Diana Trilling, July 14, 1965: Difference between revisions

Dear Diana,  

Thank you for the clipping and the nice reports. I’m not sure I know what you mean by the absence of a Marlow,<ref>The “Marlow” Trilling refers to is the narrator-participant used by Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) in several fictional works he wrote based on his seafaring experiences: “Youth” (1898), Lord Jim (1900), ''Heart of Darkness'' (1902) and “Chance” (1912).</ref> in ''An American Dream''. Superficially it seems to me that Rojack embodies a sufficient amount of civilization to avoid meaninglessness, but to defend that in detail means a long letter, and then we shall both be breaking our vows to write many pages this summer and few letters. Therefore I save the discussion for the pleasure of seeing you and Lionel in September. By the way, our place is on the sea and most agreeable. I hope you and Lionel (and Jim if he’s so inclined) are in the mood to come here when you get back.

P.S. There’s a somewhat unintegrated book by a man named Christopher Lasch, called if I remember ''The New Radicalism in America'', but it has a very good chapter on Mabel Dodge Luhan<ref> Mabel Dodge Luhan (1879-1962) was a supporter of D.H. Lawrence (1885-1930) when he lived in New Mexico.</ref> in which [D.H.] Lawrence figures prominently, and I think you might enjoy it.