![TENNANT, Stephen (1906-1987). Approx 56 autograph letters and four postcards signed to Arthur Waley and (the majority) Beryl de Zoete, mostly Wilsford Manor, also London, Gibraltar, Cyprus, Paris and elsewhere, 18 January [?1929] - 10 July 1951 and n.d., a few illustrated with drawings of flowers, the three postcards bearing portraits of Tennant, with three other portrait postcards unused.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2011/CKS/2011_CKS_08002_0034_000(tennant_stephen_approx_56_autograph_letters_and_four_postcards_signed071030).jpg?w=1)
Details
TENNANT, Stephen (1906-1987). Approx 56 autograph letters and four postcards signed to Arthur Waley and (the majority) Beryl de Zoete, mostly Wilsford Manor, also London, Gibraltar, Cyprus, Paris and elsewhere, 18 January [?1929] - 10 July 1951 and n.d., a few illustrated with drawings of flowers, the three postcards bearing portraits of Tennant, with three other portrait postcards unused.
While Tennant's letters do include references to his artistic and literary experiments and outlook ('My life is a curious mixture of interest & futility ... My work is a system of reflection -- or is that too paradoxical?'; 'One of the most tragic things in life is that one cannot share the idiosyncracies of one's personal vision'), much of the correspondence is almost a stream of consciousness in his inimitably fey style: 'yes, it was thrilling when the swing-door that had given up everyone except Arthur suddenly relented, & my reveries .... were sent spinning and in the waste land of my direct vision stood -- no -- came -- but dear me -- what good letters we write ... Where was I? -- my string-bag of encomiums of Arthur has burst'; on his relationship with Siegfried Sassoon: 'Siegfried rides on the downs & looks very superb, -- brown and vigorous, -- he comes in from his rides, -- welcome thudding footsteps on the stairs -- & then in he comes -- glowing & tired -- bringing a smell of Down airs & that nice smelling saddle-leather. -- & sits down on my silver bed'. References to William Walton, Cecil Beaton (described as 'a cheap vulgarian' in 1945), Auden, the Sitwells and others track the evolution of Tennant's personal relationships, often in the later letters wondering at his alienation from them -- a mood that extends to Waley himself in 1950: 'Somehow, I never thought we would cease to be friends. -- Your friendship was something I was sure of. -- Never mind'.
While Tennant's letters do include references to his artistic and literary experiments and outlook ('My life is a curious mixture of interest & futility ... My work is a system of reflection -- or is that too paradoxical?'; 'One of the most tragic things in life is that one cannot share the idiosyncracies of one's personal vision'), much of the correspondence is almost a stream of consciousness in his inimitably fey style: 'yes, it was thrilling when the swing-door that had given up everyone except Arthur suddenly relented, & my reveries .... were sent spinning and in the waste land of my direct vision stood -- no -- came -- but dear me -- what good letters we write ... Where was I? -- my string-bag of encomiums of Arthur has burst'; on his relationship with Siegfried Sassoon: 'Siegfried rides on the downs & looks very superb, -- brown and vigorous, -- he comes in from his rides, -- welcome thudding footsteps on the stairs -- & then in he comes -- glowing & tired -- bringing a smell of Down airs & that nice smelling saddle-leather. -- & sits down on my silver bed'. References to William Walton, Cecil Beaton (described as 'a cheap vulgarian' in 1945), Auden, the Sitwells and others track the evolution of Tennant's personal relationships, often in the later letters wondering at his alienation from them -- a mood that extends to Waley himself in 1950: 'Somehow, I never thought we would cease to be friends. -- Your friendship was something I was sure of. -- Never mind'.
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