The Interior Castle (69 page)

40
“
ideas
tested by”: Allen Tate, quoted in Axelrod,
Robert Lowell: Life and Art
, p. 39.

41
Lowell too was seduced: Ibid., p. 40.

42
“richer in immediate experience”: Ibid., p. 44.

1
roughly twenty thousand dollars: Harcourt, Brace royalty statement fox
Boston Adventure
, JS Collection, U. of Co.

2
“It is about”: JS to Cecile Starr, Aug. 23, 1945, courtesy of Cecile Starr.

3
“I imagine it”: JS to Paul and Dorothy Thompson, Aug. 23, 1945, courtesy of the Thompsons.

4
“Two families living”: Caroline Gordon to JS, n.d., McFarlin Library, University of Tulsa.

5
In December of 1945: Hamilton,
Robert Lowell
, p. 108.

6
Stafford meanwhile: Robert Giroux to author, May 6, 1991.

7
“Everything crashed”: JS to Cecile Starr, Nov. 27, 1945, courtesy of Cecile Starr.

8
“I shouldn’t tell”: JS to Mary Lee Frichtel, Nov. 27, 1945, JS Collection, U. of Co.

9
“One might think”: Delmore Schwartz to Helen Blackmur, quoted in Atlas,
Delmore Schwartz
, p. 263.

10
“Underseas fellows”: “To Delmore Schwartz,” Robert Lowell, in
Life Studies and For the Union Dead
(New York: Noonday Press, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1977), p. 53.

11
“You said”: #152, John Berryman, in
The Dream Songs
(New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1969), p. 171.

12
“to ‘express’ ”: Atlas,
Delmore Schwartz
, p. 231.

13
“No matter where”: Ibid., p. 235.

14
“suicide that had come” to “by the New Deal”: JS, “Truth and the Novelist,” p. 187.

15
“my friends said”: Ibid., p. 188.

16
“circulating malicious rumors”: Atlas,
Delmore Schwartz
, p. 265.

17
His gossip was: Roberts,
Jean Stafford
, p. 237; and Frank Parker interview with author, Nov. 23, 1990.

18
“We shall probably”: JS to Cecile Starr, Mar. 11, 1946, courtesy of Cecile Starr.

19
“house of ingratitude” to “house He built”: John Berryman, “Lowell, Thomas &c,”
Partisan Review
14, no. 1 (Winter 1947), p. 76.

20
“Death comes”: Axelrod,
Robert Lowell: Life and Art
, p. 52.

21
“When he came”: JS to Peter Taylor, Dec. 19, 1946, quoted in Hamilton,
Robert Lowell
, p. 111.

22
“We have had a taste”: JS to Allen Tate, Jan. 4, 1946, quoted in Hamilton,
Robert Lowell
, p. 108.

23
“They were entirely different” to “to fuse the two manners”: Harvey Breit, “Talk with Jean Stafford,”
The New York Times Book Review
, Jan. 20, 1952, p. 18.

24
“less inclined”: Lambert Davis to JS, Dec. 21, 1945, JS Collection, U. of Co.

25
“Your major change”: Robert Giroux to JS, n.d., Houghton Library, Harvard University.

26
“creature of funny precocity”: Robert Fitzgerald, “The Children,”
The Nation
164 (Apr. 5, 1947), p. 400.

27
“Gradually I became Molly”: JS to Robert Lowell, n.d., Houghton Library, Harvard University.

28
“double bildungsroman”: Charlotte Goodman, “The Lost Brother/The Twin: Women Novelists and the Male-Female Double Bildungsroman,”
Novel: A Forum on Fiction
17 (Fall 1983), pp. 28–43.

29
“He looked at”: JS,
The Mountain Lion
(New York: E. P. Dutton/Obelisk, 1983), p. 116.

30
“this scrawny” to “satiric nature”: Ibid., p. 143.

31
Bonney merchants and the Kenyon men: Ibid., p. 114.

32
“sissy life”: Ibid., p. 79.

33
“unseemly second marriage”: Ibid., p. 22.

34
“half legendary”: Ibid., p. 55.

35
“massive, slow-footed bear”: Ibid., p. 33.

36
a reconsideration of the novel: Blanche H. Gelfant, “Reconsideration,”
The New Republic
172 (May 10, 1975), pp. 22–25.

37
“virile opacity”: JS,
The Mountain Lion
, p. 168.

38
She was a symbolic element: Gelfant, “Reconsideration,” p. 22, for example.

39
“always smoldering”: JS,
The Mountain Lion
, p. 98.

40
“list of unforgivable” people to “were all fat”: Ibid., pp. 178–179.

41
“She burst into tears”: Ibid., p. 217.

