"Families of the Hanover men executed, Mrs Nienaber's maching machine" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | Letters/69 |
| Archive | |
| Epistolary Type | |
| Letter Date | 1 April 1885 |
| Address From | Hastings, East Sussex |
| Address To | |
| Who To | Havelock Ellis |
| Other Versions | Cronwright-Schreiner 1924: 67 |
| 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.
2Hastings, 1st April.
3
4If I was to be in love with anyone else and tell you about it would
5you be able to sympathise with me? There is a young Jew singing in the
6next room, with such a beautiful full man's voice, and it seems to
7wake up in me all my old, old dreams of when I was about fourteen, I
8don't know why. I know it would never be possible for me to find that
9ideal love: but somehow, I can't say why, the longing wakes up in one
10again. My body even has the same feeling. Perhaps it's because his
11voice is just like my father's that it brings back the past. ... I
12have been lying down all day, not able to work, but I have read The
13Mummer's Wife. I like it very much, better than Nana, and I think it
14shows a great deal of genius, and I'm going to stick up for it.
15
2Hastings, 1st April.
3
4If I was to be in love with anyone else and tell you about it would
5you be able to sympathise with me? There is a young Jew singing in the
6next room, with such a beautiful full man's voice, and it seems to
7wake up in me all my old, old dreams of when I was about fourteen, I
8don't know why. I know it would never be possible for me to find that
9ideal love: but somehow, I can't say why, the longing wakes up in one
10again. My body even has the same feeling. Perhaps it's because his
11voice is just like my father's that it brings back the past. ... I
12have been lying down all day, not able to work, but I have read The
13Mummer's Wife. I like it very much, better than Nana, and I think it
14shows a great deal of genius, and I'm going to stick up for it.
15