CONRAD JOSEPH: (1857-1924) ´ That´s why the public fights shy of my writing I suppose´

CONRAD JOSEPH: (1857-1924) ´ That´s why the public fights shy of my writing I suppose´

CONRAD JOSEPH: (1857-1924) Polish-British novelist. A fine A.L.S., J. Conrad, two pages, oblong 8vo, Capel House, Orlestone, near Ashford, 7th February 1911, to Arthur Symons (´My dear Symons´). Conrad writes a kind and supportive letter to his friend, at times demonstrating his self-deprecating wit, commencing ´I understand you are all alone for a few days so I drop you this note en camarade for companys sake, tho´ indeed I have nothing memorable and nothing new to say. I wish I could invent something amusing, but I feel too stupid just now to try. Moreover to be amusing is not in my line. That´s why the public fights shy of my writing I suppose´ and continuing ´I was glad to see you were more alert, more hopeful and altogether better this time. I expect many fine things from you in the future. My days of fine things are done I fear, still one must go on. At any rate I must´. Conrad also refers to a recent visit by Agnes Tobin whose ´passage under our roof left a delightful scent of intelligence and charm of a finely humane quality´ and concludes in a reflective manner, ´It´s late. I am tired after a day of uphill toil. Now it is always up hill with me. And the worst is that one doesn´t seem any nearer the top when the day is done´. A charming letter of wonderful content and associations. VG

Arthur Symons (1865-1945) British poet, critic, translator and magazine editor. Symons suffered a psychotic breakdown in late 1908 and published very little new work over the next twenty years. In 1925 Symons published the essay Notes on Joseph Conrad with some Unpublished Letters.

Agnes Tobin (1864.1939) American poet and translator who spent periods of her career in London and Paris. Conrad dedicated his novel Under Western Eyes (published in the same year as the present letter), to Tobin ´who brought to our door her genius for friendship from the uttermost shores of the West´.