Poetic Inquiry of and on Play

Dear Carl, Pamela, Natalie, Sandra, and Kimberly,Would you like to come out and play? John, Lynn, Celeste, and I are knocking at your door.We wonder if you might be interested in joining us in a poetic inquiry? The call from CJE asks for papers that address play, playfulness, and childhood.Poetically yours,John, Lynn, Celeste, and SeanP.S. Can’t, too busy, don’t have time? Ready or not, here we come

Letter from [John Muir] to [Charles Sprague] Sargent, [1900].

[First draft of letter, in note-book #59] (53)[1900]Dear Sargent:Shut yourself up at home or elsewhere and get your dry book done, or come out here and explore the redwoods. Like you, I\u27m bothered and made barren by a thousand small nothings. The grippe has gone, but articles go on forever, 1 had to write a Harrlman Expedition article, and I foolishly undertook an article on Yo[semite] for the Encyclopaedia Britannica Supplement which is not off my hands. Now I\u27m trying to finish this long string of Park articles to be ready for Mexico, etc,.with you in the fall.[John Muir]0289

Letter from Jeanne C. Carr to John Muir, 1867 Aug 14

Madison, Aug 14, 1867My dear Mr Muir, I came home from Chicago last week sick, and am only just ready to return to my usual ways. The ferns I wrote of I want for a friend in Troy - Aspedi[illegible] fragrans and A t[illegible] if I can get them Mr Laph[illegible] tells me they are abundant at Kilborn and about the Delles. I care les for any thing else. The Calopogon you can pack in a little wet moss - but do not take any trouble about them. [I have I am now?], and we will confer about moss when you come. If we were nearer to Port Hope. I would ask you to bring me a couple of roots of your favorite Osm[illegible] - but I fear we shall not be here long enough to make it worth while. I will not write more now except to say that I enjoyed your letter very much. You must come right here with your friend, for the Butlers have a barn full of summer boarders - If you can without [inconvenience?] tuck in a root of each O[illegible], you may or [illegible] Your friend [Jeanne?] Carr Do not go off any where after the Asp[illegible] [but?] if you come [across?] secure some for me. I generally get an old box or basket, tie the foonds closely to a stick & pack tight in moss - I can pack a great many in a long narrow box, or in a box basket, but I can pack nearly as well in a bundle with some [illegible] sticks around to prevent the fronds from being broken - J. C. C. 0042

Letter from Fay H. Sellers to [John Muir], 1913 Mar 3.

[2]not however remain much longer, having made her arrangements to return home in April. She is to visit her mother and daughter in Oregon before that time, consequently I will have to give her up soon. As I wrote you in my last letter, I will go to Chicago and decide later what is the best thing for me to do, live in a hotel, coming here winters or take a house there. I get very homesick when I think of[1]Pasadena Mch 3-13Dear friend.I am still in Pasadena where I expect to remain until there is a prospect of selling the house. I have put it in the hands of Mr. Luckwood to sell. hoping he may find a purchaser soon- although one cannot always dispose of a house immediately upon offering it for sale. My sister-in-law is still with me. She can05386 [3]going away from Pasadena. for I like it here. No doubt when I go to Chicago, everything will be different there, and it may not seem like home. Five years have probably made many changes there too. I will let you know as soon as I know myself where I am going. It may be two months before I can dispose of my things here and be ready to go. If you come to Los Angeles, you will come to see me, won\u27t you? I would be very unhappy to go away without seeing you again. God bless you dear Mr. Muir. for you have indeed been a dear and kind friend.Your sincere friendFay J. Sellers

'Pleasure too often Repeated': Aldous Huxley's Modernity

Chapter NYP. EUP allows authors to retain the the right to post a pre-publication version of the contribution on their personal or departmental web page or Institutional Repository or in a disciplinary repository such as the Humanities Research Network (HRN) and the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) at the time the contribution is first submitted.Aldous Huxley’s Modernity Morag Shiach In an essay published in 1923, Aldous Huxley suggested that ‘of all the various poisons which modern civilization, by a process of auto- intoxication, brews quietly up within its own bowels, few are more deadly [. . .] than that curious and appalling thing that is technically known as “pleasure”.’ By ‘pleasure’, Huxley here clearly meant something other than simple enjoyment. His use of inverted commas around the word and his description of pleasure as ‘curious and appalling’ signal a profound and significant unease, which I will argue can be fully understood only when considered in relation to Huxley’s sense of the corruption of ‘pleasure’ by the forces of modernity as he perceived them in the early 1920s. Huxley goes on to argue in this same essay that pleasure has become something other than the ‘real thing’, has become ‘organized distraction’, and to bemoan the emergence of ‘vast organizations that provide us with ready-made distractions’. Pleasure thus appears to have become for Huxley not simply negative, but something other than itself (not real), and an experience that is both inauthentic and slightly sinister (‘organ-ized’ and ‘ready-made’). Huxley’s profound suspicion about the nature of pleasure in the modern world means that an analysis of the structural and thematic role of the party in his fiction offers a particularly rich opportunity for a reconsideration of the broader arguments within his novels about the defining characteristics of modernity. These broader arguments, I will suggest, can themselves be more fully and productively understood only when put into dialogue with the literary and cultural project we have come to call ‘modernism’, represented (necessarily only partially) in this chapter through discussions of T. S. Eliot, James Joyce, D. H. Lawrence and Sigmund Freu

