Letter to an English Landscape Architect, November 12, 1991. Part I

Tuesday, Nov. 12th 1991
Durham, NC

Dear [English Landscape Architect],

The time between my leaving England and writing this now is about ten weeks, which seems at the same time both actual and surreal. 

Working for the AIDSTECH Division of Family Health International as a temporary secretary for three people, one of them the deputy director, another a "Condom Logistics Specialist," and all of whom are women adds to the mixture of actuality & surreality. 

I can appreciate the trials and tribulations of permanent secretaries, without having to become fully embroiled in long-term bureaucratic politics and power relationships. I can leave whenever I like, being a temporary; on the other hand, I've made several friends and I can probably stay through December, and since AIDSTECH is a better place to work than a bank or a for-profit corporation, I'll probably stay. 

Fighting the spread of AIDS, particularly in Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America and Southeast Asia is a good cause, though the attitude occasionally seems at times to dip into patronizing.

Out of eleven secretaries, two of us are men. Stephen F. is an ex-minister who worked in West Virginia until, after a month, he decided he'd had enough. His father is a Swedish Lutheran minister living in New Jersey. Patricia M. is a Classics student, she has a Ph.D in ancient languages, & here she is working as a secretary! Several people are working between "here & there," deciding what to do next, or like me, about to move on.

I'll be moving in early January to Philadelphia, and will set off in a couple of weeks for an exploratory visit. My history program begins on January 20, 1992. Living in London has prepared me well.

I really enjoyed spending the summer in greater London, both in Clapham and downtown. 

London is perhaps fifty times larger than Durham, North Carolina. The entire metro area here, the Research Triangle -- including Chapel Hill & the University of N.C.; Durham & Duke Univ. & N.C. Central University; and the state capital of Raleigh & N.C. State University -- may have 600,000 or 700,000, which is still only about one-tenth of London's population.

At the same time, this area has seen an increase in crime. In the last year, there's been a 45% rise (according to statistics-driven social scientists) in violent crime, with more murders than in all of London during the same time span. 

This is a more openly violent, and certainly more gun-toting country than England; we're a nation under arms. Some guy in Texas, just a few weeks ago, drove his truck into a cafeteria and gunned down 27 people; and not long after that, a Chinese Ph.D student in physics shot seven people at the University of Iowa.

I'm looking forward to Oliver Stone's new movie about the Kennedy assassination, because of its commentary and apparent indictment of violence in the U.S.  

I'm not sure how we'll get out of this mentality, but we should start with sensible gun control and improved humanist education. Whatever, it will take a long time.        

[End Part I.]

Erik Donald France to Wallace Fowlie, October 24, 1987 (Part III)

[Though earlier I'd donated to Duke letters from Wallace Fowlie (1908-1998) to me, more recently, in sorting through my files, I came across photocopies of at least some of the letters I wrote to him. Here's another one of them (typed), from when I lived just off Little River Church Road in Hurdle Mills, North Carolina. He was residing at 17D Valley Terrace Apartments, 2836 Chapel Hill Road, Durham, North Carolina. This is Part III of the October 24, 1987 epistle. Ellipses indicate slight editing (deletion of a few personal details). Extra paragraph breaks added for easier reading. For his other letters, please see Wallace Fowlie Papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University. Here's a link to the collection guide.]

In 1982, I traveled with my sister [L] around the U.S., to San Francisco and New Orleans; in '83, I convinced [W] to try Mardi Gras; in May '83, I drove with [X] to Boulder, Colorado.

That summer I was quickly persuaded to travel to Europe -- on impulse [cherchez la femme = "D"]. I knew that if I didn't go then, I would despise myself forever. 

During the course of that journey, I wandered around freely, exploring Paris and Rome, Munich, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, London & Zurich.

In Paris I met an entertaining German named Heinz who talked about Morrison over the latter's grave for hours until he bummed a Métro ticket from another visitor for destination unknown. This time Morrison's grave had a bust to mark the spot, along with a whole new set of graffiti inscriptions. 

[Y] & I . . . paid Jim a visit on May 1st, 1986, during communist, socialist & anarchist demonstrations in and around Père Lachaise. A knot of strange people sat around smoking, drinking and talking and looking at the latest inscriptions until gendarmes with rifles cleared us out. This time the bust was missing part of Jim's nose. 

