Quote:
Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward
To get a good view of RAH as a writer, I highly recommend reading his posthumus book of letters. They tell more about the business of writing than anything else I've read. In addition, several of the letters are just gems, by anybody's standard. (The letter about his retiring in 1940, and the letter about the two wheelbarrows are great reading. I and my brother quote them to each other all the time.) They also describe the headaches (from a writer's perspective) of the writer/editor interactions. It's P-book only, unfortunately. It ends in 1969, when he retired from answering all correspondence, even to his agent. (Ginny took over.)
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I did read it, and found it aggravating. Not the letters, per se, which could be wonderful, but the organization.
Ginny seemed determined to enshrine Bob as a plaster saint (which I think he'd be the first to protest he wasn't), so they were edited and excerpted to omit things that might have reflected unfavorably on him.
They were also arranged by general topic, with no regard to chronological order or thread of conversation. I wanted to get
two copies, and cut and paste them into a different order.
I'd
love to see a real collection of his correspondence, but doubt I ever will.
______
Dennis