Camden
Feb: 25 '881
Nothing special with me. Rainy & dark to day—not cold. Yours rec'd with Critic letter—A letter from Mrs: Costelloe2 this
mn'g—all well & busy, baby growing & well3—I am not surprised at
the refusal to publish in C4—the opposition & resentment at L of G. is probably as concentrated & vital &
determined in New York (my own city) as anywhere, if not more vital—& I do
not count the Gilders5 as essentially on our
side—they are smart & polite but worldly & conventional—as
to the literary classes anyhow I will get a few exceptional dips out of
them—but mainly I will have to wait for another generation—But this I
have long known—
—I am sitting here all alone to-day—I do not eat dinner these short
days—only breakfast & supper—my appetite fair—had some
buckwheat cakes & raw oysters for my breakfast. Shall most probably not write
you at F[lorida] again—
Walt Whitman
Correspondent:
Richard Maurice Bucke (1837–1902) was a
Canadian physician and psychiatrist who grew close to Whitman after reading Leaves of Grass in 1867 (and later memorizing it) and
meeting the poet in Camden a decade later. Even before meeting Whitman, Bucke
claimed in 1872 that a reading of Leaves of Grass led him
to experience "cosmic consciousness" and an overwhelming sense of epiphany.
Bucke became the poet's first biographer with Walt
Whitman (Philadelphia: David McKay, 1883), and he later served as one
of his medical advisors and literary executors. For more on the relationship of
Bucke and Whitman, see Howard Nelson, "Bucke, Richard Maurice," Walt Whitman: An
Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998).
Notes
- 1. This postal card is
addressed: Dr R M Bucke | Hotel San Marco | St Augustine | Florida. It is
postmarked: Camden (?) | Feb 2 (?) | 4 30 PM | 88; Saint Augustine | 2 M | Feb |
28 | 1888 | Fla. [back]
- 2. Mary Whitall Smith Costelloe
(1864–1945) was a political activist, art historian, and critic, whom
Whitman once called his "staunchest living woman friend." A scholar of Italian
Renaissance art and a daughter of Robert Pearsall Smith, she would in 1885 marry
B. F. C. "Frank" Costelloe. She had been in contact with many of Whitman's
English friends and would travel to Britain in 1885 to visit many of them,
including Anne Gilchrist shortly before her death. For more, see Christina
Davey, "Costelloe, Mary Whitall Smith (1864–1945)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D.
Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 3. Rachel Pearsall Conn Costelloe
(1887–1940) was Mary's first daughter. She eventually married Oliver
Strachey (brother of biographer Lytton Strachey) and was a writer and women's
suffrage activist who ran for a seat in the British parliament soon after women
were granted the right to vote. [back]
- 4. Apparently in a lost
letter Bucke informed Whitman that he had submitted to The
Critic an article entitled "One Word More on Walt Whitman." About
February 20, 1888, he sent the poet a letter (dated February 16) from the
editors of the magazine rejecting the piece: "We have printed a great many
'words' on Whitman, & can only print 'more' when there is some specific
occasion for doing so—when he issues a new book, or does something to
attract general attention to his work" (For this rejection, see Charles E.
Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of
Congress, Washington, D.C., MSS18630, Box 4, Reel 2–3). On March 11, 1888, Bucke informed Whitman that he was
revising his article and was considering either submitting it to Lippincott's Monthly Magazine or withholding it until the
appearance of William Sloane Kennedy's book on Whitman, when he could include it
in a notice of that work. On August 15, 1888,
Bucke was still working on his article and now thought to "make it into a review
of the new vol." Probably it became "An impromptu criticism" (see Whitman's
letter to Bucke dated December 29, 1888.) [back]
- 5. Jeannette Leonard Gilder
(1849–1916) and her brother Joseph Benson Gilder (1858–1936) edited
The Critic together from 1881 to 1906. For more
information on Jeannette Gilder, see Susan L. Roberson, "Gilder, Jeannette L. (1849–1916)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]