Dolly: The rounds go on. I"m hardly ever alone, and in a way that rattles me, too. It"s too unlike my life. Sunday my sister and my brother M[aurice] and Adam-Adam is simply wonderful. He phoned me this morning and said he had to talk to me. Sondra got on the telephone and said he was afraid of my disappearing like Uncle Lester. It"s marvelous to be such a psychologist. Anyway, I"m taking Adam to Lesha"s little girl"s birthday party on Thursday. That made him happier. He sounded slightly tearful. Oy Oy, we with our tears oiling the wheels of the universe. If we had no tears we wouldn"t be ourselves, but the mind still finds them an oddity. Anyway . . . M[aurice] gave me a handsome Irish tweed coat, the houndstooth check, which seems to fit. But apparently I insulted him bitterly when he said he couldn"t read any of my books, except a few chapters of Augie Augie; the rest was nonsense to him and he failed to understand how they could be published profitably. I said after all he was not a trained reader, but devoted himself to business and love. He was offended and said I didn"t respect respect him, and that I was a terrible sn.o.b. I thought I was being angelically mild, and put my arms about him and said I was his loving brother, wasn"t that better than heaping up grievances? Finally I melted him from his touchiness. He freezes when he"s offended, and if you think him, and that I was a terrible sn.o.b. I thought I was being angelically mild, and put my arms about him and said I was his loving brother, wasn"t that better than heaping up grievances? Finally I melted him from his touchiness. He freezes when he"s offended, and if you think I"m I"m vulnerable, I recommend you study him. Shils gave me a long lecture on the touchiness of Jews. vulnerable, I recommend you study him. Shils gave me a long lecture on the touchiness of Jews.
Well, there"s a little news. I"m working, I"m well, I"m paid up, I miss you-I miss you in the sack. I"m waiting for the 23rd, and I love you, Bellow and Susan Gla.s.sman had married in November.
To Susan Gla.s.sman Bellow [Postmarked Chicago, 11 January 1962]
Dolly- I think Herzog Herzog is about to enter the final stages-two last sections, neither too long, and we"re finished. is about to enter the final stages-two last sections, neither too long, and we"re finished.
Not much else gets done, between teaching and writing and check-signing. When you come, perhaps I can catch up on reading as well as f.u.c.king. I begin to have erotic dreams about you. And maybe my poor health is nothing but misapplied eroticism (according to St. Norman O. Brown and others of the Freudian church). Had dinner last night (Wed.) at The Coast with Morrie, my brother, and his lady friend and his neighbor Lionel the Knight of the Corridor (Karpel). And now I"m off to fetch Adam, take him to Lesha"s party, take him home, come south, lie down and wait for more dreams.
Love,
To Susan Gla.s.sman Bellow January 16, 1962 [Chicago]
Dolly- Another blizzard, a mere eight inches this time. I was in a snowdrift-night, starless. And chainless. So I had to jack the car again and put on the chains. No fun this time. It was cold, and filthy, and in the dark it took an hour. All the b.u.t.tons came off the coat my brother gave me, and it"s not fit to wear now. Also, I came home exhausted and took to bed (9 P.M.). So I"ve sworn to lose weight. I feel a million years old. But I got up this A.M. and wrote the nightclub thing in two hours and got it off (the chains were more troublesome). Next, I"m going to move up my Jewish introduction [for the anthology Great Jewish Short Stories Great Jewish Short Stories]. Faute de mieux on couche avec les ma.n.u.scrits Faute de mieux on couche avec les ma.n.u.scrits [ [69]. Your letter delighted me this morning. I treated myself like a tired warrior: lunch at the club, a haircut, a slow walk. Now it"s about cla.s.s time, I"m going below. Your ma has invited me to the Epicurean Restaurant Friday. Great relief after the Camelia Room. (The camelias were wax.) I so miss you, Dolly.
Yours,
To Susan Gla.s.sman Bellow January 17, 1962 [Chicago]
Dolly- Towers of snow, and we peek out like prairie dogs at Grand Canyon. The air is stale in here, but the windows are stuck with frost. I keep driving (I"ve lost one chain) in and somehow out of snowdrifts. Could use a little Tivoli, and you on the sofa in my arms breathing peace and love into my arms.
