- 87
Steinbeck, John
Description
- Autograph letter, signed ("J.S."), [New York, ca. 1964], to Nancy Pearson
- paper
Condition
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.
Catalogue Note
Embarrassed by the response to his facsimile letter, sent to Soviet writers upon his return to the States [see previous lot], Steinbeck writes his personal assistant "I seem to have involved you in a curious, an almost fiction situation, which I would not attempt to explain were it not for your experience and familiarity with l'ours qui marche comme un homme au v.v. I do not much approve of generalities even when they are true - but call these tendencies rather."
He then proceeds to enumerate maliciously three tendencies: "1) L'ami l'Ours nearly always underrates the intelligence and perception of a non-bear except when he far overrates it, 2) Friend Bear is rarely gay without being drunk and where he is, he rates inspection, 3) Oso Vacilidor is and always has been suspicious of strangers, even those from the next village." Steinbeck relays his suspicion that "the famous letter" was held up in Moscow, and that the responses of writers were expressed in almost identical language. The offending letter "was mass produced and sent generally which proves that I am a phony" and "Poltorascal" [Oleksii Poltorats'kyi] "is given the job of punching me in the nose which he does under the guise of gaiety. Indeed the response to my gaff is out of all proportion. In other words, I have been demoted."
"Friend Bear regards writers as much more potent and important and dangerous than we do. In fact the top dogs are more afraid of writers than of any other people and show it by disciplining or removing them. When Comrade K[hrushchev] smashed the personality cult, he was only able to do it on the highest and most accessible level."
"Now Com[rad] K for all is bluster, has the peasants respect for and fear of the intellectual, a thing we never had. Consequently he left the Writers' Unions strictly alone and the Writers' Unions are entirely controlled by the 'Old Boys' who were trained, disciplined, raised and maintained by Stalin. My old comrade in arms Poltorascal is one of these and not the least dangerous." He explains "I am not trying to instruct you in large politics but rather to tie in the 'letter' business with what may be happening."
After he returned from his tour of the Soviet Union with Edward Albee, the latter, in conjunction with PEN, and against Steinbeck's better judgement, invited five writers to visit America, but these were the "young and dissident writers and not one of them is an Old Boy." The "Old Boys" have, in his opinion, organized to fight this visit, and further "I would look for a stepped up campaign for reestablishing close ties with Mao. But this is only possible if the regime goes back to Stalinist ideas ..."
The letter continues in this vein for 3 pages and closes by congratulating Pearson on reaching the age of 60: "Sixty is a fine age. It means something. One has got somewhere. One is released enough to look at the past with some dispassionate pleasure, and the finish line is near enough so that it can finally be accepted and sometimes even reckoned. Yes, it is a fine age and it has compensations no one younger can comprehend."