April 15, 1970

Professor Sigmund Skard
Amerikansk Institut
Universitetet i Oslo
H-F - Bygget
Blindern, Oslo 3
Norway

Dear Professor Skard:

We are very happy to send you herewith a schedule for
your stay in Japan. Following your suggestion, I have
visited Kyoto to meet Professor Pearson and with his thought-
ful "advice and consent" we have formulated the schedule.

As you see in the itinerary, your hotel reservation starts
from on Monday, July 13th, since, in spite of our strenuous
efforts, it is definitely impossible to reserve any hotel in
Tokyo on July 12th due to the ill-famed Expo '70. I hesitate
to ask you, but would you please plan to come to Japan on
13th of July? We shall be most delighted if you would let
us know your unreserved opinions on the enclosed schedule at
your earliest convenience. Also enclosed please find addresses
of hotels we have reserved for you.

With my best personal regards,

MS:yn
cc: ✓Professor Norman H. Pearson

Dr. Richard W. Downar
The Skard Committee members
The Committee for the Kyoto American Studies Summer Semina

Oslo, 27 May 1970.

Professor Makoto Saito
c/o Center for American Studies
University of Tokyo
Komaba, Meguro-Ku
**Tokyo, Japan.**

Dear Professor Saito:

Thank you for your letter of April 29.

I will leave Norway on June 28, spending about a week in India (New Delhi-Hyderabad-Agra-Benares-Calcutta) and paying a brief visit to Bangkok. Arrival time and flight number in Tokyo on July 13 I will report to you as soon as I know. I will spend the days from August 9 to 14 in Taiwan, arrive in Melbourne on August 15, and visit a number of universities, including the Conference of the Australia and New Zealand American Studies Associations. The days Sept. 6 to 19 I will spend in New Zealand, leave via Honolulu and Mexico City to New York City, spend two weeks Sept. 28 - Oct. 13 in the States, return to Europe via Brussels (attending the EAAS Conference there Oct. 15-17), and be back in Oslo on Oct. 18.

Thank you for your information about the lecture at Nagasaki, which, of course, I will be happy to give. I expect you to write me in advance about the lecture at Fukuoka.

As to the subject for the Kyoto Forum, I am happy to speak about "The American Studies in Europe". But since I understand from Professor Pearson that your lecture periods are as much as 50-60 minutes, I will then _conclude_ with some general remarks about the situation today. This will lead up to a discussion in a more natural way. I will do the same thing in my lecture on the same subject before the Japanese Ass. for Am. Studies on July 17. (Consequently, I take it that the "Image" will _not_ be a subject in Kyoto.)

I am delighted to see how carefully everything is being planned. And if ever I have a sad hour, I only need to look at the wonderful itinerary you have prepared for me through all the wonders of Japan!

With my personal regards,

Yours sincerely,

Copies to
Richard W. Downar
Norman Holmes Pearson

Sigmund Skard

UNIVERSITETET I OSLO

AMERIKANSK INSTITUTT

H-F-BYGGET, BLINDERN

Oslo, 28 May 1970.

Professor Norman Holmes Pearson
Konoe Hall
University of Kyoto
*Kyoto, Japan*

My dear Norman,

I really don't know how to thank you for your long
letter of May 12 and your additional note of May 15 - so
filled to the rim with ideas and thoughtful suggestions for
my days and nights in Japan. Those are letters of a friend,
and they deeply moved me. You have an enviable intellectual
and moral surplus for the benefit of your human co-beings! I
deem myself happy to be among the recipients, and am more than
ever looking forward to our Japanese sojourn. So much there is to
talk about, in a world where the bearings are increasingly hard
to find!

Let me get down to brass tacks: my timetable and itinerary in
Japan show the marks of your kind advice everywhere, and I am grate-
ful for everything. (Imagine seeing Kabuki once more - and Noh,
which I missed in 1940!) With regard to the list of speaking en-
gagements, I will of course take the orders of the Committee, as
you say. My main point is to know in advance approximately what
is expected of me. And that now seems to work out satisfactorily.

You ask whether "American Studies in Europe" or "The Image"
would be most appropriate in leading into a discussion. As you
will see from the enclosed to Saito, I intend to add 15 minutes
on the present situation to the former lecture; the "Image" of
course has a lot on the situation today in any case (anti-
Americanism and all). Thus, it depends on what kind of discussion
you want: on the build-up of Am. St., or the place of the USA
in the world! In fact, I guess the general problems will come
up in any case.

