Under the Sun (12 page)

119a Mount Street | London | 24 June 1966

 

Please don't have a fit. We'll survive, and before you know it Lib will be turned into a SCHOLAR!
¹⁰²
I'll write soon: I'm sorry it's all so precipitate but its no use chewing it over and over once one's decided to take the plunge.

With love, Bruce

119a Mount Street | London | 6 July 1966

 

Dear Gertrude,

I am sorry that we took you by surprise the other day with my decision to give up Sotheby's and read archaeology. The fact is that I have been chewing this idea over for at least four years. When I took up the partnership in April I had got no further and was content to let the thing drift. The main difficulty was that in this country you cannot read prehistoric archaeology as such, but have to take a first degree in classics or some such subject, and then go on for another three years with a doctorate in archaeology; the other alternative is a rather ineffectual diploma which takes two years and is not much good nowadays vis-à-vis a job at the end of it. During the last week in May I met Professor Stuart Piggott
¹⁰³
who has the chair in Edinburgh; he has recently reorganised the department and has a four-year honours degree; he has hardly any students to start with and will be able to take the whole thing tutorially, and he is also one of the finest archaeologists in the world. I took a very rapid decision, and it is arranged that I start in October. Over the last fortnight I have been talking to the people at Sotheby's and although they at first wanted me to stay on for another year, they now understand that it would bring no advantage either way. By putting it off another year would be of no particular advantage financially this end either. The cost of living in London looks after all my salary and more each year but there is a definite possibility that I can get what is called a mature studentship
¹⁰⁴
which is enough to live on each year. We shall be able to spend more time at the house
¹⁰⁵
because the terms are only seven and a half weeks.

Until last year when my salary went up I was only paid a pittance, and have always had to earn my living in a number of different ways. In fact my income since becoming a partner has gone down because I did not have a free hand.
¹⁰⁶

My view is that the subject is so vast and complex that there is no time to be lost, and I believe that Peter Wilson at least sees this point of view, because he is gifted with a great deal of imagination and spirit. I am afraid that the art world, at least the world of art dealing, is coming to a grinding halt. It is no longer the reasonably civilised occupation it was five years ago. At any rate, it was making me extremely miserable and I feel that what I am doing is the right decision. Elizabeth does, and it was to a certain extent her firm mindedness that encouraged me to see the last few weeks through.

I shall surrender my shares in September when I leave. I am working until October 1st; we intend to take the car to France during the second half of August returning in the first week in September. The house is coming on fine, but slowly and I'm afraid we shall not be in before Christmas at the earliest.
¹⁰⁷
Could you let me know into which account you would like the share money returned?
¹⁰⁸
It is just possible that David Nash, to whom they are being allotted, will want to make the payment directly in America, but this is an accounting problem, and there is no immediate hurry.

With love to you all, Bruce

Sorry

Postcard, skull of Cro-Magnon man, Les Eyzies | Paris | France | [August 1966]

 

Overleaf is one of Elizabeth's
many
relations whose loss was a terrible blow to us. We hate to think of you going the same way but just wait till you come and stay with us. Love B and E

 

Sotheby's | 34 & 35 New Bond Street | London | [September 1966]

 

You may not have heard that I have LEFT Sotheby's to read a degree in archaeology at Edinburgh. Change is the only thing worth living for. Never sit your life out at a desk. Ulcers and heart condition follow.

He would last two and a half of the four years; he described his period here as his
‘saison en enfer'.

Department of Archaeology | 19 George Square | Edinburgh | 24 October 1966

 

My dear Ivry,

I have just had the immeasurably sad news that Raulin is dead.
¹⁰⁹
You must try to forget these past few years with their sense of impending tragedy. Instead you must try and imagine that some invisible power has carried him off as he was – open, fair, free-minded and ruthlessly honest. He was one of the very few really remarkable people I have known and for that I shall always be grateful.

with love Bruce

 

Avondale | Edinburgh | 30 October 1966

 

Sat

Dear E.

Tried to ring you but this is cheaper.

1. Will you come straight here next Fri as I won't be able to meet the plane?

Will try and get hold of James Dundas.