The Doors seem to haunt everywhere I go. I remember hitch-hiking in Bavaria in '83 & being picked up by Germans who didn't say a word, just blasted "Riders on the Storm" and "When the Music's Over."

And in Toulouse, in May 1986, [Y] and I were put, at first, in the basement of a jazz club restaurant where speakers played, in eerie reverberation, the Doors. Upstairs only jazz played.

One final thing I wanted to mention. I was reading, a few weeks ago, Breton's Nadja. On one page I noted the photo of an unexplained manuscript in which is mentioned a Monsieur St. Bonnet. In a book full of subjective coincidence & mystical fates, I was struck by the fact that this is the surname of my mother's mother (Catherine St. Bonnet [1914-2009]); that only the week before, while reading Breton's poems in The Poetry of Surrealism, I lost a poem I wrote under the name of Alexander St. Bonnet!

                                             Very Sincerely Yours,
                                             Erik D. France

[Today, I received an email letting me know that my grandmother's brother Richard Nicholas St. Bonnet's (1910-1991) 1940 draft card had turned up in the historical record, and that his wife's middle name was the same as "Y's" first name. Catherine and Richard's father, Warren Nicholas St. Bonnet (1885-1918), died one hundred years ago this year in the Great Influenza Pandemic.]   

Erik Donald France to Wallace Fowlie, October 24, 1987 (Part II)

[Though earlier I'd donated to Duke letters from Wallace Fowlie (1908-1998) to me, more recently, in sorting through my files, I came across photocopies of at least some of the letters I wrote to him. Here's another one of them (typed), from when I lived just off Little River Church Road in Hurdle Mills, North Carolina. He was residing at 17D Valley Terrace Apartments, 2836 Chapel Hill Road, Durham, North Carolina. This is Part II of the October 24, 1987 epistle. Ellipses indicate slight editing (deletion of a few personal details). Extra paragraph breaks added for easier reading. For his other letters, please see Wallace Fowlie Papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University. Here's a link to the collection guide.]

I wanted to tell you, as well, [h]ow the Doors really did act as doors of perception for me from age seventeen . . . 

I believe in the strange quirkiness of coincidence and chance, beginning with the proximity of my birthday to Morrison's . . . That John Lennon was shot and killed on the 8th . . .

I spent my sixth birthday in Justice, Illinois, south of Chicago; my eighth in St. Paul, Minnesota; ninth in Durham; and eighteenth in Lexington, Virginia, at the Virginia Military Institute as a Rat. 

One of my roommates, a guy from Connecticut [Carl], turned me on completely to Morrison & the Doors. My elder sister, Vickie, had a couple of their albums from the late sixties, and I had loved, for as long as I could remember, "Light My Fire" and "Riders on the Storm," but VMI provided the right atmosphere for me to be completely won over by Morrison. 

"No one can scream like Jim Morrison" was my roommate's boast. 

I hated VMI and left after a semester. . . I transferred to UNC-Chapel Hill . . . growing beards and shaving them every few months, wearing dashikis, etc. -- until making a decision to head for Europe with a history class. 

I made a new friend on the trip and dragged him [W] along with me to see Père Lachaise and especially "Jim."

There it was, a modest site stuck between elevated stone markers, graffiti on all the neighbors' tombs. 

I read No One Here Gets Out Alive and was struck by the fact that there was no marker whatsoever, just unmistakable signs ("JIM---") & drunken, bizarre visitors.

By the time we got back to the USA, I was reading more voraciously and wildly.

Another friend of mine [K] had also been tuned into Morrison & the Doors simultaneously. 

Vickie sparked my interest in Jack Kerouac & the Beat Generation and also, since she had majored in French Literature at NC State University, French lit. 

I have been scrambling ever since, reading in translation Balzac, Gide, Camus, Sartre,  Céline, Jarry, some of Proust, Baudelaire, Rimbaud, and recently, Lautréamont, Apollinaire, Arp, Breton, and Russians (Dostoevsky especially), your Age of Surrealism (which was highly recommended by Judy Hogan), and your study of Lautréamont.