42
“bereft in an unadulterated”: Maureen Ryan,
Innocence and Estrangement in the Fiction of Jean Stafford
(Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1987), p. 55.

43
“Ralph was troubled”: JS,
The Mountain Lion
, p. 186.

44
“Because his own”: Ibid., p. 168.

45
“If he did not become”: Ibid., p. 186.

46
“ ‘My literature is”: Ibid., p. 95.

47
“Gravel, gravel”: Ibid., p. 31.

48
“Everyone said she had”: Ibid., p. 144.

49
“though there was nothing” to “to have tuberculosis”: Ibid., p. 182.

50
“The pain was not”: Ibid., p. 131.

51
“For the most part”: Ibid., p. 177.

52
“In some respects” to “uses of literary expression”: Philip Rahv to JS, Feb. 8, 1947, JS Collection, U. of Co.

53
“My theory about children”: Alice Dixon Bond, “Fascination with Words Started Jean Stafford on Writing Career,”
Boston Sunday Herald
, Jan. 27, 1957.

54
“I know I’m ugly” to “got a home”: JS,
The Mountain Lion
, pp. 139–140.

55
“For ages”: JS to Robert Lowell, n.d., Houghton Library, Harvard University.

56
“I felt perpetually”: JS to Paul and Dorothy Thompson, Apr. 3, 1947, courtesy of the Thompsons.

57
“Come as soon as you can” to “pleasure and profit”: JS to Peter and Eleanor Taylor, Apr. 5, 1946, Vanderbilt University Library.

58
“That awful summer!”: JS, “An Influx of Poets,” p. 43.

59
“last summer of innocence”: Simpson,
Poets in Their Youth
, p. 134.

60
“It has been the most confused”: JS to Cecile Starr, n.d., courtesy of Cecile Starr.

61
She called it “the incident”: Oliver Jensen interview with author, Dec. 1, 1986.

62
“as if it were their”: JS, “A Country Love Story,”
Collected Stories
, p. 138.

63
“it seemed to her”: Ibid., p. 138.

64
“seized with the terror”: JS to Robert Lowell, n.d., Houghton Library, Harvard University.

65
“nest of ex-Communists”: JS unpublished memoir, courtesy of Oliver Jensen.

66
“tongue of an adder”: JS, “Influx of Poets,” p. 52.

67
“There was an influx”: Ibid., p. 48.

68
“Theron the poet’s”: Ibid., p. 47.

69
“I helped in every way”: Ibid., p. 56.

70
“Mine! Remember”: Ibid., p. 46.

71
“God almighty”: Ibid., p. 51.

72
“baby bards” to “drink didn’t help”: Ibid., p. 43.

73
“listening to the poets”: Ibid.

74
“all poets’ wives”: Atlas,
Delmore Schwartz
, p. 223.

75
“the prodigal poet”: Marjorie Perloff, “
Poètes Maudits
of the Genteel Tradition,” in
Robert Lowell: Essays on the Poetry
, ed. Axelrod and Deese, p. 109.

76
“I knew—although”: JS, “An Influx of Poets,” p. 43.

77
“But great as you are”: Nancy Flagg Gibney to JS, Jan. 29, 1979, JS Collection, U. of Co.

78
“somber mood”: Simpson,
Poets in Their Youth
, p. 135.

79
“Everything is going” to “houses with servants”: JS to Mary Lee Frichtel, June 13, 1946, JS Collection, U. of Co.

80
“I don’t care”: Robert Lowell to Peter Taylor, Aug. 13, 1946, quoted in Hamilton,
Robert Lowell
, p. 115.

81
“There has been such”: JS to Cecile Starr, n.d., courtesy of Cecile Starr.

82
“I have wanted to write”: JS to Peter Taylor, Aug. 28, 1946, Vanderbilt University Library.

1
“There was something” to “can protect me”: JS to Peter Taylor, Nov. 20, 1946, Vanderbilt University Library.

2
“He was, despite”: JS, “An Influx of Poets,” p. 44.

3
“If it had not been”: JS to Robert Lowell, n.d., Houghton Library, Harvard University.

4
“I have finally”: JS to Mary Lee Frichtel, Sept. 23, 1946, JS Collection, U. of Co.

5
“my marvelous man”: JS to Mary Lee Frichtel, Oct. 26, 1946, JS Collection, U. of Co.

6
Cecile Starr thought of her: Cecile Starr interview with author, Dec. 4, 1986.

7
“Boston Adventure was the product” to “finished the book”: JS to Robert Lowell, n.d., Houghton Library, Harvard University.

8
“almost more than”: JS, “A Personal Story” MS, JS Collection, U. of Co.

9
“Still, the torment”: Ibid.

