3

Oct. 29, 1937

I. A. Richards, Esq.
Magdalene College
Cambridge, England

Dear Mr. Richards:

A year or so ago I wrote you to solicit a contribution for THE SOUTHERN REVIEW. I am taking the liberty to write again to indicate that the editors would be very happy to have you contribute.

This summer our editor, Dr. Pipkin, was in China and in Peiping, and had hoped to be able to meet you personally and request an article from you, but confusions of the war, which was just breaking out when he arrived in North China, prevented his having an opportunity.

This summer I received indirectly a comment of yours, which I hope was reported correctly, and which gave me a great deal of pleasure. Mr. Ferguson, who is a member of the faculty of this university, reported that he had heard that while you were in New York in a conversation with Kenneth Burke you had been kind enough to indicate some measure of approval of some of the articles which I contributed to the earlier numbers of THE SOUTHERN REVIEW. The knowledge that you may now be acquainted with THE SOUTHERN REVIEW makes me hope that you may be induced to send us an article-- if not in the near future, perhaps later.

I am sending this letter to Cambridge since I do not know your address in China and since I feel that it is possible that conditions in China may have forced your return to England.

HARVARD UNIVERSITY

COMMITTEE ON COMMUNICATION

9 KIRKLAND PLACE
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS

September 24, 1941

Mr. Cleanth Brooks, Jr.
Louisiana State University Press
University Station
Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Dear Brooks,

I'm sorry. I'm just back from
a vacation to find such a stack of jobs
awaiting me that there won't, alas, be any
chance of writing anything on Yeats. To
do anything, however short, that I wouldn't
be ashamed of would need far more tran-
quility than I can possibly hope for. I'm
full of regrets. I would have liked nothing
better than a renewed immersion in him and
an attempt at saying something - but I know
I'm wise in deciding it's impossible.

All good wishes. We both re-
member our visit with the keenest pleasure.

Kindest regards from us both to
your wife and yourself.

iar/hc