The Trip to Echo Spring, page 30
I’ve spent much of the past two years in libraries. I’d like to thank Anne Garner and the staff at the Berg Collection of New York Public Library, who performed feats of research magic and gave me a beautiful place to work in the city. I’m also very grateful to Melissa Waterworth-Batt and all at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center at the University of Connecticut. Thanks too to Stephen Plotkin at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, the staff at Butler Library at the University of Columbia, Fales Library at NYU, Sussex University Library, Brighton Library and the British Library. Andi Gustavson at the Harry Ransom Center also helped with electronic enquiries.
For interviews and logistical assistance, I’m grateful to the following: Dr. Petros Levounis, Director at the Addiction Institute. Kathy Kalaijin, SENY Public Information Chair at Alcoholics Anonymous. Professor Dai Stephens at the University of Sussex, who not only increased my understanding of the neurobiology of alcoholism but also went well beyond the call of duty in reading and commenting on an early draft. Blake Bailey, who alerted me to the whereabouts of Cheever’s Bloody Papers. Ellen Johnson at the Tennessee Williams Literary Festival. Ellen Borakove at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in New York City.
My trio of angels at Canongate: Norah Perkins, managing editor; Annie Lee, copy editor; and Anna Frame, publicist par excellence. Thanks too to the new guard: Jenny Lord, Vicki Rutherford and Jaz Lacey-Campbell.
Particular thanks are due to three early readers: Helen Macdonald, without whose wise counsel and exceptional support this book wouldn’t exist; James Purdon, a magnificent sounding board and editor, who introduced me to John Berryman besides; and Elizabeth Day, dear and brilliant in all ways. I’m also very grateful to my father (a demonically talented copy editor) for looking the manuscript over pre-publication. Then there are the friends and colleagues who’ve discussed, encouraged, aided and housed me. In the UK: Jean Edelstein (who wangled my room at the Elysée), Lili Stevens, Clare Davies, Robert Macfarlane, Tony Gammidge, Anna Fewster, Jordan Savage, Sarah Wood, John Gallagher, Kristen Treen, Stuart Croll, Robin McKie, Bob Dickinson and Tom de Grunwald. In the USA: John Pittman (who provided me with a bed, hunted down all kinds of Hemingway ephemera, let me shoot his guns between writing sessions, and told me what punk means to a woodsman), Liz Tinsley (bestower of library cards), Dan Levenson and his airbed, Matt Wolf, David Adjmi, Liz Adams, Alex Halberstadt, Joseph Keckler, Francesca Segal (whose spreadsheet kept me sane), Alastair Reid and Michael Reid Hunter. I’m also grateful to my editors: Jonathan Derbyshire at the New Statesman and William Skidelsky at the Observer. Errors and infelicities are of course my own.
Finally, my deepest thanks and gratitude go to my family: Peter Laing, Kitty Laing and Denise Laing, whose story this is too.
PERMISSIONS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and obtain their permission for the use of copyright material. The publisher apologises for any errors or omissions and would be grateful if notified of any corrections that should be incorporated in future reprints or editions of this book.
Grateful thanks to Kate Donahue and to The Henry W. and Albert Berg Collection of English and American Literature at the New York Public Library Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations for permission to use John Berryman’s work.
‘Dream Song 36’, ‘Dream Song 96’, ‘Dream Song 143’, ‘Dream Song 235’, ‘Dream Song 310’ and ‘Dream Song 311’ taken from The Dream Songs by John Berryman. Reprinted by permission of Faber & Faber.
‘Eleven Addresses to the Lord,’ ‘The Facts & Issues,’ ‘Henry’s Understanding,’ and ‘Homage to Mistress Bradstreet’ from Collected Poems: 1937-1971 by John Berryman. Copyright © 1989 by Kate Donahue Berryman. Reprinted by permission of Faber & Faber, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC.
‘Where Water Comes Together With Other Water’, ‘Alcohol’ and ‘Wenas Ridge’ taken from All of Us: The Collected Poems by Raymond Carver, published by Harvill Press. Reprinted by kind permission of The Random House Group Ltd/The Wylie Agency, LLC.
‘Nobody Said Anything’ taken from Will You Please Be Quiet, Please? by Raymond Carver, published by Vintage. Reprinted by kind permission of The Random House Group Ltd/The Wylie Agency, LLC.
Raymond Carver, ‘The Art of Fiction No. 76’ originally printed in the Paris Review. Copyright © 1983, used by permission of The Wylie Agency, LLC.
‘Fires’ by Raymond Carver. Copyright © 1983, 1984, used by permission of The Wylie Agency, LLC.
Grateful thanks to The Wylie Agency and The Henry W. and Albert Berg Collection of English and American Literature at the New York Public Library Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations for permission to use John Cheever’s unpublished work.
‘Preface’, ‘The Swimmer’, ‘The Country Husband’ and ‘The Day the Pig Fell Into the Well’ taken from The Stories of John Cheever, published by Cape. Reprinted by kind permission of The Random House Group Ltd./The Wylie Agency, LLC
All previously unpublished material by Ernest Hemingway reprinted by kind permission of The Ernest Hemingway Foundation and Society.
