0001                                              39 Claremont Ave, apt 31
0002                                              New York NY 10027
0003

0004                                              21 Novembeerr 1981

0005 Dear Stella,

0006 Delighted you got that EARLY AUDEN, and even more delighted you find
0007 it worth looking into.  As I suppose you've experienced yourself,Is it a universal experience among authors to
0008 be surprised that someone actually reads one's book? I'm so familiar
0009 with the thing by now, and so aware of its deficiencies, that I wish
0010 I could recall the edition and rewrite the whole thing frombook from the start.
0011 Luckily, theaching, reviewing and miscellaneous annoyances keep the
0012 mind elsewhere.  One of those miscellaneous annoy[]ances was a move
0013 from my odld flat to antother one on the same floor in the same building.
0014 The new address is up above, and the only change is in the apartment
0015 number.  Phone number still 212 222-0679.

0016 Yes, I saw the yougng man who was doing advance work froor Robert Robinson,
0017 but haven't heard from him since July.  I gather worthat work progresses,
0018 though.  There was an hour on Wystan on BBC Radio the other week--a
0019 "dramatization" with an actor reading the poems and lots of ominous
0020  noises off.  I'm told it was fairly dreadful, but perh[]aps the TV film
0021 will be better.  I saw quite a good one from the BBC on Benjamin Britten.
0022 Its only fault--and I'm not sure []this was a fault, given the usual tone
0023 of TV journalism--was an awed tone of worship.

0024 AEasy answers to important questions.  Those two volumes []fby and about
0025 Auden sound very attractive.  (Which publisher is interested?)  The
0026 place to write for permissions is to the agents, specifically, to
0027                         Maureen Walters
0028                         Curtis Brown Ltd
0029                         575 Madison Avenue
0030                         New York NY 10022
0031                         USA
0032 Mention my name, and things will be easier.  But they should be easy
0033 anyway.

0034 Now let me beg you for an easy answer.  I've heard from att[] least two
0035 different people that they had seen (or knew someone else who had seen)
0036 a German text of your Wystan memoir in print.  Are they right, or are
0037 they confusing this with an occasion when you read it aloud (and it was
0038 reported)?  I had an Austrian student here this summer working on Wystan,
0039 and I wanted to tell her about the piece, but didn't know where to find
0040 it.  Please, please tell me if you printed it, and if so, where.  No need
0041 for a long letter: just a "No, calm down, I never printed it" or a "Yes,
0042 it appeared in such-in-such a journal" would be more than enough.  This is
0043 the one min[]or mystery of writings-about-Wystan I haven't been able to solve,
0044 so please do help.

0045 Have I told you []nyany of my news?  I'm now at Columbia University permanently,
0046 if I want to be.  I have a flat with a small guest room and bath--so please
0047 take note if you're in theis country for any reason.  I have a lady friend,
0048 the first whom I expect to be with for a very long time, and we are quite
0049 happy about things in general.  Next June we'll be in Europe, certainly in
0050 Paris, possibly father []south, talthough we may put off the southern trip
0051 for another year or so.  I haven't been across the Atlantic this year; too
0052