I remember . . . working at Pizza Transit Authority, reading Baudelaire & Rimbaud aloud with [K] & hooting with laughter . . . laughing about gnawing the ends of rifle butts and centers radiating universal stupidity, which is how we looked at our absurd jobs at the time delivering pizzas. 

[End Part II. Conclusion in next post.]

                                                

Erik Donald France to Wallace Fowlie, October 24, 1987 (Part I)

[Though earlier I'd donated to Duke letters from Wallace Fowlie (1908-1998) to me, more recently, in sorting through my files, I came across photocopies of at least some of the letters I wrote to him. Here's another one of them (typed), from when I lived just off Little River Church Road in Hurdle Mills, North Carolina. He was residing at 17D Valley Terrace Apartments, 2836 Chapel Hill Road, Durham, North Carolina. Ellipses indicate slight editing (deletion of a few personal details). For his other letters, please see Wallace Fowlie Papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University. Here's a link to the collection guide.]

                                                October 24th 1987
                                                Little River Church Rd.

Dear Professor Fowlie,

After hearing you speak about the artworks from your collection in the North Gallery, and particularly after chatting with you briefly a few days later at the Durham County Library with Judy Hogan, I felt compelled to communicate with you on a more personal level. Since I work during the day in Public Documents and have no opportunity to sit in on your Dante class, I thought the next best thing would be to write you a letter.

The influence of Rimbaud on rock music provides a fascinating and well-grounded thesis which I urge you to expand upon. In the Rimbaud lecture you mentioned an interview of Bob Dylan by Allan Ginsberg; so I though you might also be interested in a song by the now-defunct musical group "The Clash," which actually includes recitation of poetry by Ginsberg. 

At the risk of saying things you already know, a couple of prefatory sentences are in order. The Clash, an English group, released their first album at the height of the Punk Rock movement in Britain (1977), made a total of six albums (The Clash, Give 'Em Enough Rope, London Calling, Sandinista!, Combat Rock and Cut the Crap) before disintegrating about a year ago. They were considered by many rock critics an important voice of "youth in rebellion." 

The song "Ghetto Defendant" is on side two of Combat Rock (1982). Joe Strummer and Mick Jones sing one part of the song while Ginsberg speaks the other, to music. Ginsberg opens with: [quoted lyrics follow in the original.]

Can it be that "graphed in a jiffy" refers to the Picasso sketch on the cover of your Rimbaud: Complete Works?

What is unclear is how much influence Ginsberg himself had on the lyrics to "Ghetto Defendant." The exclusive credits are given to The Clash on the record sleeve. As you mentioned in the lecture, Ginsberg is an admirer of Rimbaud. (As was his friend Jack Kerouac, whose 1960 poem "Rimbaud" I discovered in Scattered Poems about five years ago -- I had never seen it before). Perhaps this may be of some use to you.  

[End Part I. Continued in next post.]

[Judy Hogan (1937-) = founder of Carolina Wren Press. If I recall correctly, she gave writing/poetry workshops at the Public Library.

Public Documents = one of my places of employment, situated in the basement of Perkins Library, Duke University West Campus. I was a library clerk, library assistant and professional intern there before moving on. One of my last projects was overseeing the preservation of League of Nations documents and making a display on the Great War and the 1920s.] 

Erik Donald France to Wallace Fowlie, February 20, 1991

[Though earlier I'd donated to Duke letters from Wallace Fowlie (1908-1998) to me, more recently, in sorting through my files, I came across photocopies of at least some of the letters I wrote to him. Here's another one of them, from when I lived near Little River Church Road in Hurdle Mills, North Carolina. Ellipses indicate slight editing (deletion of a few personal details). For his other letters, please see Wallace Fowlie Papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University. Here's a link to the collection guide.]

                                              Hurdle Mills, NC
                                              February 20, 1991

Dear Wallace,

Yesterday I read the Baudelaire chapter in Poem & Symbol; afterwards I took a roundabout walk through Chapel Hill and Carrboro and let my thoughts react to the physical sensations of seeing, smelling, hearing, feeling. By the time I looped back to downtown Franklin Street, the town had changed into a city block. I could distinctly smell the burnt cinders of the Continental Café, which was destroyed last weekend.

