Details
GREENE, Graham. Five typed letters signed to Tanya (2) and Ronald (3) Matthews, Albany, London, 24 September 1956 - 22 May 1958, altogether 5 pages, 4to; one letter with a newspaper cutting attached.
The earliest letter refers to Tanya's anxiety about a friend, apparently a ballet dancer on tour in Russia: 'I am not going to Moscow ... Otherwise I would have been delighted to have kept an eye on the situation. I do think that Sadlers Wells should be able to guarantee her safe return. Unless of course it was put out that she had asked for asylum in Russia which is always a possibility'. In January 1958 he is 'very tied up with rehearsals and pressing on against time with a story', so will not be able to dine or go for a walk with Ronald for a while. On 28 February 1958 he sends thanks for 'the silly little book. One gets many like that. Hope we can manage a pub crawl sometime but I am still staggering towards the end of my book'; six weeks later he is 'still struggling with the Havana story -- not the schoolboy story ... We might finish our walk with dinner at Madame Prunier's? The only thing is I mustn't wake up the next day with a hangover because every day's work counts!'; a postscript encloses an article from the Times, and suggests that 'a short book on sausages would be a best-seller'. The last letter confesses difficulties about arranging a meeting in Brussels. Ronald Matthews was for some time the foreign correspondent of the Daily Telegraph, and wrote a number of books on political subjects. His Russian wife, Tanya, was also a writer. (5)
The earliest letter refers to Tanya's anxiety about a friend, apparently a ballet dancer on tour in Russia: 'I am not going to Moscow ... Otherwise I would have been delighted to have kept an eye on the situation. I do think that Sadlers Wells should be able to guarantee her safe return. Unless of course it was put out that she had asked for asylum in Russia which is always a possibility'. In January 1958 he is 'very tied up with rehearsals and pressing on against time with a story', so will not be able to dine or go for a walk with Ronald for a while. On 28 February 1958 he sends thanks for 'the silly little book. One gets many like that. Hope we can manage a pub crawl sometime but I am still staggering towards the end of my book'; six weeks later he is 'still struggling with the Havana story -- not the schoolboy story ... We might finish our walk with dinner at Madame Prunier's? The only thing is I mustn't wake up the next day with a hangover because every day's work counts!'; a postscript encloses an article from the Times, and suggests that 'a short book on sausages would be a best-seller'. The last letter confesses difficulties about arranging a meeting in Brussels. Ronald Matthews was for some time the foreign correspondent of the Daily Telegraph, and wrote a number of books on political subjects. His Russian wife, Tanya, was also a writer. (5)