Lipton’s Journal/Correspondence of Robert Lindner and Norman Mailer/February 26, 1954: Difference between revisions

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 Dear Bob,
-I’m answering this immediately because I’m going away skiing from March 5 to about March 16, and I’d like to get an answer from you before then. The first thing is your mention of coming into New York sometime in the “next three weeks,” and I write this to ask you if it’s possible to make it after the sixteenth because Adele{{LJ:Adele}} and I would love to give a party for Johnnie{{LJ:Johnnie}} and you, and also have you as our guests if you don’t mind our place. (I mention the place because as I may have told you it’s situated in a slum, and the building itself is a tenement. In our apartment it’s rather pleasant—although a little deficient on privacy since the rooms are partially partitioned rather than separated by walls—but there are beds for you and it’s really nice. However, a great many of our friends are kind of appalled by the neighborhood, and it may be that Johnnie or you might be also—''sans façons'' as Don Beda{{refn|Character in ''The Deer Park'' who organizes and participates in orgies.}} says—What I’m trying to say is that honest and clean I’m not trying to discourage you from staying with us because I would love that, and on the other hand am also trying to say that I will not be offended if you would prefer something a little less extraordinary. But, anyway, staying with us or not as you choose, could you make it for after the sixteenth.
+I’m answering this immediately because I’m going away skiing from March 5 to about March 16, and I’d like to get an answer from you before then. The first thing is your mention of coming into New York sometime in the “next three weeks,” and I write this to ask you if it’s possible to make it after the sixteenth because Adele{{LJ:Adele}} and I would love to give a party for Johnnie{{LJ:Johnnie}} and you, and also have you as our guests if you don’t mind our place. (I mention the place because as I may have told you it’s situated in a slum, and the building itself is a tenement. In our apartment it’s rather pleasant—although a little deficient on privacy since the rooms are partially partitioned rather than separated by walls—but there are beds for you and it’s really nice. However, a great many of our friends are kind of appalled by the neighborhood, and it may be that Johnnie or you might be also—''sans façons'' as Don Beda{{refn|Character in ''The Deer Park'' who organizes and participates in orgies.}} says—What I’m trying to say is that honest and clean I’m not trying to discourage you from staying with us because I would love that, and on the other hand am also trying to say that I will not be offended if you would prefer something a little less extraordinary. But, anyway, staying with us or not as you choose, could you make it for after the sixteenth?
-The other thing I’d like an answer on is your warning that “a new coat is not sufficient.” I’ve been going over the prose of the book with a really fine comb, and that makes a big cumulative difference. Also, I’ve added a few little bits. But I take it that the criticism you have is more one of lacks in ''The Deer Park'' than of excesses. So far as I can list them, the things you felt should be improved were, (apart from the beginning on which I intend to do work) a larger role for Dorothea and more resolution of her action; the presence of Pellito as the “stereotype of evil,” fixing the orgy, and improving Sergius’ character.{{refn|Sergius O’Shaughnessey is the narrator of ''The Deer Park''; Dorothy and Pellito are minor characters.}}
+The other thing I’d like an answer on is your warning that “a new coat is not sufficient.” I’ve been going over the prose of the book with a really fine comb, and that makes a big cumulative difference. Also, I’ve added a few little bits. But I take it that the criticism you have is more one of lacks in ''The Deer Park'' than of excesses. So far as I can list them, the things you felt should be improved were (apart from the beginning on which I intend to do work) a larger role for Dorothea and more resolution of her action; the presence of Pellito as the “stereotype of evil,” fixing the orgy, and improving Sergius’ character.{{refn|Sergius O’Shaughnessey is the narrator of ''The Deer Park''; Dorothy and Pellito are minor characters.}}
 I agree with all those criticisms you have, but up to now with the exception of orgy which has to be redone and the last two chapters (I read it over again today), I just don’t have any ideas on how to improve, enrich, and just generally spark up the things we talked about in the above paragraph. But what I also felt in your letter is that there are many other criticisms which you felt and did not have time to express when we [were] running to the train. And if they are definite in your mind, Bob, I would appreciate your telling them to me no matter how discouraging I may find them. It may be that I need a little shock to generate my imagination, but whether that be so or not, and even possible or not, I have the feeling on the book that while on the whole it’s very good there is something missing in it which keeps it from having real stature. This could come of course from the boredom and patience and depression of going over the thing sentence by sentence, but I did sense a somewhat similar feeling in your last letter, and if you feel explicit about it, I’ll appreciate what you have to say no matter how severe.