Decca, p.97
Decca, page 97
Anyway, what follows is Eyes Only as I’ll be writing to Maya when/if the promised package with comments arrives. At that point, I’ll tell her my opinion. This is just for you.
I was first puzzled, then appalled, and finally alarmed at the article. Disorder out of chaos would be my characterization.52
There seems to be a Fatal Flaw in her logic (or rather lack of) as she approaches her peroration of endorsement of C. Thomas. Starting off in pseudo-scholarly fashion (OK, omit the pseudo—just that I objected to that sort of TONE but it’s unimportant) with “The Prince,” whence as she points out the adj. Machiavellian…. Maya seems to have lost her way hopelessly—esp. when saying “I am neither naive enough nor hopeful enough to imagine that in publicly supporting him I will give the younger generation a pretty picture of unity …” To me, that sounds quite presumptuous as the younger generation of readers of the Op-Ed page must be well aware that there is no pretty picture of unity with Maya in the forefront, as all the major black organizations from NAACP to Black Caucus are unanimously opposed to Judge Thomas….
And who is going to “find answers that will help us to avoid falling into the merciless maw of history?”; (Oh dear—what a dreadful super-grand style—but let that pass). Not by supporting Judge Thomas, I reckon. I’m afraid that Maya is falling into that merciless maw by her support of him.
What a disgraceful effort, & v. uncharacteristic of Maya. I’m appalled. What’s happened? RSVP,
Much love, Decca
To Maya Angelou
Oakland
September 9, 1991
Dearest Maya,
Many thanks for sending yr Op-Ed article (which arrived, by the way, by Fed. Express last Thursday, 5 Sept). By that time Dink & others had already sent the piece. The enclosures were both from right-wing supporters of Judge Thomas; didn’t you get any letters from the opposition? If so, they weren’t in the package you sent. I’d have thought that lots of pro-&-consville wld have clattered into yr mailbox. If you’ve got any more, please send Xeroxes of same as I’m v.v. interested in these responses, and in the variety of viewpoints about the nomination.
As you will have no doubt have guessed, I disagree strongly with your conclusion. Having pondered the article at length, it seemed uncharacteristic of you. There seemed to be a few lapses of logic that I found disturbing.
For example, as you point out, the word Machiavellian means manipulating the powerless for benefit of rich/powerful. I always thought that Pres. Bush was the Machiavellian one, when he appointed Judge Thomas? Not, as you seem to say, “the recent vocal opposition to the nomination of Judge T. to the Sup. Ct.”
When you say that “we need to haunt the halls of history, listen anew to the ancestors’ wisdom,” what ancestors did you have in mind? Can’t you visualize Frederick Douglass, W.E.B Dubois, Sojourner Truth (to name a few) if they were around to contribute to the debate in the Op-Ed page? And what about M.L.K. Jr.? I know that second-guessing the opinions of dead people on today’s issues is a rather fruitless endeavor. But you did urge people to listen to the ancestors, without specifying which ones….
Back to the “recent vocal opposition,” that was mainly from the Black Caucus, NAACP national office, pro-choice (abortions) groups. Are THEY trying to manipulate the powerless for benefit of rich/powerful? Not as I see it.
End of paper, end of letter—longing to hear from you. PLEASE GET IN TOUCH,
Much love, Decca
To Peter Nevile
Oakland
November 20, 1991
Dearest Peter,
Many thanks for SUPER batch of cuttings Thomas-wise; do keep it up, sending things from Blighty newspapers….
Debo wrote to say that if we hadn’t been sexually harassed as girls, we’d have been livid. A good point; the whole thing about Judge Thomas is that he was a hopeless choice (totally political, as all have pointed out) and shld have been rejected as an incompetent & a liar by those disgraceful senators.
Aunt Weenie: my mother’s youngest sister. Her family consisted of two boys, George & Geoffrey, my mother, then Aunt Weenie. When Uncle George died I wrote to ask Muv what he’d died of. “He died of a nasty pain,” she answered. Which I suppose we’ll all do, eventually.
Uncle Geoff was the author of a self-published book called Writings of a Rebel, consisting of all his letters both published & unpublished to the Times.
He became a total recluse, lived alone in a London flat—nobody in the family heard from him or saw him for decades. After my mother died, Aunt Weenie rang him up. “Geoff,” she said: “George is dead, and now Sydney’s gone. Don’t you think we should meet?”; A long pause, and then: “But we have met,” said Uncle Geoff. End of conversation.
Back to work on my bk, The American Way of Birth (from the Grave to the Cradle, so to speak).
