"MARIANNE MOORE IS RELUCTANT TO SAY THAT SHE CAN NOT DO ANY OF THESE THINGS: READ MANUSCRIPT; COUNSEL WRITERS; GRANT INTERVIEWS; PROVIDE PHOTOGRAPHS; RECOMMEND PUBLISHERS; RECOMMEND EDITORS FAVORABLE TO VERSE BY CHILDREN OR WORK BEQUEATHD [sic] FOR PUBLICATION; PROVIDE DATA FOR THESES, LECTURES, SCHOOL ASSIGNMENTS, MEMOIRS; DOES NOT PROVIDE; COLLECTORS OF AUTOGRAPHS WITH CARD, STAMP OR ENVELOPE; DOES NOT READ BOOKS WITH A VIEW TO COMMENTING; ASKS FRIENDS WHO ARE MEMBERS OF UNIVERSITY OR OTHER FACULTIES NOT TO SUGGEST HER TO THEIR STUDENTS OR TO VISITING SCHOLARS AS AVAILABLE FOR CONSULATION [sic]."
—Marianne Moore, queen of the original, permanent and brutal "out of office" autoresponder.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
7
There's actually a plaque on a building on West 9th (near the PATH station) saying she lived there in the '60s. When I saw it for the first time I had a nerd moment.
Yo, this is almost just like Edmund Wilson's card
For whom the grim museums will behave
like courteous male bower-birds,
for whom the agreeable lions lie in wait
on the steps of the Public Library,
eager to rise and follow through the doors
up into the reading rooms,
please come flying.
I had a professor in freshman year who gifted each person in the class an individual poet that we had never read. We had to meet with him in his office, where he pulled a book (often a first edition) off his personal shelf and handed it to us, saying, "I think this will suit you." Mine was Elizabeth Bishop. Here's to the fine tradition of true academic mentors.
"Consulation" is actually just fine Anglo-Latin.
She's toying with us.
The all-time best in this category: “Mr. Evelyn Waugh sincerely regrets that he cannot do what you so kindly suggest.”
Oh, snap! But I have to say that I roll my eyes a little at constructions like "she cannot [do whatever]" or "it is impossible for him to [do whatever]". Of course, it's not impossible - he/she has chosen not to [do whatever]. Why not just say that? It's not like you're fooling anyone.
Yeah, but she wrote back to EVERYONE who ever wrote her, often including a gift. Just the best.