504
PARTISAN REVIEW
woman he had known as a girl who had written and become very suc–
cessful: with such "perceptive" stories, such revolutionary stories and
now is wealthy and Stalinist. To be a story of literary criticism: on
the nature of writing.
(1944)
The evening at the Rices
15
with John Matthews-how much I
laughed- realization how seldom we laugh , in that cathartic way, al–
though we laugh almost continuously in a social group . How much
pleasure I got when he was doing imitations of vaudeville patter- my
pleasure in being able to cap his gag at the right moment- he stood
on a stepladder in order to bite himself on the head. How I loved the
memory of vaudeville, but how I used to hate vaudeville as a boy . I
was romantic and vaudeville gave only worried, harrassed people .
Joe Cook was the only exception and he was a delight. But even he
j
had a great deal of unhappy meaning; still, he could
do
so much . But
\
what I always looked forward to was the "sketch" with its drama.
Actually, vaudeville comedy represented
adult
life.
Being taken to Morrison's theater in Rockaway Park to see Belle
Baker by my Uncle T. -I disliked her and thought her vulgar–
the surprise at this at home and the great pleasure- the surprise was
insincere, the pleasure sincere: I was innately "refined"! -That
Morrison's theater (1912?) was out of one of Howells' Rockaway
sketches- The movies were for me much better than vaudeville–
the fantasy was what I liked- and even the medium gave me a sense
of safety. - Remembering myself then, at 7, 8, 9?, I have the impres–
sion of someone enormously mature, much more mature than my
uncle T., toward whom I must have felt some of the family's con–
descension- but I have the reminiscent sensation that I looked on
this scene with a remote and censorious eye, the sense that there
were better things!
(1944)
I began this notebook after reading Henry James's regret that he had
so long neglected to keep one. After the usual burst of dutifulness, I
gave up. But it is imp't in my situation to keep it , really to make a
habit of it so as to fix my mind always and continuously and as much
as possible on the job I still think must be done.
Reasons for not keeping a notebook: 1) the ambiguity of the
1
~Kitty
and Philip Blair Rice .
