Between History and Poetry: The Letters of H.D. And Norman Holmes Pearson

2. "Dear Norman, C.H.E.V.A.L.I.E.R.," 1946-1951

CHAPTER TWO "D N " ear orman, c.H.E. v.A.L.I.E.R. 1946-1951 After having recuperated at Klinik Brunner in Ktisnacht, H.D. made the gradual transition from living in London or Burier-la-Tour with Bryher to living alone in a succession of residential hotels - in Lausanne in the winter or Lugano in the summer. For the most part, Bryher remained at Kenwin, a short train ride away,and the two resumed a more distanced relationship conducted partially through letters. Bythe end of 1946, H.D. wasout of immediate physical and psychologicaldanger and back to work, but she feltisolatedfrom many of her friends and family,especiallythose in England and America.Having given up completely on "party politics," as she wrote Pearson, she had turned further inward to a more enduring "world of reality" she found in the Englishliterary tradition (22 October 1946). Atthe end ofthe war shehad paid tribute to this tradition in GoodFrend,a sequence of poems published in Life and LettersToday,the title of which refers to Shakespeare. Consequently, her first literary task upon recovery was to complete her essay "The Guest," on Shakespeare and his contemporaries. Then, from 1947 to 1951,in a great outpouring , she wrote a sequence of long, experimental, historical romances - "The Sword Went Out to Sea," "The White Rose and the Red," and "The Mystery" -which reflected, respectively,her increased involvement in spiritualism during the war, her imaginative connection with the men and women of the Pre-Raphaelite circle, and her renewed recognition of the redemptive possibilities of the mysticism at the core of her Moravian heritage. Also,in this interval, after the first two of these romances, she assembled the journal "Advent ," which became part of Tribute to Freud,and she completed Bid Me to Live(A Madrigal),a roman aclefabout her own literary circle in World War I, which was begun in 1939. In addition, between the two parts of "The Mystery ," she wrote the journal-essay H.D. byDeliaAlton, in which she explained the thematic core of her work thus far, an act of intellectual and emotional synthesis that was instrumental in her artistic development as well as helpful to her future readers. Pearson celebrated and supported H.D.'s return to writing. He immediately offered to be her "literary cavalierservante,"an enhanced version of his old relationship with her, in which he would assume more responsibility, negotiating with publishers as well as responding to work in progress (9 November 1946). Having withstood the devastation of the war himself, he understood H.D.'s need for a lifeline, and he recognized the spiritual depth and artistry of GoodFrendand "The Guest.'' As he wrote to Bryher, he thought the poems of GoodFrendcontinued "the fine work of trilogy" and that "when the proper perspective comes publicly to [H.D.'s] poetry it will be seen that she has never written better than in these last fewyears" (28 October 1947). His comments on "The Guest" in the same letter indicate that he understood the essayto be "not only criticism" but also a deeply felt "act of creation." He agreed with H.D. that the two pieces belonged together, suggested the title ByAvonRiver, and arranged with Macmillan to publish the volume, supervising details of the editing and publication process. Further, Pearson understood H.D.'s psychological vulnerability and sensed the potential danger of her isolation in central Europe. Comfortably ensconced in an assistant professorship at Yale,1 he provided a restorative connection with her American home. He sent news of the activities of her writer friends,2 reminded her of their common colonial heritage,3 and acted as a 68 "Dear Norman, c.H.E. v.A.L.I.E. R.," 1946-1951 surrogate parent for Perdita, who was now living in New York.Also, he kept her connected with the American literary tradition by sending new editions of books by canonized American writers and copies of his own essays,to which she sometimes responded with comments that linked her own writing to that of her American forebears. Most important, Pearson encouraged H.D. to keep writing, asking about the progress of her unfinished memoir of her Moravian childhood, The Gift, and affirming the value of her new experimental prose fiction despite its rejection by prospective publishers. In particular, his perceptive comments on the structure of "The White Rose and the Red" reveal his close attunement to...