Baltimore, Md.

June 25, 1941.

Cleanth Brooks, Jr.,
Associate Editor,
THE SOUTHERN REVIEW,
University, La.

Dear Mr. Brooks:

You did have me worried. Considerately, I was thinking, the thing would have been to say we don't want the piece and ship it back in two or three weeks. After which, being hardened to rejections, I merely give the thing another going over (I've revised some pieces as much as ten times) and ship it on its merry roundelay, singing its sweet song into the inclement editorial ear. But, by Jaweh, I was thinking, the man doesn't give me a Chinaman's chance to do what I did with "The Unquiet Passion" which went to four or five magazines and finally wound up in THE YALE REVIEW; or with "Wedding Anniversary" which also made a quite decent little circuit and pitched its tent at AMERICAN PREFACES. I never despair at a loud and hearty No; I do grind my molars at being kept on tenterhooks an unreasonable length of time.

But you made a rather good case for yourself, "Mr. Brooks. And when I read that you went over the story three or four times and came up from the deep-sea dive with your critical slant on Why We Can't Quite Use This, then I melted completely. Since you promise self-reformation in the future and repeat your invitation to submit more, I'm complying. "Hands" has been to one magazine: The Atlantic Monthly, of which the editors thought -- although they said they liked it very much -- that the story wouldn't be quite down their readers' groove because of its theme. It seems you find what almost amounts to a literary taboo among others than Trobriand Islanders. Am I stepping on any toes? Do let me hear from you at your earliest opportunity. And appreciating your attention to "Earth, Hold Her Gently," I remain,

1631 N. Pentelou St.

Baltimore, Md.

July 18, 1941.

Cleanth Brooks, Jr.,
Associate Editor, SOUTHERN REVIEW,
University, La.

Dear Mr. Brooks:

In the midst of your soul-searching about "Hands", I
am tossing into your editorial lap another headache. But then,
you are a bit slower than my production; and to keep the last
story off the typewriter from you and ship it elsewhere would
be, perhaps, better tactics but, indeed, a distortion of my
intentions. I think "Slow, the Bright Blood" is SOUTHERN RE-
VIEW material. Not to disarm you, I think that, on first glance,
the story seems a bit brittle; even a trifle monstrous; per-
haps, to go the whole confessional hog, somewhat arterioscler-
otic. But then, you see, I recognize all this in the title.
Young people of the age of Mark and Lilly -- and of their kind--
would sound that way. Both are exceptional: the one in his
talent and his attitude toward life (at his stage of the game);
and the other, in her quick, sensitive intelligence. If I hadn't
captured the feeling of life stopped, the blood uneager, the
very atmosphere surrounding the two grey and dismal, I would've
felt the story a failure. "What I tried to get, I think I suc-
ceeded in getting. I believe in this story. I want to hear
what you have to say.

I shall not press you about "Hands". Take all the time
you want; but as soon as you have made up your mind, would you
tell me yes or no? Would I be rigging the contest (as it were)
between editor and author if I said I also believe in this
tale?

I hope your work is coming along nicely at the University
of Texas. I teach, too -- in the high-schools in Baltimore.
It's a great life, teaching, if you're cut out for it and en-
joy it. And if you're fond of the young of the species --
as I am, there's nothing better in the world. Except, perhaps,
devoting all your time to writing. But then, you need money.
You must be able to make a living at writing. I'm working on
a novel, too, at present; and I think I have something quite,
quite good. Will it turn out to be the golden cornucopia of

(over)

my deepest desire? Ah! . . . One of these days, I hope you will read the novel and remember that I wrote you about it. Like a few other editors, you have been exceptionally kind to me, giving of your valuable time to comment at length on my stories. I shall not forget that, Mr. Brooks.

One more thing: If I have other things to ship you, shall I send them on directly to the University of Texas? This might save time. I remian,

3442 Auchentorly Terrace.

Please note the new address. And very shortly, I expect to change this one -- after which I hope to excise the nomad note.

Edward B. Ficklen
CARROLL O. COLLEY

ATTORNEY AT LAW
WASHINGTON, GEORGIA

April 19, 1941

Mr. Robert Penn Warren, Editor,
The Southern Review,
Baton Rouge,
Louisiana

Dear Mr. Warren:

I appreciated genuinely your personal rejection of my MS of an-
notation on "Ulysses", and can agree with you that only an essay on Joyce would
have been proper for the Review. I would never even have attempted such a thing
except for the fact that that "farraginous all-including chronicle" is *sui generis*, and might warrant precedents and rules being broken in the clarification of
it, as they were in the making.