Thank you for your advice regarding clothes. As you suggest,
I will have something *very* summer-like for India-Thailand-Japan-
Taiwan, and buy the heavier things as need be, keeping my "buggage"
light, and leaving space for more interesting purchases.

I am moved by your continued interest in your disciples
here. Orm now has hopes of a house in Bergen, and his shuttle
service will come to an end. I am happy about Jan's fellowship,
as you are. The day after tomorrow Professors Enkvist (Åbo, Finland)
and Fryckstedt (Uppsala) will be here, and we will decide about
the new *dosentur* of A.L. in Oslo. I can hardly believe that Jan
will have it (the couple Seyersted are tough competitors). But
there may be a new situation following that appointment. -

- 2 -

What will happen to the new *dosentur* in Trondheim, is still far from certain; in a month, we will know.

This trip around the World involves a "gathering of the forces" on my part. The four doctorates last spring, the writing of the Am.Lit.Hist. 1800-1890 during the winter (the manuscript goes tomorrow), the finishing of a new collection of own poems, and during the recent months my wife's hospitalization on the other side of the Oslo fjord with a broken femur (particularly tough on a person of her energy and temperament), have taxed my powers to the limit. Happily, by the end of June I hope to see her installed at home again, under the kind care of my numerous off-spring, and my *lectures* all ready for action in their respective guns, leaving me time and ease to enjoy my travelling experience.

And this is the note to end on, thanking you again. I will not hesitate to write you, if I feel I need it.

With my warmest greetings, in which I am joined by my wife,

Sincerely,

Sigmund Skard.

UNIVERSITETET I OSLO

AMERIKANSK INSTITUTT

H-F - BYGGET, BLINDERN

Oslo, 13. November 1970

Professor Norman Holmes Pearson
2731 Hall of Graduate Studies
Yale University

NEW HAVEN, Connecticut
USA

Dear Norman,

It was delightful to hear your voice again, over the telephone, before I left the USA. In addition, you brought the good news about Orm Øverland's prize. When I met him at the EAAS Conference in Brussels, a few days afterwards, he had not yet received the message, and I had the privilege of telling him, while his Norwegian colleagues listened awe-struck. What a rare experience to see his face, reddening with joy behind his Hemingwayesque beard!

Now I am back again to the mountain of mail and things-to-be-done. But there are two redeeming factors. My wife was on her feet again, was driving her own car, and yesterday flew to a board meeting in Spain, without the assistance of cane or crutches.

And then, a few days after my return, arrived the marvelous book on Japanese Gardens. You are the man to make grandiose promises - not so rare a thing - and of not forgetting them, - what a unique quality! The book is just beyond description, and brings back to memory so many of our wonderful shared experiences in summerly Kyoto 1970. My wife joins me in our deepfelt thanksgiving! We appreciate your gift, having both been in Japan, and being enthralled by its exquisite beauty.

I know you have had a strenuous summer, and hope that you have not been pressed too hard after your return. "Work yourself to death, but slowly!"

With my warmest regards, Sincerely

January 26, 1971

Dear Sigmund,

During one of my periodical cleanups, I came across a few books which were the remnants of my Eugene O'Neill collection. Some years ago I gave first choice from it to Yale so that it could complete its collection and then gave a number of others to the Princeton Library. But there were a few left over, being duplicates of what was already in one or the other library. I wonder if any of these would be of interest for your collection at Oslo. I could offer them to Orm for Bergen but I suspect that they are a little too specialized at this stage of the game. I am also including the title of a book written by one of our doctoral students in American Studies on the life of Charlotte Cushman. This is an excellent account of the theater in 19th century America and of American life both in England and in Italy. Perhaps you already subscribe to everything in the American Studies series which the Yale Press brings out, so that no matter what its suitability would be, you are already its possessor. If you could just check on the enclosed list what books you would like me to send to you I can offer the others to Orm or dispose of them in some different way.

With all best wishes,

Sincerely,

UNIVERSITY OF OSLO

AMERICAN INSTITUTE

P. O. BOX 1002,
BLINDERN,
OSLO 3

11 February 1971

Professor Norman Holmes Pearson
2731 HGS
Yale University
New Haven, Conn. 06520
USA

Dear Norman,

Many thanks for your letter of Jan. 26, you marvellous man!

