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so. It was printed under the heading
"Better By and By." It is no doubt
trying for persons of this kind, hoping
to mew their way into general atten–
tion, to find that attention focused on
myself and my family. Hence the com–
plaint about "the history of publicity."
And no doubt Mr. Alvarez thought I
should not see his London Letter.
Well, I
have
seen it. And if he is
impudent again, I shall teach him his
manners again, and the second lesson
will be a good deal more severe than
the first.
I am,
Sir,
Yours faithfully
Edith Sitwell
P.S. Mr. Ginsberg can write Mr. Al–
varez-(a versifier of no talent) off the
map.
It
is true that Mr. Alvarez and
Dr. Leavis belong to the category of
the Death-Watch-Beetle. But though
they are just as much of a nuisance,
they fail to destroy. All that happens
is that one is bored by a ceaseless, dull,
ticking noise.
E.S.
Sirs:
Dr. Leavis wrote : "the Sitwells
(sic)
belong
to
the history of publi–
city rather than of poetry"
(New
Bear–
ings in English Poetry,
New Editions,
London, 1954, p. 73).
As for the rest of Dame Edith's let–
ter: since it, too, belongs to the history
of publicity rather than poetry, I am
afraid that, as a literary critic, I am
not qualified to reply.
Yours etc.,
A. Alvarez
