A Heaven of Words: Last Journals, 1956–1984

1970–1974

– During the 1960s Wescott still had some periods of public celebrity—on the television, on the radio, and in mainstream publications. By the 1970s he is beyond that, though he sometimes appears in gossip columnist Liz Smith’s society page, or in a NewYork Times photo of a literary event. Nevertheless, throughout the entire decade Wescott is still one of the most brilliant and spellbinding public speakers anywhere. He is a frequent speaker at the Academy-Institute of Arts and Letters and at many other literary and social events. As always, it is a special experience to hear him read, whether other writers’ work or his own. Meanwhile,Wheeler continues his worldwide travel for MoMA.Their exchange of letters continues, with Glenway at Haymeadows and Monroe in Europe, the Far East, and Latin America. At Monroe’s NewYork City apartment they keep up their tradition of dinner parties for their famous friends. While it’s a shame that Wescott didn’t experience European travel in his middle years (except for a short trip in 1952), now their winter holiday trips to Mouton Rothschild allow for side trips to Paris, London, the Netherlands, and elsewhere, to see the great museums as well as friends. Perhaps conscious of their place in the art world and as a storied couple, they seldom fly on the same plane, so that there would be a survivor in the event of a tragedy. In the final phase of his writing career,Wescott’s interest is clear: personal essays and journals.Time is too precious for literary reviews, or for 181 182 1970–1974 the tar baby of fiction. The very last time he attempts fiction, trying to revive the unfinished “The Stallions,” he frustrates and upsets himself. But fortunately, Wescott is contacted by a man named Coburn Britton, a poet with a city apartment and a country home near Haymeadows.The publisher of a handsome quarterly called Prose, Britton offers Wescott a thousand dollars for any piece he chooses to write.Three beautiful essays follow. “The Odor of Rosemary” is Wescott at his lyrical best, as he recalls his 1935 ocean voyage to Spain. Leaving honeymooning Lloyd and Barbara alone, he befriends a tragic young man.The essay ends on a note of compassion as a breeze carries the scent of rosemary from the coast of Spain out to sea. “The Emperor Concerto” recalls his relationship with Wheeler in 1928, 1933, and up to the present day. “Memories and Opinions”recalls the 1920s in London and Paris. Another piece, a humorous self-portrait called “The Breath of Bulls,” appears in the anthology Works in Progress, Number . The idea of a book of essays with the title “The Odor of Rosemary” comes to him—and Harpers is interested— but he lets it go. As for journals, once Robert Phelps secures a contract with Farrar, Straus, and Giroux in 1972 Wescott really begins to see his journals and his career retrospectively. He produces less material for current journals and devotes more time to organizing papers, photocopying old manuscripts , tape recording interviews, and reading Phelps’s selections for private gatherings. (He comments on this endless task in his last entry of 1972.)The rest of his time is absorbed by family, the Academy-Institute, and social events. When their friend E. M. Forster dies,Wescott and Christopher Isherwood see to the publication of his long-suppressed novel Maurice, written in 1913–14, with proceeds going to writers’ awards. Another great loss is Marianne Moore at eighty-four. Elderly Janet Flanner is now living in NewYork and Glenway visits her at Natalia Danesi Murray’s city apartment and Fire Island house. Pauline de Rothschild’s frail health and visits to Boston hospitals become an issue. Glenway himself begins to have circulatory problems in 1973, but his health remains fair to good for another decade. 1970–1974 183 Aside from literary politics, Wescott despises the politics of Richard Nixon, the tragedy of Vietnam, and police suppression of gay rights. He is still in communication with the Kinsey Institute. Privately, he enjoys the new era of gay erotic films at Manhattan theaters like the David, Adonis, and the Jewel. He especially enjoys the sentimental, romantic films of Toby Ross. He turns a page in his private life in late August 1974 when friend Earl Butler brings along John Stevenson for a weekend at Haymeadows. A success in advertising...