"Rhodes, redistribution bill" Read the full letter
Letter Reference | Karl Pearson 840/4/3/138-139 |
Archive | University College London Library, Special Collections, UCL, London |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | Tuesday 9 November 1886 |
Address From | 9 Blandford Square, Paddington, London |
Address To | 2 Harcourt Buildings, Temple, London |
Who To | Karl Pearson |
Other Versions | Rive 1987: 114-15 |
Permissions | Please read before using or citing this transcription |
Legend |
The Project is grateful to University College London (UCL) and its Library Services for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Special Collections. The date of this letter has been derived from the postmark on an attached envelope, while the address it was sent to is on its front.
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1
9 Blandford Sq
2 Tuesday
3
4 Dear Mr Pearson
5
6 I should not have sent you that letter last night. It was brutal, very
7brutal of me. You must not be troubled, you can’t bear any more. It
8saps up your power of work. That is the great thing; times of
9oppression or misery do not leave us as they found: the working power
10is weak for some time. Burn my letter to Mrs Cobb if you like; only if
11she questions me again, I may I simply send her on to you? Please do
12not let us talk on the subject to eachother; what ever you did or said
13I should be satisfied.
14
15 Do you think I had best write a paper for the club in Feb? You see I
16have all this artistic work on my hands. Would it not be better that I
17tried to finish it off first (I feel now as though my brain would
18never work again but it will), get some money; & then with my mind
19clear & cool attack these sex questions didactically? (I shall be your
20equal then, & a man like you, when I have a great deal of money!) I
21will do which ever you think is best; decide which way you like.
22
23 I shall write a short note for the next meeting if I can pull my
24brains together.
25
26 You can explain to Mr Parker why Dr Donkin left the club: I wrote him
27a note last night, but couldn’t explain fully. I have only seen Dr
28Donkin once in the last 10 days, last Sunday.
29
30 I wish you could have come when Edward Carpenter was here. I think you
31would I like him just in the same way that I do. I could never love
32him as the woman loves the man, but there is something childishly
33unworldly that you too would like.
34
35 O.S.
36
2 Tuesday
3
4 Dear Mr Pearson
5
6 I should not have sent you that letter last night. It was brutal, very
7brutal of me. You must not be troubled, you can’t bear any more. It
8saps up your power of work. That is the great thing; times of
9oppression or misery do not leave us as they found: the working power
10is weak for some time. Burn my letter to Mrs Cobb if you like; only if
11she questions me again, I may I simply send her on to you? Please do
12not let us talk on the subject to eachother; what ever you did or said
13I should be satisfied.
14
15 Do you think I had best write a paper for the club in Feb? You see I
16have all this artistic work on my hands. Would it not be better that I
17tried to finish it off first (I feel now as though my brain would
18never work again but it will), get some money; & then with my mind
19clear & cool attack these sex questions didactically? (I shall be your
20equal then, & a man like you, when I have a great deal of money!) I
21will do which ever you think is best; decide which way you like.
22
23 I shall write a short note for the next meeting if I can pull my
24brains together.
25
26 You can explain to Mr Parker why Dr Donkin left the club: I wrote him
27a note last night, but couldn’t explain fully. I have only seen Dr
28Donkin once in the last 10 days, last Sunday.
29
30 I wish you could have come when Edward Carpenter was here. I think you
31would I like him just in the same way that I do. I could never love
32him as the woman loves the man, but there is something childishly
33unworldly that you too would like.
34
35 O.S.
36
Notation
Rive's (1987) version omits part of this letter and is also in a number of respects incorrect.
Rive's (1987) version omits part of this letter and is also in a number of respects incorrect.