La forme d’une ville

Change plus vite, hélas, que le Coeur d’un mortel.

["The shape of a city

Changes faster, alas, than the heart of a mortal." 

~ Charles Baudelaire, «Le Cygne» ("The Swan," 1857)]

Poem & Symbol is exciting. Your writing is compact and forceful. I remember that when [Y] first told me about you years ago, you were teaching a class on the French Symbolists, and I read a few monographs about them, but none as stimulating as this. It’s the impact of your economic style, which is what I admire about my favorite French writers, too.

How have you been? Has The Doors Complete been published? I am anxious to know the outcome of your dealings with Sugarman and Lisciandro; also whether you have any opinions about the Oliver Stone movie due in March. Morrison is a difficult character to portray fairly to the American public. Most will react negatively to him. They’ll be scandalized by his behavior. I am excited by the movie and hope it’s good. Did you have a chance to see Henry & June? It was well-directed and well-shot, and also “scandalous.” Uniformed police guarded the entrance to the theater.

I hope all is well with you and that Carol Woods in endurable. Let’s get together soon, if possible. [Y] and I are fine, still working on our studies at UNC. I’ll be receiving my master’s in library science in May [which turned out to be December due to a technical glitch] . . .

Warmly yours,

Erik

[The Continental Café and Hector's were linked eateries on Henderson Street, just off Franklin and across from the US Post Office. These were favorites as an undergraduate. The Greek owners were originally from a Greek island in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Turkey. The Continental had what looked like round white shields on the outside, and columns. Entering, the interior had cool images of what I interpreted as scenes from the Trojan War and Greek mythology, soldiers with plumed helmets and weaponry, &c. I loved it. It seems as if it was slightly below street level, and was darker inside, some wood paneling. There was a serene waitress with very long hair, maybe waist-length; she had the sangfroid of the Greek actress Irene Papas. This was a sit-down place. Hector's was brighter, on the corner of Franklin and Henderson, with a different entrance, and was open late; it served hot fries and tzatziki-lathered souvlakia and gyros wrapped in tin foil. It had stools and mirrors and windows and was more like a fast-food place.

Sugarman and Lisciandro = Danny Sugarman (1954-2005), who worked with The Doors and Iggy Pop, and Frank Lisciandro, whose Morrison: A Feast of Friends came out in 1991.

Oliver Stone -- The Doors (1991). Starring Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison, Kyle MacLachlan as Ray Manzarek and Meg Ryan as Pamela Courson.

Henry & June (1990), directed by Philip Kaufman and rated NC-17. Starring Maria de Medeiros as Anaïs Nin, Uma Thurman as June Smerdt Miller and Fred Ward as Henry Miller.

Carol Woods = at 750 Weaver Dairy Road, Chapel Hill.

Library school. Little did I know in walking the area in the spirit of Baudelaire that I would be living in London later that year, and move to Philadelphia the following January. I still enjoy seeing Chapel Hill and Carrboro, but am now lucky if I'm able to travel there two or three times per year. Baudelaire was right.]

Erik Donald France to Wallace Fowlie, August 23, 1989

[Though earlier I'd donated to Duke letters from Wallace Fowlie (1908-1998) to me, more recently, in sorting through my files, I came across photocopies of at least some of the letters I wrote to him. Here's another one of them, from when I lived near Little River Church Road in Hurdle Mills, North Carolina. Ellipses indicate slight editing (deletion of a few personal details). For his other letters, please see Wallace Fowlie Papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University. Here's a link to the collection guide.]

                                           Hurdle Mills, NC
                                           August 23, 1989

Dear Wallace,

I was very glad to hear from you. For a little while, I was worried; however, it's not surprising that you chose Chapel Hill over Burlington as a place to retire. I don't know what Carol Woods is like, but I hope you're becoming more comfortable with the arrangement.*

I would love to visit you, as would [Y] if you're taking visitors. The last weeks and even the next one have been & will be hectic. My friend [C] lost his father this past month. You may have known him, he was a distinguished Chemistry Prof. at UNC ([CM]). [C] and his wife [J] are now travelling in France & Italy, a trip they had earlier planned. Now my grandfather** is seriously ill, so [Y] & I are going to drive my mother to Pennsylvania to see him. 

