"Woman question secondary to native question" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | Vernon Lee Collection, OS-13.06.13 |
| Archive | Somerville College, Oxford |
| Epistolary Type | Letter |
| Letter Date | 20 June 1913 |
| Address From | De Aar, Northern Cape |
| Address To | Florence, Italy |
| Who To | Vernon Lee (Violet Paget) |
| Other Versions | |
| Permissions | Please read before using or citing this transcription |
| Legend |
The Project is grateful to Somerville College, Oxford for allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter to Vernon Lee, which is part of the Vernon Lee Collection. The place the letter was sent to is indicated by content.
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1De Aar
2June 20th 1913
3
4Dear Vernon Lee
5
6I don’t know if you will have forgotten my name. I met you once in
7Florence many years ago when Mary Robinson was with you.
8
9I have been ill with heart disease for many years now, & have heard of
10a Doctor in Florence, Dr Carloni, who one friend tells me has been
11wonderfully successful in some cases. I am leaving for Europe at the
12end of this year to try medical treatment, & would be deeply grateful
13if you could tell me what Dr Carloni’s reputation is in Florence, &
14if he is said to be really successful in his treatment of heart cases.
15I feel I am asking of you a very great favour, but I know no one else
16in Florence; if too busy, I shall quite understand your not answering me.
17
18I have just been reading your fine little letter in “The Nation”
19about ?Crowsley. One has to live through a long war as I have, & amid
20its horrors to know how unmixed an evil it is. Its brutalizing after
21results are worse than the war.
22
23Please forgive the liberty I have taken in writing to ask you about Dr
24Carloni; but it would be a serious matter if I started off from
25England as soon as I got there, & found when I got to Florence I had
26made a mistake, so perhaps you will excuse my troubling you.
27
28Yours sincerely
29Olive Schreiner
30
2June 20th 1913
3
4Dear Vernon Lee
5
6I don’t know if you will have forgotten my name. I met you once in
7Florence many years ago when Mary Robinson was with you.
8
9I have been ill with heart disease for many years now, & have heard of
10a Doctor in Florence, Dr Carloni, who one friend tells me has been
11wonderfully successful in some cases. I am leaving for Europe at the
12end of this year to try medical treatment, & would be deeply grateful
13if you could tell me what Dr Carloni’s reputation is in Florence, &
14if he is said to be really successful in his treatment of heart cases.
15I feel I am asking of you a very great favour, but I know no one else
16in Florence; if too busy, I shall quite understand your not answering me.
17
18I have just been reading your fine little letter in “The Nation”
19about ?Crowsley. One has to live through a long war as I have, & amid
20its horrors to know how unmixed an evil it is. Its brutalizing after
21results are worse than the war.
22
23Please forgive the liberty I have taken in writing to ask you about Dr
24Carloni; but it would be a serious matter if I started off from
25England as soon as I got there, & found when I got to Florence I had
26made a mistake, so perhaps you will excuse my troubling you.
27
28Yours sincerely
29Olive Schreiner
30
Notation
No 'fine little letter' by Vernon Lee appeared in the Nation during May or June 1913; however, as Schreiner read a wide range of reviews, journals and newspapers, the title here could perhaps be a mistake.
No 'fine little letter' by Vernon Lee appeared in the Nation during May or June 1913; however, as Schreiner read a wide range of reviews, journals and newspapers, the title here could perhaps be a mistake.