Let me just say, this late nocturnal hour, that we have
none of the O'Neill books, nor the book on Charlotte Cushman,
and would love to have all of them. A thousand and one thanks!

Dietrichson writes me that you have invited him to spend some time at the feet of you and other Yale worthies. How kind of you - and how very useful to him! He seems to be working on worth-while projects in Cambridge, and making good progress.

In great haste,

My Japanese friends are sending me the loveliest snap
shots from the Summer of 1970 - of course!

O'NEILL LIST

Cook, George Cram
Greek Coins
with Memorabilia of Cook by Floyd Dell,
Edna Kenton, and Susan Glaspell (N.Y., George Doran, 1925)
Provincetown Theatre days
- A1

Eaton, Walter Prichard
The Theatre Guild: the First Ten Years
(N.Y.
Brentano's, 1929)
- A1

Mantle, Burns, ed.
The Best Plays of 1919-1920
(Boston, Small, Maynard,
1920)
includes
Beyond the Horizon
- A1

Mantle, Burns, ed.
The Best Plays of 1928-9
(N.Y. Dodd, Mead 1929)
includes
Jimmy's End, Street Scene, Holiday, etc.
- A1

Mayorga, Margaret
Representative One-Act Plays by American Authors
(Boston, Little Brown, 1919)
includes "In the Zone", etc.
- A1

Nathan, George Jean
The House of Satan
(N.Y., Knopf, 1926)
drama criticism
- A1

O'Neill, Eugene
Marco Millions
(N.Y. Boni & Liveright, 1927)
First
- A1

Quinn, Arthur Hobson
A History of the American Drama, from the Civil War
to the Present Day
(N.Y. F. S. Crofts, 1945)
A1 1937 ed.
second

Simonsen, Lee
The Stage is Set
(N.Y., Harcourt Brace, 1932)
- A1

Young, Stark
The Flower in Drama: a Book of Papers on the Theatre
(N.Y., Scribner's, 1925)
- A1
(husac DB)

Leach, Joseph,
Cushman
Bright Particular Star: The Life and Times of Charlotte
(Yale, 1970)
- A1

April 28, 1971

Professor Sigmund Skard
American Institute
University of Oslo
P. O. Box 1002, Blindern
Oslo 3, Norway

Dear Sigmund:

I am very pleased indeed to know that the books have arrived, obviously with more speed than packages often achieve in reaching Scandinavia from here. Again it pleases me to think that they may be of some use to your students.

I had not heard of Mary Spiller's death and hardly know whether to write him or not. He has been so incommunicado in recent years that I have often thought that he was withdrawing increasingly into himself. What a blow it must be for him! I think I told you that the job he had in a Florida university for a term found him in such a state that he had to quit before the term was up.

Now that it is a matter of the past, I must report to you that I was actually in Oslo for the day on March 27th. I flew Susan and our friend Mrs. Bryher, the English novelist, over from Copenhagen for a look at the Norse ceremonial boats and to give myself a glimpse of the Munch Museum. Bryher had not been in Oslo for forty years and Susan had never been so we did a little driving around the town. I should have let you know except that it was at such short notice that it could only have inconvenienced you to feel the responsibility of being our host. Indeed, as you can imagine, we had very little time especially because we had to be back in Copenhagen for dinner. But we will make a proper visit sometime when the University is out and we can combine a meeting with you and Ase with a trip to the North. I hope it does not have to wait until my retirement, although that is always nearer. With affectionate best wishes as always,

Sincerely,

NHP/wh

UNIVERSITY OF OSLO

AMERICAN INSTITUTE

April 19, 1971.

Professor Norman Holmes Pearson
2731 HGS
Yale University
New Haven, Conn. 06520
USA.

Dear Norman,

Thank you so very much both for your kind note of
Feb. 22, and your gift of books, which have now safely arrived,
- a most welcome addition to our library.

I understand that you have again been travelling on this
side of the globe. I now feel happy to stay put, and let Åse
travel again (she is almost regularly in Stockholm on commission
work for the Swedish government). I have had my hands full with
the Haugen Festschrift; such books always prove to become rush
jobs before the end.

Thank you for your kindness to Dietrichson. I think his
present subject suits him well; and his judgment (we agree) is
not apt to be distorted by unruly gusts of passion.

