"You suggested going: try to carry it out" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | Letters/403 |
| Archive | |
| Epistolary Type | |
| Letter Date | 25 June 1890 |
| Address From | Cape Town, Western Cape |
| Address To | |
| Who To | Havelock Ellis |
| Other Versions | Cronwright-Schreiner 1924: 190 |
| 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.
2Cape Town, 25th June.
3
4If Blackwood doesn't want to have it, take the MS. from him and do the
5best you can for me. Unwin would like to have it, but do as you think
6best. ... I go home to my Matjesfontein in a few days. I shall be so
7glad to get back. People stare at me here as if I was a live white
8elephant, but with the exception of an old member of Parliament called
9Fuller and a Mr. Seymour Fort just from England, I have not seen one
10sympathetic human being since I came. It is so strange to feel
11yourself so utterly cut off from all the inhabitants of a country in
12which you live. I think it's good to be among Philistines; they
13agonise you so that you fly to work.
14
2Cape Town, 25th June.
3
4If Blackwood doesn't want to have it, take the MS. from him and do the
5best you can for me. Unwin would like to have it, but do as you think
6best. ... I go home to my Matjesfontein in a few days. I shall be so
7glad to get back. People stare at me here as if I was a live white
8elephant, but with the exception of an old member of Parliament called
9Fuller and a Mr. Seymour Fort just from England, I have not seen one
10sympathetic human being since I came. It is so strange to feel
11yourself so utterly cut off from all the inhabitants of a country in
12which you live. I think it's good to be among Philistines; they
13agonise you so that you fly to work.
14
Notation
The manuscript referred to is that of Dreams.
The manuscript referred to is that of Dreams.