Jan. 28, '89
Your letter and the translation have come and I thank you markedly.1 I have sent M.
Sarrazin2 (his piece is a great steady trade-wind hurrying the ship into port) a copy
of the big book3. . . . Dr. Bucke4 makes a little fun of Howells's5 notice of Nov: Boughs in Feb. Harper's6 (the
wonder is that it is so friendly and good). . . . I sit up all day and read and
write (tho' both are getting almost loathsome), and keep fair spirits upon the
whole.
Correspondent:
William Sloane Kennedy
(1850–1929) was on the staff of the Philadelphia American and the Boston Transcript; he also
published biographies of Longfellow, Holmes, and Whittier (Dictionary of American Biography [New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1933], 336–337). Apparently Kennedy called on
the poet for the first time on November 21, 1880 (William Sloane Kennedy, Reminiscences of Walt Whitman [London: Alexander
Gardener, 1896], 1). Though Kennedy was to become a fierce defender of Whitman,
in his first published article he admitted reservations about the "coarse
indecencies of language" and protested that Whitman's ideal of democracy was
"too coarse and crude"; see The Californian, 3 (February
1881), 149–158. For more about Kennedy, see Katherine Reagan, "Kennedy, William Sloane (1850–1929)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998).
Notes
- 1. Whitman asked Kennedy to
translate Sarrazin's article on January 22, 1889.
The poet had an edited, condensed version of Kennedy's translation printed, and
he circulated it among his correspondents. See his February 1, 1889, letter to Kennedy, with which Whitman enclosed a
proof of this version. [back]
- 2. Gabriel Sarrazin (1853–1935)
was a translator and poet from France who commented positively not only on
Whitman's work but also on Poe's. Whitman later corresponded with Sarrazin and
apparently liked the critic's work on Leaves of
Grass—Whitman even had Sarrazin's chapter on his book translated
twice. For more on Sarrazin, see Carmine Sarracino, "Sarrazin, Gabriel (1853–1935)," Walt Whitman:
An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 3. Whitman's Complete Poems & Prose (1888), a volume Whitman often referred to
as the "big book," was published by the poet himself—in an arrangement
with publisher David McKay, who allowed Whitman to use the plates for both Leaves of Grass and Specimen
Days—in December 1888. With the help of Horace Traubel, Whitman made
the presswork and binding decisions for the volume. Frederick Oldach bound the
book, which included a profile photo of the poet on the title page. For more
information on the book, see Ed Folsom, Whitman Making Books/Books Making Whitman: A Catalog and
Commentary (University of Iowa: Obermann Center for Advanced Studies, 2005). [back]
- 4. 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). [back]
- 5. William Dean Howells
(1837–1920) was an American realist novelist and literary critic, serving
the staff of the New York Nation and Harper's Magazine during the mid 1860s. During his tenure as
editor-in-chief of The Atlantic Monthly from 1871 to
1880, he was one of the foremost critics in New York, and used his influence to
support American authors like Hamlin Garland, Stephen Crane, and Emily
Dickinson. He also brought attention to European authors like Henrik Ibsen,
Giovanni Verga, and Leo Tolstoy in particular. Howells was highly skeptical of
Whitman's poetry, however, and frequently questioned his literary merit. In an
Ashtabula Sentinel review of the 1860 edition Leaves of Grass, Howells wrote, "If he is indeed 'the
distinctive poet of America,' then the office of poet is one which must be left
hereafter to the shameless and the friendless. for WALT WHITMAN is not a man
whom you would like to know." In 1865, Howells would write the first important
review of Drum-Taps in the Round
Table, demonstrating early signs of his conflicted opinion about
Whitman. For more information on Howells, see Susan Goodman and Carl Dawson, William Dean Howells: A Writer's Life (Berkeley:
University of California Press, 2005). [back]
- 6. Whitman is referring to
"Editor's Study," which was published in Harper's
New Monthly Magazine in February 1889. The review was unsigned in the
magazine. [back]