My new lecturer of American _Civilization_ (not Literature)
will be appointed as of Aug. 1.

All good greetings from us here, for yourself and your
still tantalizingly unknown wife,

I was shocked to hear about the death of Mary Spiller.
Poor Bob - it is the second Mary he had to lose.

O'NEILL LIST

Cook, George Cram **Greek Coins** with Memorabilia of Cook by Floyd Dell, Edna Kenton, and Susan Glaspell (N.Y., George Doran, 1925)
Provincetown Theatre days

Eaton, Walter Prichard **The Theatre Guild: the First Ten Years** (N.Y. Brentano's, 1929)

Mantle, Burns, ed. **The Best Plays of 1919-1920** (Boston, Small, Maynard, 1920) includes **Beyond the Horizon**

Mantle, Burns, ed. **The Best Plays of 1928-9** (N.Y. Dodd, Mead 1929) includes **Jimmy's End**, **Street Scene**, **Holiday**, etc.

Mayorga, Margaret **Representative One-Act Plays by American Authors** (Boston, Little Brown, 1919) includes "In the Zone", etc.

Nathan, George Jean **The House of Satan** (N.Y., Knopf, 1926) drama criticism

O'Neill, Eugene **Marco Millions** (N.Y. Boni & Liveright, 1927) First edition.

Quinn, Arthur Hobson **A History of the American Drama, from the Civil War to the Present Day** (N.Y. F. S. Crofts, 1945)

Simonsen, Lee **The Stage Is Set** (N.Y., Harcourt Brace, 1932)

Young, Stark **The Flower in Drama: a Book of Papers on the Theatre** (N.Y., Scribner's, 1925)

Leach, Joseph, **Bright Particular Star: The Life and Times of Charlotte Cushman** (Yale, 1970)

UNIVERSITY OF OSLO

AMERICAN INSTITUTE

November 2, 1971

Professor Norman Holmes Pearson
Graduate School
Yale University
New Haven, Connecticut
USA

Dear Norman,

Many thanks for your thoughtful note of Sept. 2, with news
about the Kyoto Seminar, and about your own activities.

I have been extremely busy during the year since my return
from the World Tour. All my spare time has been taken by an
ambitious project, a biography of my own father (educationist, poet,
and in many ways an unusual personality), - did I mention this to
you before? But when that is behind me, some time in the spring,
I hope to return more systematically to my Far Eastern memories,
and my extensive notes from those thrilling months.

In the meantime, I keep contact by editing, together with
Professor Saito, a volume of articles on the American Image in
the World, - nothing less! Since the book is to be in Japanese,
I feel a wonderful lack of real responsibility, unknown in my
previous work as an editor. Some cleaning-up operations with a
view to retirement (in 1973) certainly are also looming more and
more in the horizon.

All is well with the family, and in the circle of Americanists.
Our Nordic Association gathering in Sweden in June was a success;
I was reelected Chairman of the NAAS (but definitely until 1973
only). Your scholarly offspring here are all fine, and I am
surrounded by young people preparing for the competition when my
time is up.

Åse joins me in the warmest greetings.

★ Magi Adoration . . . Ms. Val. gr. 1613, page 272, 11th century, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, courtesy of the Holy See to benefit UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund. ★ L'Adoration des mages . . . manuscrit de la Bibliothèque apostolique du Vatican, XIème siècle, (Gr. 1613, p. 272), reproduction autorisée par le Saint-Siège au profit du Fonds des Nations Unies pour l'enfance. ★ La Adoración de los Reyes . . . Ms. Val. Gr. 1613, página 272, siglo XI, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana; cortesía de la Santa Sede. Contribución al UNICEF, el Fondo de las Naciones Unidas para la Infancia. ★ Пожеленне вохває . . . Ватиканський греческий манускрипт 1613, страница 272, 11-е столетие, «Библиотека апостолна Ватикана», любезно предоставляемо Святейшем престолом для содействий Администы ЮНИСЕФ,—Детского фонда Организации Объединенных Наций, ★ 三賢來朝... 玛蒂岡手錄本·希臘文第一六一三號·第二七二頁·十一世紀·瑪蒂岡教廷圖書館・敎廷特許聯合國兒童基金會印製。

