Letter from William Plomer to Leonard Woolf and Virginia Woolf (21/03/1926)

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[[MS 2750/351/18]]

 

Entument
Zululand

 

21 March 1926

 

Dear Leonard & Virginia Woolf,

 

I was glad to get copies of “Turbott Wolfe” by the last mail. I hope the book will be a success.

 

I have been working for a year on another novel. After often revising it, and re-writing it six times, it is now in the final form of a long short-story. It will appear in a new monthly review called ‘Voorslag’ which I am helping to run here. This paper is edited by Roy Campbell (who wrote “The Flaming Terrapin” & and now lives in Natal) and the first number will appear in June. We want it to be very good, and I will keep you in touch with it. Campbell heard from “The Dial” the other day – they are keen about it.

 

I have written a review of Leys’ “Kenya” which will come out in “Voorslag”, also poems, etc. and if you care to send other books to me I will see that they are reviewed, though this isn’t a reading country.

 

I don’t know yet what my next book will be. I am doing a lot of work, but my personal affairs are in a kind of confusion, and it is hard at present to make great progress.

 

I may be going to live for a time either with the Campbell’s or with Gandhi’s son Manilal, who runs a newspaper in these parts for S[outh]. African Indians and lives in the remains of a Tolstoyan settlement of his father’s, at Phoenix, between here

 

 

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And Durban.

 

I am 22 and seething with energy. There is just a chance I may be able to go to England for a short time in 1927.

 

You must put up with all these personal details because you both are among my best friends although I have never met you.

 

I send you both my respect and love | William Plomer [signature]

 

Please tell me about the American edition of T. W. [Turbott Wolfe]

Rights Statement:

Reproduced with the permission of the estate of the author, courtesy of Penguin Random House Archive and Library. This item has not been made available through a CC By-ND-NC licence, please see our terms of use page for further detail

Source: MS 2750/351/18

Image Rights Holder: Estate of William Plomer

Letter from William Plomer to Leonard Woolf and Virginia Woolf (21/03/1926)

Author:

Library:

University of Reading, Special Collections

Archival Folder:

William Plomer writes to thank the Woolf's as copies of his book have arrived. He hopes the book will be a success. Plomer discusses a new short story that he has been writing, and that it will appear in a monthly review named 'Voorslag' along with his own review of the book 'Kenya' by Norman Leys. Plomer mentions Roy Campbell writer of 'The Flaming Terrapin' who is editor of 'Voorslag' and asks for other books to review. Plomer tells Woolf that he does not know what his next novel will be. He informs them that he may be going to live with the Campbells, or Ghandi's son Mamilal. Plomer discusses more personal information about himself, including that he considers the Woolf's as friends despite them never meeting. He also states that he may be visiting England in 1927. He ends the letter asking for information on the American edition of Turbott Wolfe.

Handwritten letter signed by Plomer