Things will have calmed by next week at this time. I shall give you a call; but please write if you'd like. 

([B] mentioned the pleasant evening he had with you).

If you're not taking visitors, perhaps we can go to Pyewackett [Pyewacket]*** or somewhere. Remember that Chapel Hill has been my hangout for the past 10 years!  

I hope you are doing well, Wallace. Please take care & be at ease. If you ever need anything, please call me at work or home at any time. Hope to see you soon.  

Affectionately Yours,
Erik

[*750 Weaver Dairy Road, Chapel Hill. 

**Eugene Levering Shaffer (November 4, 1909-October 7, 1989).

**Pyewacket Restaurant at 431 West Franklin Street. It ran from the late 1970s until the early 2000s. Situated near where I'd worked at Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill earlier in the 1980s, my favorites included ahead-of-their-time salads like the Morning Star with zesty dressings such as Umeboshi Plum, Lemon Tamari and Moutarde de Meaux. "Seasonal Eclectic Cuisine." Fantastic!] 

Erik Donald France to Wallace Fowlie, July 4, 1992

[Though earlier I'd donated to Duke letters from Wallace Fowlie (1908-1998) to me, more recently, in sorting through my files, I came across photocopies of at least some of the letters I wrote to him. Here's one of them, from when I lived on Spruce Street. For his other letters, please see Wallace Fowlie Papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University. Here's a link to the collection guide.]

                                  July 4th 1992
                                   Philadelphia

Dear Wallace,

It has been a long time since I've heard from you, and I hope all's well with you. I will call you after sending this letter to make sure you are all right.

My first semester in the Ph.D program went very well. I have only to write one paper this summer, and am working here through temporary agencies through August at least. The fall semester doesn't begin until September.  

With about ten other people, I am working as a general and music editor for a new magazine called Quo Moto [Quo Modo] Quarterly. The first issue is scheduled to come out in the fall. I'm writing an article about the Ephrata Cloister in Ephrata, Pennsylvania.  I am also working on a short story. I should finish both of these this summer.

[Deleted paragraph].

If you can, please let me know how you are, how your spring semester went, and what your plans are. I am anxious to hear from you!

                                                     As Ever,
                                                         Erik

P.S. I'm listening to Édith Piaf  

"Edward William Johnston And Roanoke Female Seminary" (1969), Part 2

[Notes from studying Margaret P. Scott and Rachel Wilson, "Edward William Johnston And Roanoke Female Seminary," Journal of the Roanoke Historical Society. Roanoke, Virginia. Volume 5, Number 2 (Winter 1969), pages 15-25. Scott and Wilson, Hollins Class of 1912, were emeritus professors at the time of publication. They worked with Professor Louis Decimus Rubin, Jr. (1923-2013) at Hollins; I worked for him for a couple of years at Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill before becoming a professional librarian, and he often spoke of Hollins-connected writers.]

With the breakup of the Roanoke Female Seminary in the early 1840s, Edward William Johnston resumed his work as a writer and newspaper editor. At some point, he acquired a residence in Washington City.

So it is with some surprise to read that in the 1840s, Edward "spent several years at 'Lauderdale,' the house of his cousin, Judge Edward Johnston. This farm is about twenty miles from Hollins College. We have in the Hollins Archives a letter written by Edward William Johnston from 'Lauderdale' on Feb. 14, 1844, to Dr. John H. Griffin of Salem about the recurring illness of his wife, Estelle . . ." (page 21).

"In 1848, Edward William Johnston was made a corresponding member of the Virginia Historical Society, along with Lt. Matthew Fontaine Maury and other distinguished Virginians. After the death of his first wife, Johnston married a Mrs. Woolley of Louisville, Kentucky, and just before the outbreak of the Civil War went to St. Louis, where he served as librarian of the Mercantile Library . . ." (pages 21-22).

