LETTERS: Correspondence with William Shawn.
MFK Fisher:
Correspondence with William Shawn
1964-1985
Fisher, MFK. Correspondence with William Shawn, 1964-1985.
Eighteen letters from M.F.K. Fisher to William Shawn, illuminating their relationship which spanned over two decades, 1964-1985. Together with eight of Shawn’s typed carbon responses; letters to and from Fisher’s literary agent, Robert Lescher; correspondence between Lescher and Laurie Witkin at The New Yorker; and a press release regarding the Silver Spoon award Fisher received in 1983.
Fisher’s sense of humor and intelligence, her skill as a writer, and her respect for Shawn are all plainly evident in her letters to him. She is prolific; she pitches several story ideas – often in the same letter – and she frequently mentions that she has stacks of articles and reviews already written that she is able to send to Shawn if he wants them. In her September 27, 1968 letter, she writes, “I have about five articles all ready to go: one about White House ‘gastronomy’ which might be ill-placed this year, one about gentlemen chefs, and so on.” At the conclusion of this same letter, she thanks Shawn for a check she received from The New Yorker and enlightens him about how she will spend the money; a food writer’s spending-spree: “I plan several escapades at once…a fiscal montage: a case of champagne, overnight in San Francisco, a dozen French fruit knives, Belgian endive at Christmas.”
In an earlier letter, dated December 17, 1964, she reveals,
I have made random but useful notes for several more pieces: gastronomy for house-hold pets…probably starting with the sleeve-dogs of the Empress of China and her amazing diet for them; the feeding of invalids and/or infants, and then of athletes, from early Greek runners to astronauts; ‘regional cookery’, in which I continue to find a macabre pleasure…
She makes even those “random” notes sound enticing.
Most compelling, though, is her first letter to him, in which she describes her life and schedule in “the Piney Woods experiment” (November 14, 1964), where she worked as an English teacher at an all-black school. She explains part of her hardship:
Two things are against my working as I need to: my being in a Negro school in a segregated country, as isolated from research sources as if I were in central Alaska, and my work hours. The first is easier to cope with, since I can ask a neighbor in St. Helena to pull books off my shelves, blindly but willingly. The second is increasingly uncopable: my days start at 5 and end with my last class at 9:30 at night (Except on Sundays when I sleep until 6:30 and get out of my last assignment at 6:30 at night). This schedule sounds, as I write it, unbelievable, and following it is a dare, really, to one’s various strengths. It is the result of trying to run a school where students can work half-time and still follow the regular highschool or college curriculum. I have never seen people work this hard, not thought I could do it myself.
After reading about these responsibilities, it seems almost impossible that she is considering writing a New Yorker piece at all; but by December 17, she sends him another letter with a finished article enclosed.
Inventory:
Typed letter signed, “M.F.K. Fisher” to “Mr. Shawn,” November 14, 1964; one leaf of typing paper, creased; with inked emendations. Explains her delay in sending a piece to him about modern cookbooks.
Typed letter signed, “M.F.K. Fisher” to “Mr. Shawn,” December 17, 1964; one leaf of typing paper; with one inked emendation. Encloses an unfinished piece on cookbooks (not included here), and announces future pieces she plans to write.
Typed letter signed, “M.F.K. Fisher” to “Mr. Shawn,” February 17, 1965; one leaf of typing paper; one inked emendation (to the date). Encloses a piece on women cookbook writers (not included here).
Typed letter signed, “Henry Volkening,” to “Mr. Shawn,” June 15, 1965; one leaf of Russell and Volkening
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