Please Continue: Literary Correspondence as Conversation

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In Summary

The letters in this exhibit span a century of English literature, from the 1880s to the 1980s, and each one was sent with the hope that it would bring a response in return, continuing the conversation. Because the fiction writers and poets who wrote this correspondence were all devoted to the craft of writing, their missives are works of art in themselves, albeit more personal and playful than their published volumes had the freedom to be. Each author’s epistles express personality not only through the chosen text, but also through paper color, handwriting, choice of writing utensil, and the many other physical details required to complete and mail a letter. The messages also hint at the lives on the receiving end of the correspondence, prompting us to imagine responses to the questions asked, praises doled out, and affections expressed.

Case 2: Requests and Replies

Marianne Moore’s printed card stating “that she can not do any of these things,” such as signing autographs, implies that she decided to start saying “no” so that she would have time to what she really wanted to do—write poetry. Despite this resolution, she and the other writers in this case generously set aside time for the people who made requests of them. We can only wonder how the recipients responded to Robert Louis Stevenson’s entreaty for ten shillings and Arthur Conan Doyle’s question about a mysterious newspaper article.

Photograph of Arthur Conan Doyle by Pirie MacDonald, 1923

Print of an engraving of Robert Louis Stevenson by J. H. E. Whitney, 1888

Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Co., 1937

Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson, Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1884

Letter from Zora Neale Hurston to Miss Dockstader, August 20, 1934

Note from Robert Louis Stevenson to Miss Harris, c. 1880s

Letter from Arthur Conan Doyle to unidentified recipient, September 17, 1904

Photograph of Marianne Moore by George Platt Lynes, 1953

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, by C. S. Lewis, London: Geoffrey Bles, 1950

Photograph of C. S. Lewis, c. 1944

Notes from Marianne Moore to Lawrence S. Thompson, April 11, 1963

Note from C. S. Lewis to John B. Ransom III, July 24, 1950

Eight Poems, by Marianne Moore, New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1962

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