Letter from Maggie [Margaret Muir Reid] to John Muir, 1889 Apr 8.

Crete NebApril 8. 1889Dear Brother JohnI got home to Neb. two days ago. I tried to wait till John was ready to ship a few horses, but they are still unfit for market & the children were wearying so for me to come home. There is an event going to happen in our family which means much to us all, our dear Annie is going to leave us for a home of her own, on the eight day of May. & we will all be so glad to have you here - & delighted if Louie can come with you, & Annie wishes it so much, can you make your promised visit to as to be here before that time? It is going to be a very quiet affair. They are to be married just before train time & start right off on a trip, for a week or two, & then settle down in Crete on the same street we live on, about four blocks away. I hope you are all well we are about as usual. I left John & Harry well. Johns affairs are the same only the Bankers did not shut us clear off as they seemed threaten J has put in over 100 acres of (or will have when it is all in) crops. I do hope we will have rain this year, to make it grow. we have had a very mildwinter, hardly any snow. Duncan [Reid?] is back in the States. & was married about ten days ago, don\u27t know whither he is going back to Africa or not, did not hear hardly any particulars. I suppose you heard all about mother being sick but I am glad she is (of when I last heard) almost well again Love to Louis & the little folks, also the Doctor & Mrs. Strentzel We will hope to hear from you soonAffectionatelyMaggie0133

Letter Written by Katherine Trickey to Her Folks Dated February 4, 1944

Dear Folks, WAC Det IRTC Camp Wheeler, Georgia 4 Feb 1944 (Friday) I did receive your nice package as I mentioned in my last letter. The was[h] cloths are OK and I have plenty now. The presser cloths are fine. I pressed my skirt last night and for the first time felt satisfied with the way it came out. I have been using one of the commercial treated press cloths. But a good old fashioned rag works better! I took three shirts in to be done up at a laundry in town last Saturday and they said they would be ready last night, so Crockett and I went to town after them. No luck, they weren\u27t done after all so I had to come home and iron me a shirt after all. I shall have to go in again Saturday night now. We ate at the Candlelight again and enjoyed it as much as before . There is not much news this week. I\u27ve stayed in nearly every night just doing odd jobs, washing, writing letters, etc . My corporal is still here on the job with me so I don\u27t have all the work to do; in fact, he does the daily work and I am getting acquainted with the back papers so as to know where to find them when he leaves. I have made some indexes and am checking the set of Army regulations which haven\u27t been fully posted, as they should have been. My boss here is Lt.Poslik. He is an older man who has been in the army quite some time. He has been a master sergeant before going to Officer School. He was stationed in Ireland until last year when they sent him back to this country to attend Officer Candidate School. He is very nice, and it is going to be nice working for him I think. He said yesterday he would arrange it so that I didn\u27t have K .P. anymore. That makes him very very nice! I should like to see Bobby walk even those few steps which you say he takes. He msut[must] be getting cuter every day. I did get the income tax things and am going to have to pay about 60 dollars I think. Has Dad got the Registration Blanks for the Car yet. I have to sign them so he\u27d better get them down to me . It is too cold to type anymore.The furnace here at the office went on the bum yeasterday (sic) and it is really cold here this morning. By the way did I tell you that the last two or three weeks have been so warm here that the grass has started to turn green and the bushes have budded and I saw some violets blossomed the other day. However the natives say that this is unsesonable weather and they are worried for fear it will harm the bushes .etc . It is getting colder again this week. Love . Ka

Letter from Maggie [Margaret Muir Reid] to John Muir, 1891 Feb 15.

