T. S. ELIOT
28 July 1922
Dear Ezra,
535
TS
Lilly Library
9 Clarence Gate Gardens
Regents Park, London N.W.I.
I have this evening your letter with the typed script of the prose
of your unknown friend which I shall peruse carefully over the
weekend, hoping that I shall see the point to which you refer. Your
letter, as frequently, is extremely obscure ; I do not understand the
point of the pug dog nor the apparently more significant allusion of
the storming of the bastille. Perhaps you will kindly explain this lat–
ter point to me as it might prove a useful piece of knowledge?
I will let you have a copy of the
Waste Land
for confidential use
as soon as I can make one. Ofthe two available copies, one has gone
to Quinn to present to Liveright on completion of the contract, and
the other is the only one I possess. I infer from your remarks that
Watson is at present in Paris . I have no objection to either his or
Thayer's seeing the manuscript.
30 August 1922
Cher Ezra,
Yrs . fraternally
T.
TS
Lilly Library
The Criterion,
9 Clarence Gate
Gardens, N .W .I.
Yes, it is quite true that one does not want to write any prose,
and I never feel quite justified in doing so myself, nevertheless one
does. I can't myself see what good it does, and the effort of per–
suading oneself that it is worth while writing at
all
is only just about
enough to cover one's verse and nothing over. 99% of the people
who "appreciate" what one writes are undisguisable shits and that's
that. Your notes, epistolary, telegraphic , etc. are cordially ap–
preciated and after I have corrected the speling will in due time ap–
pear and in due time be paid for. With most grateful thanks yours
always sincerely, faithfully. I received a letter from your friend Wat–
son most amiable in tone