The bureaucratic machine begins to tie me up-official occasions next Mon. and Tues. You"re lucky not to be here.
But Herzog Herzog meanwhile is thriving (p. 194 of the meanwhile is thriving (p. 194 of the final final version). version).
Shils leaves tomorrow morning. I"m taking him to a Chinese dinner tonight, in my opulence. Astonishingly, I wrote that Show Biz piece in two hours and earned two hundred fifty bucks.
There is something that grows for you here under this blue electric blanket.
Kisses and love,
To Susan Gla.s.sman Bellow January 19, 1962 [Chicago]
O Susabella! What a rapid rat-race. These predators of Chicago (U) will leave me no shreds of flesh on my poor bones. I suppose there"s a quick way to handle it all: Yoga, or something. Money takes time. I must abandon The n.o.ble Savage The n.o.ble Savage. Can"t handle the mail. And I must ever console Keith and a.s.sure him (more superfluous letter writing) that he"s a good little Botsford.
I miss you, meantime, Susabella. Thank heavens we can observe next Erev Shabbos together.
The heavens are like a flour-sifter. Six inches more of snow today. Great statuary on campus. Streets impa.s.sable. [ . . . ]
Love from yr. mate,
Herzog has rosy cheeks. has rosy cheeks.
To Susan Gla.s.sman Bellow January 23, 1962 [Chicago]
Dearest Susabreza, O.K. You"re right-I"m wrong. I suppose it"s one of my unadmirable spiels spiels, and you catch me up very responsibly, and like a good wife.
I"ve made no dates for the weekend. Maybe I"ll pick up Adam on Sunday, but the rest is bed, blanket and you.
A little discouraging last night. Dave Peltz and I took Trilling out slumming. A cold coming we had of it.
Anyway, we"ll rub the whole thing off with erasers of love.
To Anne s.e.xton [n.d.] [Minneapolis]
Dear Anne s.e.xton, [ . . . ].
I have both your letters now, the good one, and the contrite one next day. One"s best things are always followed by an apologetic seizure. "Monster of Despair" could be Henderson Henderson"s subt.i.tle. I think you coined this expression. I don"t remember it. At this particular point we seem to have entered into each other"s minds. A marriage of true minds, or meeting arranged by Agape. (Where has Eros gotten me?) [ . . . ]
Your poem ["Old Dwarf Heart"] is genuinely Hendersonian-"breathing in loops like a green hen" is absolutely IT!
Yours in true-minded friendship,
To Susan Gla.s.sman Bellow February 26, 1962 [Chicago]
Dearest Susabousa: I am seated in my office growling at Life the Tiger. Winter has now turned into a cold fluid-gray. All the old ice looks like Death"s protege. Even the sparrows are sick sick of this. And the elms. Phooey! [ . . . ] of this. And the elms. Phooey! [ . . . ]
And I miss you. Your loving Husband Husband.
To John Berryman April 2, 1962 Tivoli Dear John- Chicago was colder than the Gold Rush, cliffs of snow and people like Alaskan sourdoughs. I was tempted to fly up to Mpls. but it was even colder there, so I stayed put. [ . . . ] I am writing on a piece of board over my knees. I await spring. You can hear the bushes marking time.
As ever,
To William Phillips April 5, 1962 Tivoli Dear William, It"s true I"ve written something pretty funny and I see no reason why Partisan Partisan shouldn"t have a look. There"s been some professional interest in the play and while I no longer expect to become an American millionaire, still something may come of this interest. I think maybe the thing to do (for me to do) is to have a talk with my agent and see whether there could conceivably be an objection to publishing a few scenes. I would think not. One of these days I will come into the city for a week of civilized happiness and I"d enjoy having a drink with you. shouldn"t have a look. There"s been some professional interest in the play and while I no longer expect to become an American millionaire, still something may come of this interest. I think maybe the thing to do (for me to do) is to have a talk with my agent and see whether there could conceivably be an objection to publishing a few scenes. I would think not. One of these days I will come into the city for a week of civilized happiness and I"d enjoy having a drink with you.