2. Daddy should deal with the Burnley
¹¹⁰
.

3. Can you bring typewriter if it's not too much trouble.

4. I'll pay Feaver but only when Sotheby's pay me my pension etc.

5. Dagger
¹¹¹
must wait till I've had a proper search. Am telling F.N.
¹¹²
to keep Lloyd Williams
¹¹³
informed.

6. Suggest 6x6 square tiles, not the octagonal ones as they'll look a bit corny
¹¹⁴
.

Am seeing Eddie's
¹¹⁵
friend Peter Davis
¹¹⁶
today after beagling (!) with Bill Spink
¹¹⁷
. We're now in a tiny room which is sad.

XXX

B

p.s £6-10-0 is a sleeper to Edinburgh

Avondale | Edinburgh | [October 1966]

 

There is a great friend of mine here called Peter Davis. He is one of the leading botanists of the day and is embarked on a complete Flora of Turkey, in 14 volumes! He is also one of your fervent admirers. He bought a picture in your London exhibition and is desperately keen to have another or more. Do you think he could buy one? I seem to remember that there are two in Sotheby's, and maybe he'd like one of those. But then I couldn't know how much to ask. Do let me know if you can spare one, one with Lascars? He really is terribly keen and asks constantly.

Yours ever, Bruce Chatwin

PS The weather is unbelievably horrible here, but at least one breathes fresh air which is a change after London.

 

Avondale | Edinburgh | 8 November 1966

 

We have a flat . . . but I do not think we'll be in it by November 20th. Address is c/o Dept of Archaeology, 19 George Sq, Edinburgh, but no phone. We had the Chanlers here. Great dramas over regular feeding
¹¹⁸
times. Considerably recovered after that horrible auctioneer had nearly drunk the last drop, but will I pass the exams? B

Flat 6 | 234 Canongate | Edinburgh | 30 November 1966

 

Tuesday

Term will soon be over and I'm in a state about exams. At least they can only chuck me out at the end of the year. Had a very funny lunch on Sunday with the Talbot-Rices
¹¹⁹
who you'll love. She is a big Russian version of Penelope Betjeman
¹²⁰
, and he beams. They live at Fossebridge and so we are going over to see them soon. Otherwise nothing but the orange linoleum. I think I've changed my mind again about the floor and want plain pine again. I want to experiment with dirt and caustic on a piece. When I come back through London I'll make some enquiries. I thought I might stay with old Simon Snell
¹²¹
for two nights. I also want to see about getting some crushed terracotta for painting the house. I think the Rokeby
¹²²
colour needs toning down a bit for Glos. Would the Victorian curtains
¹²³
be nice in the back bedroom? The only place for them. Had just remembered how nice the Persian textile will look in dining room. Redman
¹²⁴
sounds a real menace. Terrible dramas about getting a painting by Stephen Tennant for Peter Davis. S[tephen] T[ennant] writes illuminated letters to the Department and tells me he has dedicated a poem to me called the ‘Supreme Vision'.
¹²⁵

One can only pray to God it will never be published. He also says that he has been asked to go to the University of Wisconsin to give a seminar on Willa Cather.
¹²⁶
If he does it would be one of the spectacles of the century, and we ought to go and write a book about it. Peter Davis is giving a dinner party for the Southern blonde and her husband on the Thursday. Sotheby's kept my pension and contra-ed it which I thought was rather forward of them without asking. One can't complain really and I shall take even longer to pay the rest off. Very patronising letter from Llewellyn. ‘With each day that passes, the fatter their arses.'

xxxx B

 

In November an illuminated letter had arrived from Tennant at the Archaeology Department to say that he was writing a play set in Aix les Bains,
Madame is Resting
, which he hoped to sell as a brisk farce. ‘Edinburgh must be very handsome in sombre autumn. You do sound studious: what period are you studying? Boadicea? Camelot? Constantine? Bion?'

Flat 6 | 234 Canongate | Edinburgh | 24 November 1966

 

Dear Stephen,

I have never been so overworked in my life. Even duchesses take up less time than history essays. It really is a most extraordinary sensation going back to school. I have learnt never to offend the second-year students, who are immensely full of their own self-importance. One second-yearer leaned across my shoulder and asked me why I was reading a particularly devious book, and then said that first-year students were not able to understand its mysteries. A rigid stratification divides the years and the twain shall never meet let alone for a conversation. There are some anti-conventional characters as well. There's a wonderful young man with carrot-coloured plaits who wears a red plastic coat and no shoes even though there's ice on the pavement. I have only once been out of Edinburgh and that was to stay in Traquair; the hills above Glen were covered in snow even in October. May I come shortly after Christmas or else immediately before on about the 20th. I have to take exams here which I feel sure I shall fail, and will be in need of cheerfulness.