Other Johnston family connections to Hollins down the generations: 

Caroline Hughes Neal, Hollins Class of 1953 (Edward William Johnston's great great niece). [Caroline Wright Hughes, b. 1931, may still be alive. She was married to John Jenette Neal, Jr. (1927-2006)]
Alice Johnston Williams, Class of 1892
Virginia Williams Lee, A.B. 1928
Jane Williams, B.M., 1930
Eloise Johnston [(1872-1943)], attended 1888-1890. Sister of the novelist Mary Johnston [(1870-1936)]
Helen Converse Putzel, A.B. 1963, granddaughter of Agnes Hughes Johnston hailing from Abingdon (page 22).

In the Bibliography: "Papers marked 'Literary Remains.' These seem to be class lectures. Some are in Johnston's own handwriting, others were copied for him by a member of his family. The subjects are literary and historical" (page 24). Presumably these are held by Hollins University.

[Edward William Johnston (1799-1867)
Estelle = Marie Antoinette Estelle Costar (De Cressac Villagrand) Johnston (circa 1802-1848).
Estelle's mother = Joséphine Labarrière (1776-1858). Her first husband was Dr. Paul Valentine Costar (d. by 1805); her second, Jerome De Cressac Villagrand (1776-1845). Jerome died on September 2, 1845, in Washington City, undoubtedly while living in the Edward William Johnston household there.
Harvey Mitchell/Michel (1799-1866)
Jane = Jane Mary Wood Johnston Mitchell/Michel (1811-1892)
Judge Edward Johnston (January 10, 1807-May 1, 1853) died of pneumonia. He was married to Emeline Sophia Bowyer (1809-1893).
Dr. John Hook Griffin (1803-1878) was the brother of Elizabeth Hook Griffin (circa 1801-1829), Harvey Mitchell/Michel's first wife and mother of Charlotte Elizabeth Griffin Mitchell (1829-1921)]


[Many thanks to William Myers, Mary Davy, Sally Young and Sue Davis for their ongoing research collaboration.]

Jane Wood Johnston Michel to William Whann Mackall, April 25, 1891

[Jane Mary Wood Johnston Mitchell/Michel at Washington City to William Whann Mackall at (Washington City), April 25, 1891, Series 2, folder 6, William Whann Mackall Papers, #1299, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill].

931 P st. N.W.
April 25 [1891]

Gen. Macall [Mackall],

Knowing as I do the great attachment which subsisted between yourself & my brother, Gen. Johnston, I have thought you would be pleased to possess some memento of him. Accordingly, I have laid aside for you one of his canes -- very plain, as you know was his habit as to personal belongings -- but if I mistake not, valuable in your eyes as having been used by him. He made no disposition of his personal effects, which accounts for no bequest being left for you. If you will send some one for it, I shall be glad to have this small relic put into your hands. I don't know how otherwise to convey it.

Accept at the same time, friend of my brother, for his sake, the high regard of his sister.

Jane W. Michel

[Jane (1811-1892)
William Whann "W. W." Mackall (1817-August 12, 1891)
Joseph Eggleston Johnston (1807-March 21, 1891)]

[Many thanks to William Myers, Mary Davy and Sally Young for their ongoing research collaboration.]

Letter from Wallace Fowlie, Thanksgiving 1993

Letter from Wallace Fowlie (1908-1998) at Chapel Hill to Erik France at Powelton Village, Philadelphia, Thanksgiving (November 25), 1993. 

Dear Erik,

Never would I think of judging you harshly on what has happened. As you present them, . . . and your . . . make you appear a lucky man. 1992 must have been a hard year for you. You deserve your present happiness which will continue. I congratulate you and send you and . . . my love and blessings.

After all those sections of writing and research skills at Temple, your present T.A. teaching in U.S. history, and grading exams in an American Studies class must be more to your liking. 

The Doors Complete was never published. Thanks to that, Frank Lisciandro has helped us get some pictures of J.M. for the book.

Since I did not teach this present semester, I have done a bit more work with my other profession which I may never have mentioned to you. I am a "lay psychiatrist" from Mass. General Hospital in Boston. Worked there 3 years (when I taught at Bennington). Then for two winters in Paris. I worked with Otto Rank. He began giving me a few Catholic patients (Since he makes nothing out of "that stuff"[)]. And here in N.C., it has continued. I work for 3 doctors, 2 in Durham and 1 in Chapel Hill, who send me (when I have  time) Catholic patients. I have right now 2 hard cases: a student (boy) from Duke and a girl from UNC . . . (Rank gave me one similar case in Paris) . . .

