Lot 977
Wolfe, Thomas (1900-1938) American novelist; one of the most important writers in modern American literature. Among his works are Look Homeward, Angel (1929) and the posthumously published You Can't Go Home Again (1940). Archive of correspondence from Wolfe to Miss Catherine Brett, teacher and principal of the Brett School for Special Children, in Dingman's Ferry, Pennsylvania. The collection consists of eleven typed letters signed, one autograph letter signed, 1 autograph note signed (Christmas card), four autograph postcards signed, one autograph postcard unsigned, and one pamphlet from the Brett's school. Eleven of the letters are unpublished and one published (the July 12, 1934 was published in The Letters of Thomas Wolfe, edited by Elizabeth Nowell, Scribners, 1965, but without the complete text); all but two are to Brett, the other two being to one of her students. Also included is an autograph letter signed from Wolfe's sister, Mabel Wolfe Wheaton, to Bill Stone in New York City, enclosing four snapshots of her brother (she mistakenly says "three" in her letter).
The correspondence covers the period from May 1934, the month of Wolfe's first visit to the school, to June 30, 1938, four days before the onset of his fatal illness. Miss Brett often visited Wolfe at his New York residences, and Wolfe vacationed at the school on an almost-annual basis. Wolfe shared his struggles with his writing with Miss Brett and he often felt inspired to write after a visit. In his July 30, 1934 letter, he wrote, "I always seem to pick up and get going [after a visit to Dingman's]". All of the letters but the first are addressed to "Dear Catherine," and they were posted from various places in the U.S. and Europe. The tone ranges from chatty to anguished, as when he recounts his sleepless nights in Paris waiting for the publication of Of Time and the River. He also discusses bouts of writer's block and frustrations with his editor (Max Perkins at Scribners). On July 30, 1934, he writes, "Today I am having trouble in getting started….I find…that when I put in a tremendous day such as Saturday was - when I wrote over 5,000 words - I inevitably pay for it the next day or two in reduced speed….What this monstrous obsession [writing] does to one. We eat, drink, sleep, think, feel and live with our work, and we can't forget it until we get it done. But I think we do the most complete job of forgetting of anyone on earth. A writer has no more interest in a book or story that has been published than he has in last year's telephone bill."
A synopsis of the letters is available upon request. Fine condition.
Estimated Value $12,500-UP.
Mel Smith Collection, ex Hermitage Books, Denver, 1990; Mabel Wolfe Wheaton ALS and snapshots acquired from Christie's, 1990.
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