PRINTED IN SWITZERLAND

A Schedule for Professor Sigmund Skard

<table><thead><tr><th></th><th></th><th>Staying Place</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>July 13 (Monday)</td><td>Arrival at Tokyo<br>Welcomed by Makoto Saito at the Tokyo International Airport; To International House, Tokyo</td><td>International House</td></tr><tr><td>July 14 (Tuesday)</td><td>Briefing with the Skard Committee (Tokyo members) at 3.00p.m.<br>at the Center for American Studies, University of Tokyo (Komaba Campus)</td><td>International House</td></tr><tr><td>July 15 (Wednesday)</td><td>Seminar sponsored by the American Literature Society of Japan and the Japanese Association for American Studies<br>Title: The Image of America in Europe<br>at: The International House, Special Room, at 3.00 p.m. (attended by about 20)<br>Dinner invited by the American Literature Society of Japan at the International House</td><td>International House</td></tr><tr><td>July 16 (Thursday)</td><td>Meeting with Senior Scholars in American Studies, i.e. Dr. Yasaka Takagi</td><td>International House</td></tr><tr><td>July 17 (Friday)</td><td>Seminar sponsored by the Japanese Association for American Studies<br>Title: The Growth of American Studies in Europe -<br>Historical Survey<br>at: The International House, Kabayama Room, at 3.00 p.m.<br>Dinner invited by the Japanese Association for American Studies at the International House</td><td>International House</td></tr><tr><td>July 18 (Saturday)</td><td>Trip to Nikko, accompanied by Makoto Saito</td><td>Nikko Lakeside Hotel</td></tr><tr><td>July 19 (Sunday)</td><td>Trip back from Nikko</td><td>Hilton Hotel, Tokyo</td></tr><tr><td>July 20 (Monday)</td><td>Visit the University of Tokyo, Hongo Campus<br>Luncheon invited by the American Studies Foundation</td><td>Hilton Hotel, Tokyo</td></tr><tr><td>July 21 (Tuesday)</td><td>A day trip to Kamakura (if he wishes), accompanied by Yoshimitau Ide</td><td>Hilton Hotel, Tokyo</td></tr><tr><td>July 22 (Wednesday)</td><td>Leave Tokyo for Nagoya, visiting Ise Shrine, and Toba (famous for pearl fishery), staying one night at Toba</td><td>Toba Kokusai Hotel</td></tr><tr><td>July 23 (Thursday)</td><td>To Kyoto</td><td>Konoe Hall, Kyoto University</td></tr><tr><td>July 24 - 31<br>(Fri.) (Fri.)</td><td>Attending Kyoto American Studies Summer Seminar<br>Lecture: The Image of America in Europe<br>Forum: The American Studies in Europe: Its Situation Today<br>A day or over-night trip to Nara</td><td>July 23 - July 27<br>Kyoto Hotel<br>July 28 - July 31</td></tr></tbody></table>

But I will allow for one more Christmas and New Year before you both come. And for these celebrations Ase joins me in the warmest wishes! Thank you for friendly thoughts and actions in 1972; and all good hopes for the next year; for you and for everyone we love and everything we jointly believe in! Such hopes have never before been so bitterly needed

As ever, with much love,

your friend

★ Christmas Eve . . . design contributed by Ernst Wild of the Federal Republic of Germany to benefit UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund. ★ La Veille de Noël . . . Ernst Wild (République fédérale d'Allemagne) — offert par l'artiste au Fonds des Nations Unies pour l'enfance.

★ Nochebuena . . . obra de Ernst Wild, de la República Federal de Alemania. Contribución al UNICEF, el Fondo de las Naciones Unidas para la Infancia. ★ Сочельник . . . рисунок Эриста Уальда, Федеративная Республика Германии, в дар ЮНИСЕФ, Детскому фонду Организации Объединенных Наций. ★聖誕前夕...德意志聯邦共和國厄恩斯特·維爾德製贈聯合國兒童基金會。

PRINTED IN BELGIUM

Dec. 1972.

Dear Norman,

This season of exam papers and mass produced Christmas greetings does not allow for letter writing in depth, so to speak. But I have to report briefly, that I am still existing (although once in a while I hardly believe it), in tolerable health, and joyfully preparing for my last term at the university. I may be joined in retirement by my wife, who could still hang on for two years, but is as eager as I am to do a lot of things which are now out of the question. We are also both tired of the mechanization of the modern mass university; I am not educated for the function of a computer (the next generation is).

