SITWELL, Dame Edith (1887-1964). Poet and Critic.
Autograph Letter Signed ("Edith Sitwell") to the Editor of The Spectator, refusing to respond to "anonymous semi-literates" who had evidently ctriticised her, referring to the death of "my friend Dylan Thomas" and expressing her admiration for Kingsley Am
Edith Sitwell visited the United States more than once, accompanied by her brother Osbert. During one of her visits to Hollywood, she was entertained by admirers as diverse as Charles Chaplin, Greta Garbo and - a meeting difficult to imagine - Marilyn Monroe. Her letter to The Spectator, written during one of her visits, gives an excellent impression of an irritated, aristocratic Sitwell, responding to correspondence appearing in the magazine.
". . . anonymous letter writers are not regarded with favour by the community in general . . . I cannot be expected to waste my time in arguing with anonymous semi-literates who can neither understand what they read . . . nor express themselves in educated English . . . this letter is obviously written by the same wearisome person who wrote the letter signed "Little Mr. Tomkins". . . My book was published only a few days before the death of my friend Dylan Thomas . . . It was only when I saw Mr. Harley's review that I looked at the notes, and saw the omission. . . Mr. Howard is a superb stylist: "Her childish cable (sic) might well have been allowed the oblivion of being left to stew in the bitter juice of injured self-complacency in which it was spawned." The above should figure in every anthology of English prose. . . Mr. Harley and I have at least one thing in common. I gather that he admires . . . Mr. Kingsley Amis. . . I have read his most remarkable, most distinguished first novel Lucky Jim with enthusiastic admiration. . ."
The top of the first page has a few printers marks and notes from the Spectator, and the verso is somewhat stained at the top, but the letter is entirely legible and in acceptable condition.
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