10
“So ignorant and sheeplike”: JS, “An Influx of Poets,” p. 55.

11
“All I can feel now”: JS to Peter Taylor, Dec. 31, 1946, quoted in Hamilton,
Robert Lowell
, p. 122.

12
“not go any further”: JS to Robert Lowell, n.d., Houghton Library, Harvard University.

13
“If only I could sleep”: JS to Peter Taylor, Nov. 20, 1946, Vanderbilt University Library.

14
“safe between innumerable”: JS to Mary Lee Frichtel, Dec. 21, 1946, JS Collection, U. of Co.

15
“Luna Park”: Simpson,
Poets in Their Youth
, p. 150.

16
“I think the stumbling block”: JS diary, June 9, 1947, JS Collection, U. of Co.

17
“I warn you”: JS to Peter Taylor, Jan. 6, 1947, Vanderbilt University Library.

18
“I have had many very”: JS to Peter Taylor, n.d., Vanderbilt University Library.

19
“to get yourself”: Peter Taylor to JS, Nov. 12, 1946, JS Collection, U. of Co.

20
“a symbol to me”: JS to Peter Taylor, Mar. 31, 1947, Vanderbilt University Library.

21
“I must be believed in”: JS to Robert Lowell, n.d., Houghton Library, Harvard University.

22
“Once again I have”: JS to Peter Taylor, Mar. 31, 1947, Vanderbilt University Library.

23
“appearing in the Nation”: JS to Robert Lowell, n.d., Houghton Library, Harvard University.

24
“Cal, let me point”: JS to Robert Lowell, n.d., Houghton Library, Harvard University.

25
“last year’s authors”: Cyril Connolly, “Introduction,”
Horizon
93–94 (Oct. 1947) p. 5, quoted in Roberts,
Jean Stafford
, pp. 265–266.

26
“I am only”: JS to Cecile Starr, n.d., courtesy of Cecile Starr.

27
“I have never”: JS to Robert Lowell, n.d., Houghton Library, Harvard University.

28
“What do I care” to “being a writer”: JS to Robert Lowell, n.d., Houghton Library, Harvard University.

29
“incapable of being loved”: JS to Peter Taylor, Dec. 19, 1946, Vanderbilt University Library.

30
“Jean has suffered”: Peter Taylor to Robert Lowell, Nov. 19, 1946, Houghton Library, Harvard University.

31
“I love children”: JS, “Sisterhood,” an unfinished essay, JS Collection, U. of Co.

32
“I have never”: JS biographical fragments, JS Collection, U. of Co.

33
“Partly because I was born”: JS to Mary Lou Aswell, n.d., JS Collection, U. of Co.

34
“My mother’s death”: JS miscellaneous notes and drafts, JS Collection, U. of Co.

35
“I received”: JS to Robert Lowell, n.d., Houghton Library, Harvard University.

36
“I grieve that”: JS to Peter Taylor, Feb. 5, 1947, Vanderbilt University Library.

37
“I try to see” to “presently be kidnapped”: JS diary, JS Collection, U. of Co.

38
“Deep-rooted as it all is”: JS to Peter Taylor, Dec. 25, 1946.

39
“There are no pictures”: JS diary, JS Collection, U. of Co.

40
“I felt awful” to “without drinking”: JS to Mary Lee Frichtel, Feb. 11, 1947, JS Collection, U. of Co.

41
“mutilated with woe” JS to Peter Taylor, June 2, 1947, Vanderbilt University Library.

42
“Faced with its loveliness”: JS to Cecile Starr, n.d., courtesy of Cecile Starr.

43
awarded a Pulitzer: Hamilton,
Robert Lowell
, p. 124.

44
“The pictures of him”: JS to Peter Taylor, June 2, 1947, Vanderbilt University Library.

45
“I went alone”: JS to Mary Lee Frichtel, postmarked May 19, 1947, JS Collection, U. of Co.

46
“It would be”: JS to Robert Lowell, n.d., Houghton Library, Harvard University.

47
“What Pansy thought”: JS, “The Interior Castle,”
Collected Stories
, pp. 182–183.

48
“the time would come” to “rosy luster”: Ibid., p. 192.

49
“never had the quiet” to “treasureless head”: Ibid., p. 193.

50
“And now that”: JS, “ ‘My Sleep Grew Shy of Me’ ”
Vogue
110 (Oct. 15, 1947), p. 135.

51
“I honored the good practice”: Ibid., p. 171.

52
“convalescence, the charming” to “had forsworn forever”: Ibid., p. 174.

53
“I have been here”: JS hospital diary, May 30, 1947, JS Collection, U. of Co.

54
at that point Lowell had agreed: JS to Robert Lowell, n.d., Houghton Library, Harvard University.