I hope you are well, and as active as ever. Here, the field is flowering; Orm has a lecturer and an assistant in Bergen, and there is the same staff in Trondheim. I feel with delight how sincerely happy I am in leaving the burdens to these youngsters, who have been Americanists from the cradle, know immensely much more than I do, but treat me with a grandchildish veneration which tickles me no end. Just wait and see, when _you_ are in that blessed state.

Time is moving so fast: more than two years now since we shared (almost) bed and board in Kyoto. The lasting result of my Japanese sojourn is the epochmaking volume edited by Prof. Saito and me on "The American Image in the World". So sorry I cannot read it, because I think it is good and important (quite apart from my own contribution)! Language barriers are real, aren't they? The same holds good of the 450 pp. biography of my own father, which has taken all my time since Japan, and is just out; amazingly, people seem to like reading it - I would like to send it to you, but I don't know the present state of your Norwegian.

This slight flippancy surely cannot disguise my sincere delight in the fact that you are still existing in New Haven, with your unbelievable talent for friendship, and your undefatigable eagerness to help any- and everybody coming into the circle of your enthusiasm and your constitutional kindness. When are you coming to Norway, taking your wife along? You cannot possibly intend to let me return to nothingness without having ever met her? NO.

The following statement to the government of the
United States and to the press, signed by every university
teacher in American Studies in Norway, was issued in
early January 1973:

The USA and Vietnam

The undersigned Norwegian scholars, all in full
time positions within the field of American Studies at
the universities of Bergen, Oslo and Trondheim, protest
against the American warfare in Indo-China.

American society was founded in protest against
injustices and oppression within the old European world.
Its experience as a colony, in particular, made the new
nation a champion of de-colonialization, popular govern-
ment and respect for human values. Thus the United States
came to represent much of the best in our western cultural
tradition.

Historically, however, this idealism has always
fought a hard battle against selfish interests motivated
by the search for profits and the desire for an extended
sphere of power for the United States. In our time, we
have witnessed this nation, which more than any other
nation helped bring about victory for the democracies in
the Second World War, now accepting and actively promoting
dictatorial regimes in various parts of the globe. While
this may be done in the name of democracy, it is in our
considered opinion expressive of a policy of power which
has made the United States a travesty of itself as the
nation which once captured the aspirations of the world.

The renewed bombing of North Vietnam tragically
emphasizes this unfortunate development. As scholars
with a special closeness to the United States we feel that
we also have a special moral obligation to announce our
views and to support an active world opinion in its attempt
to end the war. It must not come to pass that the otherwise
commendable policy of reducing world tension which the
United States is pursuing in its relations with the other
major powers is used to make possible a raw display of
force against other and minor nations.

Signed by

Odd Arne Jakobsen
Ulf Lie
Helge Normann Nilsen
Sigmund Ro

Ingrid Semmingsen
Brita Seyersted
Per Seyersted
Torbjørn Sirevåg

Sigmund Skard
Dorothy B. Skårdal
Orm Øverland

April 13, 1973

Prof. Dr. Sigmund Skard
Fjellvegen 2
Lysaker, Norway

Dear Sigmund,

I ought of course to have written you many weeks ago to thank you for your letter of January 22nd with its invaluable information about transportation to Spitzbergen. Actually I have been waiting until our plans became firm so that I could give you an idea of when Susan and I expected to be in Oslo. Our plan was to go from Oslo to Bergen then by car north to Trondheim, then by air to Tromsø and across the North into Sweden and down to Stockholm. It should have been great fun but now suddenly it is only a plan that cannot materialize. Unfortunately my thirty-nine year old step-daughter was in a serious automobile accident last week and although she is now out of intensive care we will have to keep an eye open to see that she had no head injuries or other disabilities in consequence. Fortunately she was alone in the car and so although it was demolished she was the only one hurt.

This really is, as I hardly need to tell you, an immense disappointment both to Susan and myself. We have been planning on the trip for several years. Certainly we will come again sometime but this moment when I had a leave of absence was particularly favorable in terms of the season. Now you must come to the States.

Sincerely,

NHP/wh

UNIVERSITY OF OSLO

AMERICAN INSTITUTE

January 22, 1973

Prof. Norman Holmes Pearson
2731 HGS
Yale University
New Haven, Conn. 06520
USA

Dear Norman,

Thank you very much for your 13 Jan. note. I love to do things for you - if I can!

