BARNES Djuna &
[ELIOT, T. S.]
Typed Letter Signed ("Djuna") to "Dearest Tom" [T.S. Eliot],
"The French is in the hands of a woman, the last thing I would have desired."
Writing to “Dearest Tom” “Care of Faber and Faber” Barnes questions Eliot on his hernia “I thought that came from heavy lifting” pressing him to “…stay in the country as long as you can…” and that she has ordered “three pacgakes” [sic] for him. As the delivery time is estimated to be “four or five weeks” and the “…butter will undoubtedly be ghastly…” she asks Eliot to “..not be angry with me. I have shame enough living in a country stocked with enough food to choke all the horses in the world, and am grateful it is possible to disobey you!”. In a digression on contractual matters, permissions and French translation rights she lets slip the arch remark: “The French is in the hands of a woman, the last thing I would have desired.” The letter concludes with a jolly postscript: “I like to fancy Mr. Hayward enjoying tea with you, so tell me the tea you prefer. I know tea is bought in London according to district. That is no longer possible perhaps––” From the shopping list we learn that Djuna Barnes prescribed brown rice instead of white as this was better for Eliot’s health.
Barnes writes from her home in 5 Patchin Place where she lived for the last - increasingly reclusive - 41 years of her life. Her master-work, Nightwood, which made her reputation when it was published in 1936, had initially struggled to find a publisher, but found its champion in T. S. Eliot, who was director of Faber & Faber. Eliot wrote an introduction to the volume, and also edited the work, and became a friend and mentor to Barnes. Miriam Fuchs, in her essay ‘Djuna Barnes and T. S. Eliot: Authority, Resistance, and Acquiescence’ has written about their relationship. “Like other women writers of her generation, Djuna Barnes lived unconventionally and wrote unconventionally.” In spite of her independence and untraditional lifestyle Djuna was had a “critical male-female collaborative and mentoring” relationship with Eliot (see ‘Djuna Barnes and T. S. Eliot: Authority, Resistance, and Acquiescence’ Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature vol.12, No.2 (Autumn, 1993), pp.288-313).
In near fine condition, the envelope with tears.