Best,
To Richard Stern April 26, 1962 Tivoli Dear d.i.c.k- I am working like a Polish swine, making bratwurst of myself. [ . . . ] The farce (comedy?) is now ent.i.tled The Upper Depths The Upper Depths and may (n.b. and may (n.b. may may) be produced by Herbert Berghof and Uta Hagen. Or perhaps even by Zero Mostel. We live in hope"s eternal purple shade.
Susie and Tivoli are blooming. One wife is becoming enough for me (O Bellowius senex!) [70].
Bestow friendly and loving greetings on all.
To John U. Nef August 10, 1962 Tivoli, N.Y.
Dear Professor Nef, To be invited to join the faculty of the Committee on Social Thought is a great honor. I gladly accept your offer. I am acquainted with the work of the Committee, and I am happy to know that you think I will be able to contribute something to it.
In my conversations with Edward Shils it was understood that I could not arrange to come for the fall quarter. After some discussion, my wife and I have come to think that we could wind up our affairs in the East by mid-October, and that we could be in Chicago by the end of that month.
I a.s.sume it is too late for me to offer a course in the fall quarter. However, I understand that tutoring is also a part of my duties, and I would be happy to make myself available for the balance of the quarter.
I hope you will have no objection to my honoring some previous commitments. They will take me away from the University very seldom, and for brief periods.
I look forward to hearing from you soon, and to seeing you this autumn.
Cordially yours,
To Richard Stern [Postmarked 22 August 1962; postcard of Menemsha Basin, Martha"s Vineyard, at evening]
[ . . . ] Play scheduled for Fall "63 but we"re yukking it up already. Hope you have as much trouble reading this as we had reading yours. [ . . . ] The Vineyard is beautiful-we love it. Herzog Herzog in final stages- in final stages-TNS put to bed. Freud should have had such a beach-he wouldn"t have had so many theories. put to bed. Freud should have had such a beach-he wouldn"t have had so many theories.
Love,
To Sondra Tschacbasov Bellow September 30, 1962 [Tivoli]
Sondra: The purpose of your letter is evidently to interfere with my right to see Adam. The provisions for visitation in our divorce agreement were not more clearly specified because I a.s.sumed you would deal with me in good faith. But on Labor Day you used the child to bargain for some supposed advantage and refused to let him come with me as we had arranged. Adam was greatly disappointed. The violence of that occasion was provoked by you, perhaps deliberately. You tore my clothing, bruised me, and had to be restrained by Ann Berryman from continuing your attack.
I have no desire whatever to see you. I have no plans to interfere with your privacy. But if you persist in your present course, capriciously changing plans, giving me no opportunity to communicate with someone in a position of responsibility about the child, you will leave me no alternative but to go to court to establish my visitation rights. I have in the past been reluctant to seek legal remedies, but you have created an ugly situation. I have no intention of repeating the mistakes I made in Minneapolis when you forbade me to come to the house, my own house, and threatened me with arrest if I came to see the boy. To keep the peace I stayed in a hotel and the child was brought to me by an intermediary. There will be no repet.i.tions of that situation.
Your pugnacity is a matter of record. Even before the divorce you struck me with your fists. You tried to run me down with the car. On the day when you claim to have been a.s.saulted, I came home with bruises. You have been known to do things you could not remember later. My "violence" is probably another one of your hallucinations.
Since you are working, there ought to be someone looking after the child whom I can call. I tried to find out from you who did take care of him after school, but could get nothing but evasions. You have refused to tell me what provisions, if any, have been made for his daily care. On Sat.u.r.day September 22, 1962 when I phoned to arrange to see Adam, you told me to phone next day to give you time to make arrangements. On Sunday night when I called again you refused me a visit, alleging for the first time that he had an appointment with the dentist. You also cried out, "You can"t see him!" Knowing that I would be leaving soon for Chicago and would be gone for some months, you were simply giving me the runaround. For reasons of your own, you don"t want me to see the boy.
I would like Adam to visit with me this coming weekend and I want you to tell me where I can pick him up on Friday October 5th. I am, as I have always been, prepared to agree to anything sensible but I will not accept your arbitrary conditions. A fixed pattern will be set up for these visits. I shall be coming in periodically during my temporary residence in Chicago. You will have ample notice of my visits. I want to have Adam with me on all holidays-Christmas, Easter and part of every summer. If you do not agree to reasonable arrangements I shall have to go to law to try to obtain my rights.
