"On helping set up women's branch of Democratic Foundation 1880s London" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | Letters/180 |
| Archive | |
| Epistolary Type | |
| Letter Date | 20 May 1886 |
| Address From | The Convent, Harrow, London |
| Address To | |
| Who To | Havelock Ellis |
| Other Versions | Cronwright-Schreiner 1924: 100 |
| Permissions | Please read before using or citing this transcription |
| Legend |
When Cronwright-Schreiner prepared The Letters of Olive Schreiner, with few exceptions he then destroyed her originals. However, some people gave him copies and kept the originals or demanded the return of these; and when actual Schreiner letters can be compared with his versions, his have omissions, distortions and bowdlerisations. Where Schreiner originals have survived, these will be found in the relevant collections across the OSLO website. There is however a residue of some 587 items in The Letters for which no originals are extant. They are included here for sake of completeness. However, their relationship to Schreiners actual letters cannot now be gauged, and so they should be read with caution for the reasons given.
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1To Havelock Ellis.
2The Convent, Harrow, 20th May.
3
4No, I deny that you can see how Wilhelm Meister was made; you can see
5how it grew, not how it was made. There is no will, no forethought,
6manifested in it. It came like that, like a tree, not like a Greek
7temple. You never know where you are going to turn next in Wilhelm
8Meister. No more did Goethe - yet all was of necessity, nothing of
9chance.
10
2The Convent, Harrow, 20th May.
3
4No, I deny that you can see how Wilhelm Meister was made; you can see
5how it grew, not how it was made. There is no will, no forethought,
6manifested in it. It came like that, like a tree, not like a Greek
7temple. You never know where you are going to turn next in Wilhelm
8Meister. No more did Goethe - yet all was of necessity, nothing of
9chance.
10