Paula Deitz, editor of The Hudson Review, turned me on to the Grolier. They get neat stuff: Last year, for example, they had an exhibit of Ted Hughes' letters. I love seeing original documents of that kind of magnitude. (Indeed, if it's the past, I love seeing any kind of document -- a nineteenth-century play ticket stub that falls out of an old Mrs. Henry Wood novel moldering on a shelf offers its own epiphany: Who saw that play? Who didn't finish that novel?) Anyway, I think you'd love the place, Frank.
On history and what it leaves behind in the way of documents and objets: Read "Arcadia," by Tom Stoppard. I've seen it twice, but am only now reading it -- it is *even more* brilliant on the page, and usually that's just the reverse with plays (actors improve them on stage).
Paula Deitz, editor of The Hudson Review, turned me on to the Grolier. They get neat stuff: Last year, for example, they had an exhibit of Ted Hughes' letters. I love seeing original documents of that kind of magnitude. (Indeed, if it's the past, I love seeing any kind of document -- a nineteenth-century play ticket stub that falls out of an old Mrs. Henry Wood novel moldering on a shelf offers its own epiphany: Who saw that play? Who didn't finish that novel?) Anyway, I think you'd love the place, Frank.
ReplyDeleteOn history and what it leaves behind in the way of documents and objets: Read "Arcadia," by Tom Stoppard. I've seen it twice, but am only now reading it -- it is *even more* brilliant on the page, and usually that's just the reverse with plays (actors improve them on stage).
Stoppard is a Genius. Yes, capital "G."