Unfortunately, this time you are asking for too much. The Norwegian Polar Institute confirms the sad information given by your travel agency. There is no air port in Spitzbergen (they are planning one now), and ice makes traffic by boat impossible most of the year. Mail is dropped from plane once in a while, but the first regular steamer is June 16. There is a possibility that the coal company runs a boat a little earlier - but I can hardly imagine you and your wife cross on a coal boat on a pleasure trip!

But you and Susan will come nevertheless - at least to Oslo. And mind you: any day in May will be a red letter day, and perfectly acceptable. And if you think we intend to let you go with a cup of coffee (what we offer to ordinary vagabonds), you still have something to learn about your friends and disciples in Oslo.

By the way, in this context: four people apply for my chair (the two Seyersteds, Jan Dietrichson and Orm). And there will be four people to judge them: Enkvist (Åbo), Fryckstedt (Uppsala), Straumann (Zürich), and Kristian Smidt (Oslo) representing our own faculty. I am prevented by regulation to participate - happily!

All best regards from both to both,

SIGMUND SKARD
PROFESSOR

Fjellvegen 2, Lysaker

6-9-1950

Professor Norman Holmes Pearson,
Yale University, New Haven, Conn.

Dear Professor *Holmes* Pearson:

I am writing you today in a matter which I sincerely hope will
interest you.

Since the liberation of Norway we have, as you know, been developing
a Department of American Studies here. We have an American Institute; I
hold a chair of "Literary History, especially American," and there is some
teaching in several fields of American Civilization. This work has en-
joyed the vigorous support of American scholars. Professor Stanley Wil-
liams has visited us; Professor Murdock spent a month here, and lately
Professor R. E. Spiller spent the Spring Term as a Visiting Professor
under the Fulbright Bill.

We are now preparing a similar invitation for the academic year 1951-
1952; I would like to ask whether you would be able and willing to con-
sider an invitation similar to the one extended to Bob Spiller. Under
the Bill, the Visiting Professor has to stay abroad for at least six
months. Spiller came here about Jan. 30, taught five hours a week till
the end of April, spent some time in Sweden and Denmark, will teach one
week in a Summer School (7 lectures) in July, and sails August 15 after
spending some time in England and France. The latter expedition he pays
for himself; but the Fulbright Foundation pays his transportation to
Norway and back, and a decent salary (including a special allotment for
his family) during the six months of his stay. (If he stays for more
than six months, so much the better.) If you could spend e. g. eight
months, you could come in the beginning of September when the University
opens, work to the beginning of November, when examinations begin and
teaching actually stops, and again from the middle of January till end
of April. Or you could do as Prof. Spiller did, spending the Spring Term
only. With regard to the teaching, Spiller gave one lecture a week (a
survey course, 25 students) and two seminars (90 minutes each) on Ameri-
can fiction (25 students, not the same as above); I do not think that
the burden would be very heavy on your shoulders. With regard to general
conditions here, you know them for yourself; you may consult Murdock
about details. Spiller has been happy here, I dare say.

This is all very tentative, needless to say. According to the very
red-tapeish regulations of the Fulbright Bill, the University of Oslo
first has to approach the scholars in question, and then afterwards sub-
mit all possibilities to the Board, which may pick and choose. If there
is any possibility of your going to Norway some time during 1954-52,
and if you would feel inclined to do so, I would be very happy. During
our brief conversation three years ago I strongly felt that we were
speaking the same language; I think we would work well together. And
you would serve a cause which I know is close to your heart.

I have to ask for an immediate answer, AIR MAIL, since I have to
approach some other candidate right away, if your answer is in the nega-
tive. But I am sure it won't be!

Sincerely,
*Sigurdur Skard*

FRIDTJOF NANSENS VEG 26

6 - 23 - 50

Professor Norman Holmes Pearson,
233 HGS, Yale University, New Haven, Conn.

Dear Pearson:

Thank you very much for your letter of June 15. Needless to say, I am happy about your interest in our plans for a Visiting Professorship in Oslo in 1951-52. Your idea of spending the whole academic year is, of course, excellent, and will be accepted gratefully here.