Much love, Decca
To Maya Angelou
Oakland
December 12, 1991
Dearest, dearly beloved Maya:
I can’t tell you how vastly relieved & pleased I was to get yr letter.53 I’ve been in ghastly shape ever since yr shitty/pity note in my mailbox. Talk about losing arm or foot—to me, it was approaching the misery of death of a friendship. I was longing to ring you up but feared to do so, thinking you might just hang up on me. Well—ask Dinky, or ask Dolly, as I confided in both those stalwart souls about the terror that you would forever be on non-speakers/non-writers. Their advice was “just pick up the phone …” which I didn’t, for aforementioned reason.
Another problem was—I wasn’t at all sure WHICH letter was the shitty one….
As to the Bouv factor, I expect that I did tell him that you/I had a disagreement Clarence Thomas-wise, & I very likely did say that I’d written to you re the that. I hadn’t realized that the letter was bruising—I thought it was just a dissent from yr view. Hence, no intention of causing you anguish by mentioning it to the Bouv in some glancing phone chat, no doubt. The very idea that such a discussion would be thought of by you as somehow an act of disloyalty on my part is most distressing.
Where I come from (and I don’t just mean England, although that’s perhaps the origin of what I’d thought of as ordinary behavior), one does discuss both in letters & conversations all sorts of disagreements on myriad subjects—without endangering friendship. In fact, perhaps enhancing friendship? A wee bit of hammer-&-tongsville, all cards on table etc. can be a splash of salt, just makes life more interesting, & friendships more enduring.
So this is just to say your letter was an absolute high spot, & thank you VERY MUCH INDEED for everything you said.
Yr loving (not unnecessarily mean) Decca
To the New York Times Book Review54 Oakland
April 8, 1992
To the Editor:
John Irving’s article (March 29, 1992) on pornography was a brilliant effort. I especially enjoyed his comments about cause and effect—whether there are fewer incidents of women being force-fed eels in Canada as a consequence of “The Tin Drum” being banned in that country?
Consider Amsterdam, acknowledged porn capital of the Western World, where you can’t walk downtown without being assaulted on every side by filthy, absolutely revolting, movie marquees offering everything the most rotten heart could desire in the way of dirty films; sex shops, with God knows what for sale; porn bookshops and so on.
Yet Amsterdam claims to be freer of crimes of assault against women than any Western city. Why? One theory is that would-be rapists act out their fantasies by watching the dirty movies, reading the dirty books. (I don’t pretend to know if this is true—it has a sort of spurious sounding logic, possibly dreamed up by the Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce. But let that pass.)
Further on cause and effect, I do remember being fascinated by the Kinsey Report on the sexual habits of the American male, in which we learned that one out of every eight American men has had intercourse with animals. At any large party, I couldn’t help glancing around to try and guess which of the men had done it—and with whom? Man’s best friend? A sheep? A horse? The report was disappointingly reticent on this score. Have the Animal Rights advocates been heard from on this subject? For is it not possible that a reader of the Kinsey Report might become so titillated as to have a go with a pig, just to see what it’s like?
Yours truly, Jessica Mitford
To Emma (the Good) Tennant
Oakland
April 21, 1992
Darling Em,
… Am writing in a terrific rush as am still mired in book galleys—by the way, feminists may rather loathe it as it takes a few digs, though on the whole pro their pt of view.
Children’s bks.
From earliest days, Struwwelpeter.55 A marvellous book, now of course banned by the pseudo-psychs on ground of the AWFULNESS to the infant psyche of the messages therein. One of the crueller lines, in Conrad & Long-Legged Scissor-man,56 is when Mamma comes back & sees his bleeding stumps. “Aha! said Mamma. I knew he’d come to naughty little suck-a-thumb.”57 Which I admit was rather cold of her—I mean she might have thought of a bandage or something.
Next, about 5 or 6 yrs old: The Little Duke by Charlotte M. Yonge. … A thrilling book, only marred for me by the memory of Muv reading it to us, & there was a phrase in there about the little Duke & co. having their dinner at a “rude table.” I exclaimed about that—“fancy a table being rude!” Cruel sisters shouted with laughter at my ignorance.
Next, 9 or 10—maybe younger? Can’t remember. Mrs. Edgeworth’s58 Moral Tales, and another by her called The Parents’ Assistant. Wonderful stories with enduring morals & very long words such as one titled “Rosamund and the Prodigious Jar.” If one didn’t know what prodigious means, one learned p.d.q.
After or about age II—discovery of blissful trash, in shape of Angela Brazil’s school stories, absolute heaven as one became the heroine—the adored Head Girl—as one read. Also, perhaps a bit earlier? all of E. Nesbitt.
By age 12, influenced by Nancy, I was a crashing intellectual snob. … I did love all the first real grown-up books I read, & shall ever remember them: Rose Macaulay & Rosamond Lehmann for example. I soon graduated to all of Aldous Huxley & D.H. Lawrence….
