The American Progress
"LET THE FUR FLY"
A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER SPONSORED by HUEY P. LONG

822 PERDIDO STREET
NEW ORLEANS, LA.

41

September 17, 1935

Mr. Charles W. Pitkin, Editor,
The Southern Review,
Louisiana State University Press,
Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Dear Mr. Pitkin:

My first published short story appeared in the August issue of the American Mercury and has been selected for the 1936 O'Brien collection. The accompanying story *Goodbye to Cap'm John* is, I believe, a superior work and your consideration of it would be appreciated.

I should always consider it a privilege to submit work of mine to a magazine whose inception seems to have been at least indirectly responsible to Senator Long; he was capable of such versatility as to have even managed the insignificant matter of personal friendship with me. This story --- since its protagonist, too, is the symbol of a great human understanding --- belongs, if anywhere, in The Southern Review. For the story seems to have been an almost prophetic Goodbye to that symbol and, after a fashion, to the only real prototype of that symbol I have ever known. God knows many of us here are heart-broken over his death.

With best regards,

THE SOUTHERN REVIEW

PUBLISHED QUARTERLY
BY LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY

Baton Rouge

Sept. 23, 1935

Mr. S. S. Field
1315 Eighth St.
New Orleans, La.

Dear Mr. Field:

We are definitely interested in your story, and feel that we may be able to reach an arrangement for publication. From our point of view, however, the story is in need of certain revisions. I shall be presumptious enough to offer certain suggestions, which, I hope, will not offend you.

On the manuscript I have lightly marked certain phrases and passages which I feel need revision or omission. I shall take these up in the order of their appearance.

"Big bronzed gentle man" seems like a bad introductory description--somewhat shop-worn.

Why not "at the mile of bending yellow river"? I suggest omitting the other things in that paragraph that I have bracketed.

Page 2, the first sentence I believe better out. The next thing bracketed, "stalk by pretense..." doesn't seem to be phrased exactly right--a little pretentious. The same applies to "Prometheus-bound futurity".

Page 4, the dialogue between the captain and the boy doesn't ring exactly true to me--a little too formal and elaborate. This seems to be particularly true of the paragraph I have circled at the top of page 4.

Page 8, "Hopper Bell's dust..." doesn't seem right--perhaps too fancy.

Page 14, I suggest omitting the sentences and words bracketed on this page. I think that your effect will

THE SOUTHERN REVIEW

Baton Rouge

Page 2

be equally good and probably more subtle with these
omissions.

Page 15, why not take the sentence, "Hopper Bell,
by the way, is dead," out of the paragraph, and put
it down as a separate paragraph? In the last paragraph
of the story I suggest omitting the sentence bracketed
and perhaps ending the story something like this,
"I remember him that way. I had a good time that day,
and when I left him to go home, I thanked him."

I do not mean these suggestions in an absolute way,
but primarily as clues to a revision that would please
us. The chief fault of the story seems to be a certain
straining for effects--and effects perhaps better left
out of the story entirely. I want to suggest again that
Mr. Brooks and I like the story very much and especially
admire the expertness of the construction and handling.

By the way, there is one other item: the "Captain
Dickens" business might be better omitted. It seems
to be a note of unnecessary whimsicality or something
of the sort--the sort of thing sometimes done in the
father-son stories of THE SATURDAY EVENING POST.

May we hear from you very soon about this? And
please interpret this letter as a mark of sincere interest
in your work, and not as presumption.

Very sincerely yours,

1315 Eighth Street,
New Orleans, La.,
November 6, 1935

Mr. Robert Penn Warren, Managing Editor,
The Southern Review,
Louisiana State University Press,
Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Dear Mr. Warren:

Many thanks for your letter, and please
know of my gratitude to you and to the Southern Review
for the very real pride and encouragement which the accept-
ance of "Cap'm John" has given me.

It will be a pleasure to submit future
work to you and, although the nights now are chiefly
devoted to work on a novel, there is another story in
process which I am anxious for you to see. In the mean-
time I look forward to an early trip to Baton Rouge and
to the possibility of meeting you.

With best regards,

P.S. By all means make the slight modification which you mention; likewise any others which come to mind.

1315 Eighth street
New Orleans

July 26th,
1
9
3
6

Mr. Albert Russell Erskine, Jr.,
The Southern Review,
Louisiana State University,
Baton Rouge, La.

Dear Mr. Erskine:

Many thanks for your letter and for your extremely in-
teresting suggestion of a new ending for my story, HERE LIES
ONE.

It is a climax that had never occurred to me, and I was
quite excited about it. Unfortunately, however, this did not
seem to survive several hours of analysis in an effort to
adapt the new ending to the story.

The chief difficulties seem to arise from certain quest-
ions off the page which aren't easily answered. Could Luke
Aaron have ever found Horner Trent if he _did_ get to Chicago?
Could he possibly have murdered him and _managed_ the shipment
of his body, without detection? I had preferred to send him
off to the unknown, a minor figure, more a symbol than a
character. And _would_ the new ending be true --- true enough
to carry the responsibility of the story?

Frankly, I am not sure but very doubtful. These questions
came to me after several unsuccessful attempts to turn an
ending that would be as strong and as bitterly ironic as I
believe you wanted it to be. And there, too, the technical
difficulty of avoiding an anticlimax while at the same time
making clear the complex crudeness of her plan concerning the
mail-order coffin and the paint --- The new attempts were
simply not good enough to send to you.

Of course I am exceedingly fond of the richly humorous
irony of the present ending --- her native shrewdness, child-
ishness, in the whole complex scheme, and her own crude and
stupendous sense of the ironic in her selection of the coffin's
contents: 150 lbs. of Colonial Yellow Barn Paint. However,
believe me -- I did try hard to adapt your suggestion into a

S. S. Field

New Orleans

1315 Eighth St.

October 30, 1936

Mr. Albert R. Erskine, Jr.,
The Southern Review,
Louisiana State University,
Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Dear Mr. Erskine:

I am delighted that *THE SOUTHERN REVIEW* and my story, "Here Lies One," are to be accorded recognition by FICTION PARADE. Of course you have my permission to authorize the reprinting of the story.

There will be another story to you before long, I hope -- much of my limited time lately having been spent on writing of another form... Please remember me to Mr. Brooks and Mr. Warren. And incidentally, the inclosed clipping may be of interest to you.

With best regards,