Having spent practically my entire life on this particular subject,
I naturally am somewhat of a monomaniac on the subject. I consider, for instance,
that my commentary is the most difficult, the most successfully completed, and
the most important task of literary criticism in the twentieth century. Naturally,
the scholarly appearance of such a work, although it is intended to make "Ulysses"
available to the man in the street, is enough, as I have found, to make the ordina-
ry commercial publishing house shy away from it. Even "Random House" was not in-
terested altho they gladly gave me reprint priviliges from the Joycian copyright.
Lois Dwight Cole, of MacMillans, who has helped me most, and who declared that I
could find a publisher for my first book (a prophecy as yet unfulfilled, although
I am confident it was sound) seemed to think I would not, unless it be Random
House, for my second. In this situation, it seemed natural to think that the
university presses, if anybody, would sponsor such a work. I presume you have
some contact with the one there at Louisiana State, and wonder could you tell
me, after reading the Library Scene, whether I should submit my completed script
to them.

Edward B. Ficklen

GARRICK B. DICKLEY

--2--

Even if you thought publication with your press impossible, I wonder would you be interested enough in this classic to read my notes on it, and give me the benefit of your suggestions. Should I be happy enough to gain your approval, I think this would be a valuable aid to me in submitting, or even re-submitting my work, as I have no literary standing and the subject is one of such difficulty that the average publisher's reader could not estimate it. I believe that Paula Snelling of the North Georgia Review (who has published some of my poetry, and whom you probably know) is to aid me in this fashion, and the Lord only knows I need all the sponsors I am able to muster. I could send you a clean carbon of the script, at my expense and risk, of course, if you would be generous enough to do this. I think you can imagine the difficulties I have had with publication-- in some instances they match those Joyce himself had.

I am inclosing two poems for submission to the Southern Review which I am trying to market in hopes that the proceeds thereof might help support my rejection slips. Am too poor to subscribe to the Review, but enjoyed the recent issue which contained your story, in the Library of the nearby University of Georgia, where I went in search of Joycian minutiae.

One of these poems is in (approximately) the *hokku* style of the Japanese-- a form that I know of no other Western poet attempting. The other is, appropriately enough, in the Housman idiom. They might go together very well--in the sense that "L'Allegro" and "Il Penseroso" do.

Thanking you for your courteous attention to my script, and trusting that I have not suggested too great an imposition on you, I remain,

4003 Banks St.,
New Orleans, La.

August 26, 1941

The Southern Review,
Louisiana State University,
Baton Rouge, La.

Attention: Literary Editor

Gentlemen:

I am enclosing herewith three original stories:

(1) Bayou Ballad

(2) The Twins

(3) The Watermelon Party

I should like you to consider them for publication in
your pages.

I am twenty-nine years old and was born and
reared in New Orleans. I was educated at Tulane and Uni-
versity of Chicago.

I have quite a collection of stories with South-
ern locale, and I shall be happy to let you see them, upon
your request.

Kindly let me hear from you. Any suggestions
you may have would be warmly welcomed.

FEF:f

Enc. - 3

BUCKNELL UNIVERSITY

LEWISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA

ADOLF I. FRANTZ, PH. D.
HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT OF GERMAN

College Park

February 24, 1942

The Editor,
The Southern Review,
Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Dear Sir:

I have ready for publication a two thousand word
article on "The Poetry of the Airways". This contains a
survey and an evaluation of the American, English, and German
poetry of flight written since the advent of the aeroplane.
It was read last December at Indianapolis at the meeting
of the Modern Language Association of America.

If you think that this article might be suitable
for publication in The Southern Review, I shall be glad to
send it to you immediately.

Notice
sent 9/2/42

42 Owlstone Road,
Cambridge.

3rd March 1941.

Dear Mr. Brooks,

Perhaps you may remember an exchange of
letters some time ago, when you returned some
MS of mine. At the time you told me not to
be discouraged from sending you more of my work,
so I am afraid I am taking this literally and
sending, this time, a short story. If it is
unsuitable, please let me know at the above
address. If it appears, for personal reasons
I wish it to do so anonymously, or pseudonymously
if this is preferable.

Would you mind at the same time notifying
whoever deals with the circulation side, of a
change of address in regard to my subscription
to the S. R.? I sent a postcard a few weeks ago
asking for it to be sent in future to an address
in Rio de Janeiro, to which I thought I was
going, but now find it is my destiny to remain
in the declining West, so that my address will