[1]Collyer Kan Feb 151891Dear Brother JohnWe received your very surprising letter friday. & you Funny Boy you took much for granted which we had not decided upon, as it seemed to us (to me anyway) that we could not leave this place without loosing everything, for an indefinite time. I had just got as far as being reconciled to John going away & leaving us to live here without him awhile but your letter has worked wonders you have farely converted us over to thinking[2] 01490that it is the best thing for us to do to come to Calafornia & accept of your Kind offers & a chance to get on our feet again financially Last week Harry had a letter from can old chum saying he was going to Colorado & wanted Harry to go too he thought he would like to go, but after receiving your letter without telling H about it his father asked him how he would like to stay here & take care of the horses & the place for a number of years if he gave an interest in them. he seems pleased & willing to do so, but it will be very hard for me to leave the poor Boy here alone[3]& more so since I have lived here myself although in about six months he will be twenty one & might go to some place where he would be worse off than here & it is the only way we could all leave we know of I suppose it will not pay to bring furniture such as my old bea[illegible]s the organ or bedsteads most of our [things?] are left at Crete as we have such a small house here We received the three hundred dollars yesterday & thank you for all your thoughtful kindness, till we can do more & now with love to you all I closeMaggie[4] 01490Brother John. I go to [Wakering?] tomorrow to see about train & will write you when we will start which I think it will be about 2 weeks. I am ready to come now but Maggie think it is awful short notice to pick up & go – there will be 4 of us Maggie May Johnnie & myself. Harry will have to stay & take care of the place & horses as they are not old enough to sell & besides a lot of Rye sown that will have to be harvested in June 80 acres & other crops: also a lot of tools & wagons Buggy carts & a great many other things that cant be disposed of at the present time. therefore it is necessary for him to stay &look after them. trains run every day & when Maggie gets a good ready we will start I think 2nd March[in margin: if everything is all right with Maggie your Brother [illegible] Reid

Letter from Helen Muir to [John Muir], 1896 Jun 29.

Martinz, California June 21.1896.My Dear Papa,I have taken my first lesson on the violin at last and am very glad that I have. Max Plum could not teach me before because his little baby was sickFannie went home yesterday. they will start for the mountains by the first of July. It is very warm here today and there is no wind.Captain Bielawski came this morning and will go on the 4 oclock train, he seems to be quite well, but he looks very old and bent over.09240 This is Sunday Are you haveing a good time in New York? Have you been out to Central Park yet? It must look very pretty now with many flowers.When are you coming home? I am so lonesome, hurry and come home dear Papa or I think that I will come to you. Write a long letter to me soon. Grandma is pretty well but Mama\u27s eyes have hurt her a great deal. [Auntie?] Margaret went to church this morning and May is here now. The roads are getting very dirty but they will soon begin to sprinkle them. My beans that I planted are full of long pods almost ready to cook. I have not much to write today. We are well and hope you are well. All the red geraniums are smiling inthe hot sunshine those you planted are growing nicely. The portulaca blossoms are just lovely and oh there have been several great beautiful white Magnolias. The jasmines are blooming.Write to me telling me how Grandma Muir is now. We saw Uncle David yesterday and he had a litter from Aunt Annie that said Grandmas was still so very weak.With a good-night kiss for you dear Papa I am your own littleHelen Muir

1865 May 25, Letter from J. Edward James to Lizzie James Lamberson

1865 May 25, Letter from J. Edward James, Camp Harker, Nashville, Tennessee, to Lizzie James Lamberson, Galena, Illinois. Excerpt: I think the plan as stated by you would work well and I think were I at home I should take the offer. Though as I cannot here judge just what is for the best I can hardly give a decisive answer. You say \u27the only question is whether or not I would fancy the business\u27. This is only a small questions with me - yes I think I should and as it puts a fellow a little on his ingenuity I would like it all the better for that. And with Harvey I think I could soon learn enough to help. If Harvey thinks he would like to take me in with him and has not made any other argument and if he could delay matters until I get home (which I think will not be long) I think I shall be ready to take the offer. I shall have when paid up between five or six hundred dollars and I would prefer letting it or investing with him than any one else I know of. There is one point in your letters that I cannot by the words decide as to what is meant. Am I to understand that I am to rent the Gallery in Galena or am I to be the partner spoken of and go with Harvey while a third person takes the Galena Gallery on shares? Perhaps if Harvey would write me a few lines on the matter I could tell better what to do. At all (?) before any other person is taken in. I would like to understand matters fully that I can come to a conclusion and said before I rather like it and as in taking it up I shall remain more at home (by being with you). I would prefer it rather than going in to anything with strangers.https://digitalcommons.memphis.edu/speccoll-mss-jamesje1/1009/thumbnail.jp