My health is good -- and if it continues, I will give my Dante course in January: both sections are filled (130 students.) I look forward to it. 

Your letter was dated a few days after my 85th birthday (Nov. 8)-- a big day  in my life. Brenda Brodie had me for lunch with 3 good friends of hers and mine. The evening was a meeting (banquet) of the Duke Catholic Community: 250 students, faculty, and administrators. Coach K was to be the after-dinner speaker. I had always wanted to meet him and tell him the good work two of his players did in my classes (Mark Crow and Mark Alarie.) I saw him at the entrance of the dining room. I shook hands with him, as he said, "Wallace, I know all about you from my players." We had a good chat. At dessert time,a waiter carried to my table a huge cake: "To Wallace on his  85th" -- and they all sang "Happy Birthday." I had to cut 150 small pieces of cake for the other tables. Mike K's speech was the best I have heard at Duke: witty, highly spirited -- at the end he spoke of a few professors who were present, and then, pointing at me, said "And that man publishes a new book every year!" (not accurate!) Erik, excuse this egoism. Let's keep in better touch.

love,
Wallace      

Letter from Wallace Fowlie, August 27, 1993

Letter from Wallace Fowlie (1908-1998) at Chapel Hill to Erik France [at Powelton Village], Philadelphia, August 27, 1993.

Dear Erik,

Beside me I have your last letter written March 26, 1992! Will this reach you? Are you still in Philadelphia? Is Liz with you? How is it I am confused about your present site and work?

When I wrote about my ms. Rimbaud and Jim Morrison: the rebel as poet, I wanted your permission to give Duke Press your name as a possible reader for a report to the Press. They held the ms. for one year -- and then accepted it a month ago. It is scheduled for publication spring 1994. (a 2 year wait!) We are choosing pictures now. How I wish you and Liz were here to help with these problems. Frank Lisciandro, the principle photographer, is difficult. 

I am preparing a new lecture on the book and hope to have a few chances to help launch the book: a few requests have come in: Chapel Hill, New Mexico, Texas . . . Do you know of any group in Philadelphia? (if you are still there on Spruce Street?)

In my discussion of Rock, I limit myself to The Doors. I don't have your extensive knowledge of Punk Rock. Many new Rock bands seem to appear in Chapel Hill.    

The Dean at Duke gave my classroom to someone else this fall -- and I am without a job. He has scheduled me for Dante in the spring of 1994. January seems far away.

The book on The Doors Complete (with my preface) was never published. Like your sister, I enjoyed Stone's film. I felt it accurate in depicting Jim's self-destruction. Did you know that Jim wanted to do a film on Rimbaud's life -- and planned to play Rimbaud himself (when he was at film school UCLA)[?].

I have missed you and Liz -- and hope we can have a reunion soon. If this note reaches you, please reassure me.

love
Wallace  

 

Letter from Wallace Fowlie, July 10, 1992

Letter from Wallace Fowlie (1908-1998) at Chapel Hill, to Erik France at Philadelphia, July 10, 1992.

Dear Erik,

It is so good to hear from you! I had wondered how the first semester in the Ph.D. program had gone. I take it that you are pleased with the situation in Philadelphia -- and writing one more paper this summer.

Already you are helping to edit a new magazine: Quo Moto [Modo] Quarterly. "Ephrata Cloister" is a striking name. What is it exactly? Are you also working on a short story?

And Liz too is working on her master's paper. Spruce Street will remain your address through December.

My spring semester (Proust) went well. I do have less stamina and resigned at the end of the semester. Dean White replied saying my Dante course for the fall is advertised and they have enrolled 120 students for it . . . So, I said I would try it again. The 2 weeks before Commencement and the 2 weeks after it were heavy for me, It is easier to teach than to say goodby[e] to seniors and talk with their parents.

I am working on a long paper (40 pages) to be part of a big book to be published next year by the French teachers at U.Va. It's to be called: The Unfinished Revolution. (I am still not sure which revolution the editors have in mind!)