I will now start things moving, and you will have further instructions in due time, either from the Fulbright Board in the U. S. A. or from me, if everything works out. You will know that the State Dept. is a mill which, like other important mills, grinds slowly. But I hope it will grind well this time.

This is written in great haste, before a tour to the North (six lectures on American Civilization at Harstad). I thank you again for your interest. Best wishes for a nice summer.

Sincerely yours,

February 28, 1974

Dear Sigmund,

When I received from you the copy of *Amricana Norwegica IV*, dedicated to you, I was devastated at the thought I had not responded to the invitation to have my name included in the table-of-congratulants. I was not only chagrinned but puzzled for I was certain that I had sent my name in among the multitude who wished to pay tribute to you. I know that I wrote Orm to say that the absence of my name bothered me but of course only because you might think I had back. Now in going over my checkbooks for last year, in preparing my Federal income tax, I see that I did indeed on 31 March 1973 make out a check for $19.00 to Universitetsforlaget for this volume. Moreover the check was cashed so that the error must have come on the Norwegian side. Apparently my name was neither entered in the list nor as a recipient of the book, for the one that I do have came from you with your compliments.

I am not really trying to vindicate myself. It is only that as an old friend I want you to know that I did wish to join in the salute to you.

I have kept busy preparing more volumes of H.D.'s work, my next task will be to edit her memoir of Pound, to which I hope to be able to include the hither-to unpublished poems by Pound to her written during the period of their engagement. I still have to make the final arrangements with the Pound Estate, but it is they who suggested that I use these poems as an appendix in order to secure their copyright.

Susan and I will be in London and Switzerland for a week in March, the length of Yale's vacation. I shall be retiring in three years and perhaps then, when I can choose my season, we will be able to get to Norway.

With affectionate greetings to your wife and yourself,

Sincerely,

Fjellv. 2,
1324 Lysaker,

April 3, 1974

Dear Norman,

Many thanks for your kind note of February 28, which has stayed
too long in my pile "to be answered".

Please don't worry about the *Americana Norvegica, IV!* Nothing
surprises me about that publishing house. The amazing thing is, that
while your name was not entered in the book, it was on their mailing
list, since the card of thanks from me is the one which was sent to
all subscribers! Thus your check *was* used for a good purpose - and
thank you again, dear friend.

I am happy to hear about your activities. (Abyss of ignorance: I
did not realize that H. D. and Pound were ever engaged.) Have I
thanked you for all the books etc. which you send me almost without
intermissions? I do it again, I do it again!

About myself I can tell, that I am happier about my retirement than
I ever believed possible. I was more deeply tired from university work
than I actually realized. Now I enjoy tremendously sitting quietly in my
library cell, interrupted by quite frequent excursions to schools and
universities for poetry readings and lectures. (I wrote a 200 pp. book
of verse about "our" world tour in 1970, and it really has been very
well received, as were my Collected (or rather Selected) Poems last
year.) But most of my energy goes into the book on *The USA in Norwegian
History*. I plan to use one more year on it (or a little more). I am
in the 1930's now, and it is more thrilling every morning. Just wait
and see!

I am happy to hear that you and your wife are still planning for a
Norwegian sojourn. Please come: the country is filled with grateful
students, colleagues, and disciples, including

Yours affectionately,

My wife is in Denmark, as "opponent" for a doctoral "disputation":
we still stick to some ceremonies from the Middle Ages.

August 13, 1974

Dear Sigmund,

I am sending you a copy of the most recent *Yale Library Gazette* because I think you ought to have a copy for your shelves. To be referred to on these terms: "Skard is a model bibliography, one that could be emulated by every field of color study," is praise indeed. The notations are in connection with a very fine collection of Books on Color which has just been given to Yale. However, my sense of economy has made me send the *Gazette* to you by surface mail so that it will take some time to arrive.

This has been rather a quiet summer for me since I had an operation
on my foot on July 3rd and this has rather kept me off my feet and
away from the office. I have discarded my crutches now however and
hope that I can manage to salvage something of the summer. I still
work in the presentation of H.D. to the public, and will now
prepare an edition of her memoir of Pound. With this as an appendix
will go Pound's many unpublished poems to her. It is an interesting
connection not simply on social terms but on poetic and intellectual
ones as well.

Susan and I, like most other Americans, have had to curtail plans
for travel. But we still hope some day to be able to get properly
and thoroughly to Norway.

Sincerely,