have good news and bad news for you. The good news being that your storyis out in the August number of Scribner's, and that I will ask the Magazine to sendyou your copies to the new address. In the back of the Magazine you will find a briefwrite-up about your work, and also what seems to me an excellent picture of yourself.The bad news is that some seventy-five pages of your manuscript have beenmislaid in some way, so that I am obliged to send you proof of galleys 79 to 100,inclusive, without the original copy.

    These galleys go forward to your new address to-day by first-class post I haveread them most carefully and I think you will understand my various correctionsand suggestions. They will require of course a most careful reading by yourself.

    Please note that I have deleted, on galley 80, several sections which it seemsbest to omit. You and Mr. Perkins had agreed to omit these sections, when you wentover the manuscript, but in some way the printer set them up. I think nothing islost by their omission. In the same way I have deleted one or two phrases in otherplaces.

    Is there any danger of confusion through the use of the names "Sheba,""Horty" and "Miss Amy".

    I have looked up and verified all your quotations, so you need not worry aboutthese.

    I wish I had time and space to tell you how my enthusiasm grows with theproofreading. I must content myself with the less gracious act of pointing out whatseems to me a defect. If you do not agree with me, kindly disregard my criticism. Itseems to me that the section beginning in the middle of galley 87 and running toChapter 25, is too long. This is the section dealing with the conversation betweenGeorge Graves and Eugene, and is full of literary allusions, very skilfully interwovenwith the story. It is one of the best parts of the book but it loses by being too muchprolonged. You don't want the reader to get, for a moment, the impression that theauthor is conscious of his own skill and virtuosity; and I am afraid this will be thefeeling aroused if this section runs on as long as it now does. Won't you considerthis, and if you agree indicate such parts as you wish omitted?

    You have not yet returned to me revised galleys 71 and 72, together with theirfoul galleys; nor have you returned galleys 72 to 78, inclusive, together with copythereto. I have received here page proof covering the first 70 galleys, which is to sayabout 250 pages, but as this page proof covers only revised galleys, which had veryvery few changes and as I am following page proof most carefully myself, I felt itwas not necessary to trouble you with them.

    The printer was a little bit upset by the very lengthy insertion which you madeon one of our revised galleys. I don't suppose it is likely that you'll be makinganother of this kind. It is of course desirable to do as little of this as possible, onaccount of the expense and delay involved.

    This is a tiresome letter, but I do hope with all my heart that you're going tohave a fine rest and a happy time, too, up in Maine.

As ever, dear Wolfe,
Yours sincerely,
J.H.W.

To
Mr. Thomas Wolfe
c/o Mrs. Jessie Benge
Boothbay Harbor, Maine.
Snow Cottage, Ocean Point.