|
Correspondence from John Butler Yeats to William Butler Yeats
New York
18 December 1914
My dear Willie,
I have a constant dread that I am writing too many letters and am boring you, especially as the penalty might be that you tossed them aside unread.
Do you know a man named [Aleister] Crowley?—a strange man and a witty. Miss Coates and I met him at Quinn's [John Quinn] at dinner, his conversation not witty but that of a witty man. He seemed to be well-versed in curious cults, the sort you are interested in and also, as it happened, Miss Coates, who knew all the names and books he mentioned, serving well to draw him out. A bullet-headed man—he was an opponent of Mathers [MacGregor Mathers], but very sympathetic towards Mrs. Mathers [Moina Mathers], on whose behalf he was especially indignant with Mathers. Also he knows Mrs. Emery and you. Have you noticed that any man possessing the gift of expression but absolutely without sympathy is inevitably a wit and a man of humor? A complete detachment from the people about him—this complete and perfectly natural estrangement puts him in easy possession of all that makes for humor and wit. It also makes him seem formidable. The combination is that of the formidable stranger, so that you pay attention to every word he lets fall from his lips. And if he makes you laugh, you hear him with a sense of relief and are almost grateful, this effect enhanced in this case by his bullet head and strong clumsy figure—his fingers thick but tapering. The handsome Quinn watched him closely, Miss Coates, sitting opposite looking really handsome and showing much intelligence, never took her eyes off him. He was very courteous, and his courtesy was part of his detachment. These good-looking people seemed interested in what were the contortions of an ugly man, and yet among ordinary people he is by no means an ugly man. He showed no weakness unless it was his liking for some ancient Chartreuse provided by John Quinn. The whisky he put aside with a supercilious air. Miss Coates and I left at 10.30. The conversation that took place after we left was probably illuminating. Quinn looked as if he would remain master of the situation. Of course being an Englishman, he was throughout the hero of his own tales. Have you noticed that one is always inclined to like a formidable man" It is our way of getting back our courage.
The war news is not pleasant these last few days.
Yrs affectly
J. B. Yeats
|