I finished the Morrison book. It's being considered by The Duke Press.

The main event for me was, in early December, a trip to U.Va. to give the newest version of my talk on Rimbaud and Jim Morrison. Five hundred students and faculty turned up! You see, Erik, Jim still brings them in!

. . . this is a poor substitute for a visit with you and Liz who have helped me and always cheered me up. I do miss you.

Yesterday, a returning old student took me to Pyewacket and then to Howard's End at the Varsity. A very beautiful film. Vanessa Redgrave is radiant -- and the young actress (from Room with a View) is fine. I fell in love with her all over again.

Stay well, Erik.  love to you and Liz -- 
Wallace

Letter from Wallace Fowlie, February 29, 1992

Letter from Wallace Fowlie (1908-1998) at Chapel Hill, to me at Philadelphia, February 29, 1992.

Dear Erik, It was so good to hear from you in Philadelphia and to know all is going well.

I am enjoying my two sections on Proust more and more. Second quiz much better than the first. (They are on to me.)

Am just back from two days at the Univ. of Virginia -- where I gave my talk on R. and J. M. Thursday night to 300. (Morrison still brings them in). Lived in the Colonned [Collonade] Club -- a house designed by Jefferson. What a magnificent campus! The Univ. Press of Va. is interested in working at my ms. (I had it typed by Debbi Ferettino of the French Dept.) If they are willing to consider it, they may ask you to serve as a reader. I know very few people able to judge both parts. Denomind[?], my friend there, could check the Rimbaud section, and you the Morrison. You may not like it. Don't hesitate to say so. (I will love you still, but may not suggest as a reader of the next book[)] (which will never be written!)

I agree with you about JFK, a remarkable film. Stone is a heroic figure. Yes The Doors and JFK are related. 

For 10 days I was plagued by a head cold -- cut classes one day -- but all I could do was teach and prepare the next class -- and see no one. Our spring break comes March 16. I am glad to have Liz's address. She was so good to offer help. I hope to see both of you soon. . . No word on The Doors Complete. 

Thanks so much, Erik, for your interest in these literary matters. Through these past few years you have kept me informed on matters I  should know about. Believe me, the  interest in Morrison is still very strong in Virginia!

Frank Lentricchia took me to lunch at Tripps last Sunday. His piece on the Trappist monastery appeared in Harper's. 

When things quiet down, I will try to find Flight from Eden.

Love,
Wallace   

Letter from Wallace Fowlie, July 23,1991

Letter from Wallace Fowlie (1908-1998) at Chapel Hill, to me at London, July 23,1991.

Dear Erik, if I have counted the days correctly, Liz is with you now in London -- and you are in good spirits. I enjoyed seeing her -- all too briefly -- and I have been reading 3 precious documents she loaned me: Rolling Stone, Iggy Pop, and Lou Reed. Your letter from London (July 10) tops all my documents. I am clipping it to your first letter to me, Oct. 24, 1987, but they give me information and insights on my present subject (as you know). I often feel you should be writing the little book I am trying to write. . . You are working hard, drinking Italian coffee, attending operas. Great College Street -- a beautiful card now on my desk. It is thrilling for me to read you on TV on the Doors (1969). Lizard: we must talk about this word. Then your passage on Siouxsie and the Banshees. And also, on Malcolm McDonald. . . Whenever you say, "I'm spinning off," I know there will be a rich passage.

I rather think you are coming home next month. Am I wrong about that? These next days you will be reliving many London experiences with Liz. There have been a few events here -- a reunion with 5-6 old students chez Dave Williamson who writes the press notices for UNC. Dr. H. G. Jones drove me there -- he is the historian of N.C. who told us stories about the Arctic region and explained a few artifacts. A brunch chez Steve Salemson, manager of Duke U. Press. Thursday I will see my old doctor friends who are back from Nice. I believe Liz sent you a copy of a letter from Bob Cohn, the Mallarmé expert. I thought it would amuse you. It helped to keep me plugging away on the little book which, if I do it, and a publisher takes it,I would call The fifth and last memoir. It is really that: the joining of the poles of my existence. Remember, Erik, you promised not to disown me, if this comes about. love to you and Liz --
Wallace