Quarrels and litigation will do him no good. For his sake I have avoided all conflict with you and I suggest that you try to behave reasonably, as I for my part intend to do. I plan to come to Tarrytown next Friday to pick him up, and I expect to hear from you that he will be delivered to me by someone other than yourself. I will not ask anyone to go in my place while I wait in a restaurant like a wrongdoer. I won"t send anyone for him. I will insist on my rights, and the thing will be done decently and in good order. I expect a reply from you before Friday. I hope you will not compel me to take legal steps.
To Sondra Tschacbasov Bellow October 11, 1962 [Tivoli]
Sondra: The fact that you yourself phoned me last week to make the arrangements for seeing Adam amounts to an acknowledgement of the impossibility of doing these things through the complicated system of intermediaries you wanted to force upon me. I myself want as much as possible to avoid direct contact with you, but I don"t want my rights to see Adam questioned, and I won"t tolerate any nonsense. I have asked you questions about the boy which are still unanswered. I want to know who takes care of him while you are at work. Please send me the full name and address of the woman you spoke of. I think I should have also a calendar from Adam"s school so that I can plan to have the child during holidays. In addition, I think you should send me, or have the doctor send me, an occasional medical report. Adam didn"t seem at all well last weekend. He has lost weight and he is not at all cheerful.
I am going to be in New York the weekend of December 7th, and I"d like to pick the boy up on Friday evening and keep him with me for the weekend. If you insist on his attending Sunday School, I can take him there myself and wait for him. With nearly two months" notice, I hope you will not invent any appointments at the last moment. Two weeks ago you told me Adam could not see me because he had to see the dentist. He told me last Sat.u.r.day that he"s never been to the dentist.
I shall send you my new address in Chicago and I expect to hear from you about the weekend of the 7th. I hope we have seen the last of these unnecessary vexations and squabbles.
To Toby Cole October 28, 1962 Chicago Dear Toby: The money"s come, and Susie and I have found an apartment on the South Side (address forthcoming; just now the joint"s being painted) and everything is highly satisfactory so far. Can"t say I miss New York. Chicago with its old a.s.sociations is oppressive at times and will challenge the flexibility of both of us. But we can always go back to Tivoli, if we"re overcome, and spend the rest of our lives in recovering.
Of course I"m highly pleased about the Piccolo Teatro [di Milano]-don"t they want to wait till I"ve rewritten the play? They"re welcome to it as is. Or perhaps [Giorgio] Strehler has ideas that might be of use to me? I"d be glad to hear from him (when I"ve finished my book; all these moves have not advanced it). [ . . . ]
Since Zero [Mostel] is having temperament (an old-fashioned affliction of artists in the last century) why shouldn"t [Jackie] Gleason have a look? Tell Zero from me that what his mood wants is a swift kick in the rear to hasten its departure. We all carry approximately the same load of unwashed plates from life"s banquet. On the weak flat feet of the soul. Henderson Henderson should make things easier, not harder. Well, don"t repeat this to him at all. Just give him my regards and say "Bellow"s compliments, and please hurry up a little." should make things easier, not harder. Well, don"t repeat this to him at all. Just give him my regards and say "Bellow"s compliments, and please hurry up a little."
Revolutionary greetings,
Toby Cole (1916-2008) was a Los Angeles-based theatrical agent and activist well known for her advocacy of blacklisted talents such as Zero Mostel. In later life, she was a frequent presence on Pacifica Radio. Legendary director Giorgio Strehler (1921-1997) co-founded the Piccolo Teatro in Milan soon after the war and ran it for many years.
To Oscar Tarcov October 30, 1962 Chicago Dear Oscar- Having fled defeated from the scene of my own disorganization, I am here, organizing a new chaos. I can send you the details soon-I"ll enjoy doing it. [ . . . ]
We"ve found an apartment at 1755 E. 55th St. which is being painted and can be occupied next week. Meantime you (or Zara) can reach me at the University. (It"s very very curious. I am not interfered with at all. My only work has been my own: curious. I am not interfered with at all. My only work has been my own: Herzog Herzog. I should be finished soon. But Chicago is both depressing-dreadful!-and exhilarating. I am waiting to find out why why I came here.) I came here.) Susie and I could be happy on an ice floe.