"Everything so dark & mysterious, going to be a great European war" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | HRC/CAT/OS/4b-v |
| Archive | Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas, Austin |
| Epistolary Type | Letter |
| Letter Date | Saturday 22 July 1888 |
| Address From | Roseneath, Harpenden, Hertfordshire |
| Address To | 98 Earlsbrook Road, Earlswood, Redhill, Surrey |
| Who To | Havelock Ellis |
| Other Versions | Cronwright-Schreiner 1924: 138-9; Draznin 1992: 445 |
| Permissions | Please read before using or citing this transcription |
| Legend |
The Project is grateful to the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, the University of Texas at Austin, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Manuscript Collections. This letter has been dated by reference to an associated envelope and its postmark, which also provides the address it was sent to. Schreiner was resident in Harpenden from mid June to the end of September 1888. The final insertion is on the back of the envelope.
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1Saturday
2
3Yes, I can write better now than ever, my imagination has never worked
4so ligh easily My reason has never been so strong, nor my grasp
5anything like so wide. What I have lost is wish to produce for others.
6I wish it with my reason. I think I ought to wish it but I don’t
7care. It is a terrible thing to have become so indifferent. There is
8nothing worth caring for, is my instinctive feeling, though I never
9let it come up. I do care to save other people from suffering.
10Therefore only those which I can imagine will have that effect will be
11written of all the hundreds I make. I am reading
12
13Please send back Prelude. Some little bits are not ^in^ yet in one where
14she apologises to the baby for ^no^ not having any milk for it! Poor
15little thing! I do love her so. Perhaps I would care more about life &
16work more if I could have my food cooked for me & my clothes made like
17a man, or if I could have two hundred a year. Its Ed Carpenter is
18going to help me find a little £6 a year cottage in Surrey. We are
19going to Dorking: &c. Isn’t it good of him. Don’t mention this to
20anyone. I want to come into town & go to the to the Zoo with you
21please.
22
23Olive
24
25^Return Review^
26
2
3Yes, I can write better now than ever, my imagination has never worked
4so ligh easily My reason has never been so strong, nor my grasp
5anything like so wide. What I have lost is wish to produce for others.
6I wish it with my reason. I think I ought to wish it but I don’t
7care. It is a terrible thing to have become so indifferent. There is
8nothing worth caring for, is my instinctive feeling, though I never
9let it come up. I do care to save other people from suffering.
10Therefore only those which I can imagine will have that effect will be
11written of all the hundreds I make. I am reading
12
13Please send back Prelude. Some little bits are not ^in^ yet in one where
14she apologises to the baby for ^no^ not having any milk for it! Poor
15little thing! I do love her so. Perhaps I would care more about life &
16work more if I could have my food cooked for me & my clothes made like
17a man, or if I could have two hundred a year. Its Ed Carpenter is
18going to help me find a little £6 a year cottage in Surrey. We are
19going to Dorking: &c. Isn’t it good of him. Don’t mention this to
20anyone. I want to come into town & go to the to the Zoo with you
21please.
22
23Olive
24
25^Return Review^
26
Notation
The 'Prelude' Schreiner writes of is from From Man to Man. Draznin's (1992) version of this letter is in some respects different from our transcription. Cronwright-Schreiner's (1924) extract is incorrect in various ways.
The 'Prelude' Schreiner writes of is from From Man to Man. Draznin's (1992) version of this letter is in some respects different from our transcription. Cronwright-Schreiner's (1924) extract is incorrect in various ways.