DE LA MARE (Walter John, 1873-1956, Poet and Novelist)

Excellent long Autograph letter signed to Mr Atkins, saying that "Alas, I didn't deserve one word of your reference to the R.L.F. I wish it were otherwise. Illness as you know prevented my attending the Meeting of the Committee &, although I wrote to John Broadbent, the Secretary, as soon as your letter reached me, I was just a day too late! I was very glad to hear that a grant has been awarded, it must have been considered very promptly. All that you said concerning the writing of books keenly interested me. There are outstanding exceptions, of course, but, in general, if one insists on following one's own bent and inclination, even if it is not widely ... off the beaten track, a recognition adequate enough to produce anything worth calling an income is usually slow work. But other sources, eg reviewing (which was always in my case against the grain) must come into play. I feel sure you agree that at the beginning of authorship some other additional job, if it is not too exhausting, is the best way out. One can but speak from personal experience. The proceeds from my first three books over a period of about six years, I think cannot have exceeded £100. Indeed a good deal later I brought back two of them which have been published on a profit-sharing agreement! None the less, & apart from what is usually called a literary conscience but which usually has roots a good deal deeper than the phrase suggests, believe that your own son - Victor is the right one, haven't a doubt of it, & probably on the practical as well as on the personal side. Nor do I think that early success is usually an advantage in the long run. Is it quite so in the case of Kipling & Dickens even? Nothing could be more trite & Samuel Smilesesq than, 'Best do one's best however bad', but what is the alternative? R.L.S. on butcher's bills is sorrow enough, but there is an influence strangely sterilising in the deliberate manufacture in any work of their mind. I know quite well what you mean by 'despair' & I do hope you won't find the fight too hard & too long Wood-pigeons have a wonderful flight. I have only once seen magpies here - fascinating creatures; but jackdaws come to my kitchen window at Twickenham. Next week I hope to be going away - & some time after that the jackdaws again ...", 4 sides oblong 8vo., The Old Park, 2nd April

The Royal Literary Fund is a benevolent fund for professional published authors; it is funded exclusively by bequests and donations from writers and others who wish to help writers. He may be writing to John Atkins (1916-2009) who was a prolific British writer, playwright, poet and novelist. After graduating from the Bristol University he worked for Mass Observation and later as Assistant and Literary Editor of the left-wing newspaper Tribune, before he wased call up in 1943. His place at the Tribune was taken by George Orwell.

Item Date:  1948

Stock No:  39574     

                


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