Extracts from Ernest Hemingway: Selected Letters 1917-1961 Reprinted with the permission of Scribner, a Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. from Ernest Hemingway: Selected Letters 1917-1961 by Ernest Hemingway, by Carlos Baker, editor. Copyright © 1981 by Carlos Baker and The Ernest Hemingway Foundation, Inc. All rights reserved.
Extracts from ‘The Doctor and the Doctor’s Wife’ by Ernest Hemingway. Reprinted with the permission of Scribner, a Division of Simon and Schuster, Inc. from The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway by Ernest Hemingway. Copyright © 1925 Charles Scribner’s Sons; Copyright © 1953 by Ernest Hemingway. All rights reserved.
‘The Doctor and the Doctor’s Wife’ taken from The Essential Hemingway by Ernest Hemingway, published by Vintage Books. Reprinted by permission of The Random House Group Ltd.
Extracts from ‘Now I Lay Me’ by Ernest Hemingway. Reprinted with the permission of Scribner, a Division of Simon and Schuster, Inc. from The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway by Ernest Hemingway. Copyright © 1927 Charles Scribner’s Sons; Copyright © 1955 by Ernest Hemingway. All rights reserved.
‘Now I Lay Me’ taken from Men Without Women by Ernest Hemingway, published by Jonathan Cape. Reprinted by permission of The Random House Group Ltd.
Extracts from ‘Fathers and Sons’ by Ernest Hemingway. Reprinted with the permission of Scribner, a Division of Simon and Schuster, Inc. from The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway by Ernest Hemingway. Copyright © 1933 Charles Scribner’s Sons; Copyright © 1961 by Mary Hemingway. All rights reserved.
‘Fathers and Sons’ taken from Winner Take Nothing by Ernest Hemingway, published by Jonathan Cape. Reprinted by permission of The Random House Group Ltd.
Extracts from ‘Snows of Kilimanjaro’ Reprinted with the permission of Scribner, a Division of Simon and Schuster, Inc. from The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway by Ernest Hemingway. Copyright © 1936 by Ernest Hemingway, Copyright © 1964 by Mary Hemingway. All rights reserved.
‘The Snows of Kilimajaro’ taken from The First Forty Nine Stories by Ernest Hemingway, published by Jonathan Cape. Reprinted by permission of The Random House Group Ltd.
‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ by Tennessee Williams. Copyright © 1947, 1953 by the University of the South. Reprinted by permission of Georges Borchardt, Inc. for the Estate of Tennessee Williams/New Directions Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.
‘Clothes for a Summer Hotel: A Ghost Play’ by Tennessee Williams © 1980, 1981 by the University of the South, published by New Directions. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp./Georges Borchardt, Inc. for the Estate of Tennessee Williams. All rights reserved.
‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’ by Tennessee Williams. Copyright © 1954, 1955, 1982, 1983 by the University of the South. Reprinted by permission of Georges Borchardt, Inc. for the Estate of Tennessee Williams/New Directions Publishing Corp.
‘The Glass Menagerie’ by Tennessee Williams, published by Penguin Books Ltd. © The University of the South 1945, renewed 1973. Reprinted by permission of Sheil Land Associates Ltd. working in conjunction with Georges Borchardt Inc.
Memoirs by Tennessee Williams. Copyright © 1975 by the University of the South. Reprinted by permission of Georges Borchardt, Inc. for the Estate of Tennessee Williams/Penguin Books Ltd.
Notebooks by Tennessee Williams. Copyright © 2006 by the University of the South. Reprinted by permission of Georges Borchardt, Inc. for the University of the South.
The Selected Letters of Tennessee Williams, Volume 1, 1920–1945 © 2000 by The University of the South and The Selected Letters of Tennessee Williams, Volume 2, 1945–1957 © 2004 by The University of the South, published by New Directions. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp./Georges Borchardt, Inc. for the Estate of Tennessee Williams.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
CHAPTER I
John Cheever riding a bicycle. Copyright © Nancy Crampton.
CHAPTER 2
Tennessee Williams as a young man. Courtesy of the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, the University of Texas at Austin.
CHAPTER 3
Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald at La Paix, surrounded by their furniture, the morning after the fire, June 1933. Courtesy of the Arthur Mizener Papers on F. Scott Fitzgerald at Princeton University, New Jersey.
CHAPTER 4
Hotel Monteleone, New Orleans. Copyright © Olivia Laing.
CHAPTER 5
Clarence and Ernest Hemingway in Key West, Florida, 10 April 1928. Copyright © Unknown. Courtesy of the Ernest Hemingway Collection, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library.
CHAPTER 6
Tennesse Williams. Copyright © W. Eugene Smith Magnum Photos.
CHAPTER 7
John Berryman. Courtesy of the University of Minnesota Archives.
CHAPTER 8
Raymond Carver as a boy (James Carver and the William Charvat Collection of American Fiction, Rare Books and Manuscripts Library at the Ohio State University Libraries)
Olivia Laing, The Trip to Echo Spring
