EMERGING INTO THE LIGHT

Hadley, Bumby, and Ernest

Dear Ernest,

So sorry to hear about the rejection of your book Torrents of Spring by Liveright. I do have to ask, after reading it, if you didn't believe that the possibility existed for Liveright to reject the story? The book is clearly a parody of Sherwood Anderson's work, Dark Laughter. 

In your draft of your letter to Horace Liveright, dated January 19, 1926, you write,"I did not submit the Torrents of Spring to you in the hope that you would turn it down. I consider it a good book and John Dos Passos, Louis Broomfield and Scott Fitzgerald, who are people of different tastes are enthusiastic about it. Your turning it down was your own affair." You further share with Liveright your belief that this rejection constitutes a breach of contract regarding the agreement that you had with him, "As Torrents of Spring is my second completed book and as I submitted it to you and as you did not exercise your option to publish it; according to my contract with you your option on my third book then lapses. This is quite clear and open and shut."

Wow! Bold move, my friend! I know you have not been comfortable in the relationship you have had with Boni & Liveright for some time. It is apparent that you feel that their strict censorship (from your perspective), is no longer tolerable. As well, their sense of priority when it comes to their authors, and the possibility that they are deferring your work to that of their primary author (Sherwood Anderson) has to rub you the wrong way. 

I have to believe, Hem, that you have a heightened sensitivity to being forced to live in another's shadow. You have, in your own life, made the bold move to step out of the shadow cast by your family, and it follows that you would not be very tolerant of any relationship that recreated those conditions and feelings.

Timing is everything, right? You are certainly in good company and, I'm sure, under advisement from those close to you, in your literary circles, that finding the right publisher is everything. 

You wrote to Liveright of these influences, "...I have already received offers for the Torrents of Spring and The Sun Also Rises, which I am still working on, from several publishers. I have not approached these publishers. They have heard of the books from friends who have seen manuscripts and in whose judgement they place some confidence."

It seems, Hem, that you've formulated a plan forward and have the support of friends and colleagues who have the ears of top publishers and publications. I look forward to seeing how and where you settle as you continue to build momentum in your writing and in your readership. 

I'm looking forward to learning more about how you're putting it all together. This is a very fluid time in your life with lots of possibilities, and lots of decisions and choices. It's good that you have Hadley and Bumby to help anchor you during this time. When I think of you and Hadley, I am reminded of a poem by John Donne, 

If they be two, they are two so
   As stiff twin compasses are two;
Thy soul, the fix'd foot, makes no show
   To move, but doth, if the' other do.

And though it in the centre sit,
   Yet when the other far doth roam,
It leans, and hearkens after it,
   And grows erect, as that comes home.

Such wilt thou be to me, who must
   Like th' other foot, obliquely run;
Thy firmness makes my circle just,

   And makes me end, where I begun.

It seems to be written in your stars, dear Hem, that you are destined to "obliquely run" and having that home port to return to can feel like both a blessing and a curse. I know, I've felt that way many times.

I do so love your letters!

With Warmest Regards,
Betsy