Staff

Beginning in early 1962, Thornton Wilder lived for some twenty months in the small town of Douglas, Arizona. He told his nephew that he hoped to find in Douglas a “solitude without loneliness“—a place where, away from the pressures of … Continued

A letter to Kierkegaard from a fan and admirer, along with Kierkegaard’s response.

Below, William Empson writes to Francis Doherty, a scholar specializing in the work of Samuel Beckett. Empson finds fault with Doherty’s book-length treatment of his subject, denouncing the Beckett’s “Artful-Dodger glee” and unwarranted “despair,” which he attributes to Irish Catholicism … Continued

C. S. Lewis and Arthur Greeves first met as young boys, residents on the same Belfast street. From their childhood meeting until Lewis’s death in 1963, Greeves would prove the author’s single closest friend. Below, Lewis offers some friendly criticism … Continued

Below, Elias Canetti’s response to his brother’s (apparently trenchant, generally positive) criticisms of Auto-da-Fé. Elias Canetti was thrilled with the novel’s overwhelmingly positive reception, confiding to Georges: “ Since the publication of Auto-da-Fé, everyone who reads it considers me one of the most … Continued

A novel, like a letter, should be loose, cover much ground, run swiftly, take risk of morality and decay. […] You let the errors come. Let them remain in the book like our sins remaining in our lives. I hope some of them may be remitted. I’ll do what I can; the rest is in God’s hands.

  Below, Jack Kerouac responds to an invitation from Carolyn Cassady (Neal Cassady’s wife) to come west for the winter and take a job as an attendant at a local parking lot. In so doing, Kerouac also touches upon advances, … Continued