{"id":883,"date":"2012-01-19T13:04:39","date_gmt":"2012-01-19T17:04:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/?p=883"},"modified":"2013-12-18T19:49:22","modified_gmt":"2013-12-18T23:49:22","slug":"hall-to-mcnair-july-23-1977","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/hall-to-mcnair-july-23-1977\/","title":{"rendered":"Hall to McNair: July 23, 1977"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\"Page-1-Hall-to-McNair-7-23-1977\"<\/a>\"Page-2-Hall-to-McNair-7-23-1977\"<\/a><\/p>\n

[Click image to view]<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

23 July 1977<\/p>\n

Wes McNair
\nNo. Sutton
\nNew Hampshire<\/p>\n

Dear Wes,<\/p>\n

Thanks for the good letter, written July 10th (it couldn\u2019t have
\nbeen written July 10th!, but that\u2019s what it seems to say).<\/p>\n

I\u2019m delighted to do the lecture. I will I think talk about the
\nnature of American nationality, and the identity of the national
\nliterature – which sounds incredibly pompous; but I will spice it up
\nwith a lot of jokes!<\/p>\n

Thanks again for writing about the Christ incident. I am interested
\nthat everyone was so sensitive about it. I can see why. Anyway, I think
\nif I were you I would go there also, although the morals of it would give
\nme pause – as I\u2019m sure it gives you pause. But you cannot investigate
\nanything by staying behind in North Sutton. And it is possible that if
\nyou go there, and find out what is going on, you can do something for the
\npeople, not just for the government. I don\u2019t really believe in the people-
\nto-people – I mean, I think that\u2019s rhetoric. The Fulbright is<\/span> a U S gov-
\nernment grant, and people in the various countries know it. And there
\nare, yes, worser places even than Chile! I don\u2019t think Russia.
\n[Written in margin: I mean I don\u2019t think there are F\u2019s.] But lots
\nof weird places. Our government criticized<\/del> politicized the Fulbrights originally,
\nby denying them to people with leftwing connections. By denying them to
\nAmericans with leftwing connections, I mean. There is no way to do any-
\nthing in the modern world without tarnishing yourself with something or
\nother. You cannot drive on the highways, without accepting something
\nfrom Meldrim Thomp<\/del>son. I\u2019m serious!<\/p>\n

Have you read – do you own – the Hardie St.Martin anthology from Harper
\nand Row called Roots and Wings<\/span>? It\u2019s superb. It is Spanish poetry, not
\nLatin American, but it has some of the best translations going. Very few
\npoor ones. By a whole lot of different translators, including Bly and Merwin
\nand Phil Levine, some of the best. I have a couple of translations in there
\nmyself, but I don\u2019t put myself in that company. It is available in paper-
\nback now, but it\u2019s a pretty expensive paperback. I would really recommend
\nit.<\/p>\n

Isn\u2019t the blind<\/del> Bly Neruda easily available? From Beacon? I mean, Carlton
\nwon\u2019t have it in New London, I know. But you can get it mailed up to you from
\nBoston I\u2019m sure. There\u2019s a wonderful book store in Cambridge, the Grolier,
\nwhich will mail things to me. In case you don\u2019t happen to have a place that
\nwill do it, would you like that name and address? It is Louisa Salano, Grolier
\nBook Shop, 6 Pli<\/del>ympton St., Cambridge, MA. If you tell her I suggested that you
\nwrite her, I think she will mail you stuff without having to bite the money.<\/p>\n

I will ask Jane to show me the last version of the \u201cFather\u201d poem.
\nSeriously, I keep so separate from Green House, I don\u2019t know what\u2019s going
\nto be in it until I read the print edition. It\u2019s better this way, knowing
\nmy propensity toward sticking my nose into everything!<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t send you the \u201cJourneys Through Bookland\u201d because I thought
\nit sounded like any of your poems. I didn\u2019t think of that. I just happened
\nto have a copy of it, and it is brand new. I wonder what you think of \u201cStone
\nWalls\u201d\u2026 I look forward to hearing about that. Yes, I do have a copy of
\nTiger Lilies to give you and I\u2019m delighted to give you a copy. I like that
\none also.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sorry you won\u2019t be there for the lecture also. Well, not so much
\nthat you won\u2019t be there for the lecture, just that you won\u2019t be there. But
\nwe look forward to you coming back – and I\u2019m absolutely fascinated to hear
\nabout everything in Chile. Especially about the poets. Well, the poets
\nand the opposition – and for the most part poets will be in<\/span> the opposition.<\/p>\n

Best to you both, from us both,<\/p>\n

Don<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\n

Read Illustration <\/span><\/a><\/strong>(published version)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Read Stone Walls <\/span><\/a><\/strong>(published version)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n

\n <\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Click image to view] 23 July 1977 Wes McNair No. Sutton New Hampshire Dear Wes, Thanks for the good letter, written July 10th (it couldn\u2019t have been written July 10th!, but that\u2019s what it seems to say). I\u2019m delighted to do the lecture. I will I think talk about the nature of American nationality, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2341,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27136,596,42965,35504,35505],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2341"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=883"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11255,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883\/revisions\/11255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}