64
PARTISAN REVIEW
origins always remains, however submerged, the fundamental ground–
bass theme of the friendship.
In August Raymond's secretary wrote that I was not to be surprised
if his lellers were not clearheaded: he was in the hospital after another
bad drinking bout and had three special nurses round the clock whom
he did not need, for he had made an excellent recovery; but they kept
him occupied and he was enjoying the constant allention
I
But he soon
wrote a number of letters describing all symptoms and diagnoses (of
course, none of them faintly related to drink) yet already, except for a
fractured wrist, seemingly quite recovered in every way. During that
autumn, though as usual beset by various ailments, he sounded more
happily engrossed in work. He finished
Playback
and enjoyed his stay
in Palm Springs when Helga Greene visited him. She had by this time
become a closer friend; their community of professional interests had
begun to flourish as the bereavement receded inLO the past, and she did
immensely well for him.
It
was not until the following February (1958) that he returned LO
London and took a flat in Chelsea, where he stayed until August. This
time he was looked after by a male nurse (which he had needed and
should have had in Carlton Hill, but we had had no authority to
arrange it) and also, until she left for a trip to Australia, by his
Australian secretary. He seemed proud of his new family and that the
children trusted and liked him. His life was admirably organized by
Helga Greene who had fostered and encouraged the work on finishing
Playback.
We saw him at meals occasionally through that summer, and
I found him in quieter good humor and, I hoped, happier than on
previous visits. He had aged; there was less sparkle, less vehemence,
lillie contention and more gentle geniality.
I remember Stephen and I having invited him to lunch at the Cafe
Royal grill to meet a talented young writer, Frank Norman, whose
account of prison life Stephen had first published in
Encounter
and
whose first book needed a resonant introduction. Raymond wrote it, the
only work he completed in 1958. Though older and more frail,
Raymond still retained his rather swashbuckling manner. Frank had
lived nearly all his life in orphanages, Borstals or prison , and Ray–
mond became very excited at meeting (as he over-dramatized it to
himself) this "hardened criminal," which Frank was very far from ever
having been. Raymond hecLOred Frank quite considerably, with a
seeming vicarious desire for an atmosphere of violence, whereas Frank
was quiet, cheerful, and I thought admirably dignified under this
onslaught. When Raymond said for about the sixth time, with a
