"Her writing a religion" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | Letters/199 |
| Archive | |
| Epistolary Type | |
| Letter Date | 26 November 1886 |
| Address From | Blandford Square, Paddington, London |
| Address To | |
| Who To | Havelock Ellis |
| Other Versions | Cronwright-Schreiner 1924: 105 |
| 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.
2Blandford Square, 26th Nov.
3
4I send you a rough draft of Jan. Tell me (1) Whether you think
5printing it will do my next book harm. (2) How you like it. (3)
6Whether you think it interesting to the general reader. (4) Don't make
7any small criticisms, it's not finished yet. I have never written
8anything with more delight, but that is just because it takes me out
9of this cursed London and English life. (I don't mean really that it
10is cursed, but it's so delightful to get back to my old life.)... I'm
11not going to feel loving to anyone; one feels so loving and so loving,
12so loving that one can't do anything. Don't you feel loving either. I
13try to do all I can to make you not love me. I don't want anyone to
14love me; it only makes them miserable.
15
2Blandford Square, 26th Nov.
3
4I send you a rough draft of Jan. Tell me (1) Whether you think
5printing it will do my next book harm. (2) How you like it. (3)
6Whether you think it interesting to the general reader. (4) Don't make
7any small criticisms, it's not finished yet. I have never written
8anything with more delight, but that is just because it takes me out
9of this cursed London and English life. (I don't mean really that it
10is cursed, but it's so delightful to get back to my old life.)... I'm
11not going to feel loving to anyone; one feels so loving and so loving,
12so loving that one can't do anything. Don't you feel loving either. I
13try to do all I can to make you not love me. I don't want anyone to
14love me; it only makes them miserable.
15
Notation
“Jan van der Linde’s Wife” was never finished.
“Jan van der Linde’s Wife” was never finished.