Much love….
To Sally Belfrage
Oakland
April 23, 1992
Dearest Sall,
I feel awfully out of touch—mainly, all the ANNOYING requirements of last-minutery re book….
Was election outcome a horrible shock?59 Must have been.… Ours60 shaping up to be about the same. A rather good joke in Herb Caen’s column. Newspapers full of that absurd creature Clinton who admitted smoking marijuana aged 25 but didn’t inhale. Someone said that Jerry Brown61 also smoked at same age but he never exhaled. We are supporting Brown but with heavy heart.…
[Enclosure] on pornography—read from back, starting with John Irving’s v. good article in NY Times Bk Review. Amusing moment: the editor of NYT Book Rev. just rang up. He said they are going to publish my letter, but he had checked with the Kinsey Institute who told him it wasn’t one in eight U.S. males but 8 percent, which in his view is one in 12. I said nonsense, one in 8 & 8 percent is about the same in my opinion. However, Bob agrees with him. He also said it wasn’t sexual intercourse, just sexual contact. So Lord knows what will actually be printed of my effort.62 …
Fondest love dearest Sall—longing to hear from you & above all longing to SEE YOU in London. Decca
To Sally Belfrage
Oakland
April 29, 1992
Darling Sall,
Our letters X’d. I was SO pleased to get yours. I ought to be packing63 but shld far rather write to you. To answer:
… Yr book.64 Cedric’s father is worth the earth for quotes. I have memorized “It is no exaggeration to say that constipation may well bring the downfall of civilization in its train.” Be sure to put all that in. I’ve noted over the years that most people’s favourite bit in Hons/Rebs is quotes from Uncle Geoff along the lines that “It is an actual fact that character is largely a product of the soil. Many years of murdered food from deadened soil has made us too tame. Chemicals have had their poisonous day…” etc. People love these rare old eccentrics, esp. those with medical views. Also from Cedric’s pop: concept of allowing “free and fair play to the colon.” …
Maya. I must have told you about our great falling-out—in fact, v. close to a total end of friendship—re her Op-Ed piece in NYT endorsing Clarence Thomas? … Anyway, we just got a letter from her saying how gracious Princess Margaret is, oh dear. And yr cutting from Independent about her White House visit & making Pres. Bush weep because she was so moving. Of course she’d rung us up re that when it happened; her platitudinous words to Bush along the lines “Our history is full of tears, full of laughter …” you get the picture. Accdg. to Dolly McPherson, Maya has completely cast her lot with right-wing Republican blacks, all Bush toadies. I’ll tell all at more length one day. No time at the moment as … I’ve got to scram packing-wards. I do wish that Jon Snow was here to do it.
So—be in touch,
Much love, Decca
To Maya Angelou
Oakland
April 30, 1992
Dearest Maya,
Thanks v.v. much for yr London newsletter, rec’d eve of departure. …
Anyway, your London time was clearly a triumphal moment—Sally sent a smashing article from Independent re same….
Princess Margaret, & smallness of her: Nancy used to call her the Royal Dwarf. I rather loathe the Royals, esp. Princess M. Many yrs ago, Bob & I were at a dinner party at Edna O’Brien’s house—all sorts of actors etc. at dinner. After dinner, a new crowd came, Gore Vidal165 & followers, plus Princess M. The latter plunked herself next me on a small love-seat in the drawing room. “How’s Debo?”; she asked in her silly little voice …So I muttered “I suppose she’s all right,” edging away. Bob comes over, so I say, “This is my husband Bob Treuhaft.” Bob: “Typical English introduction! What’s your name?”; Princess M. comes over all royal & says “Decca, please present your husband to me.” “I can’t think why you can’t simply SAY your name,” says I. So she calls over a sort of Gold Stick character to do it right. “May I present Mr. Treuhaft?”; Such bosh, when she shows up with the Gore Vidal heavy drinking, heavy drugging set. When the princesses were little, I tried to spread a rumor in London that they’d been born with webbed feet which was why nobody had ever seen them with their shoes off; also, that Princess Lillibet (as Elizabeth was known by an adoring Brit. public) was actually the Monster of Glamis….
Much love—Call us at Dink’s! And come to NY. Decca
To Dolly McPherson and Maya Angelou
Oakland
June 29, 1992
Dearest Dolly & Maya,
I suppose you’ve seen the many obits. of Mary Frances?66 If ever a death was what Victorians called a blessed release, that was one. I’ll never forget the good days, my favorite memory of that smashing person was the gossips we used to have. Bob & I would stop down the hill from a Bouv weekend & sort of sneak into Mary Frances’s house to chat about the whole thing. It was all Upstairs/Downstairs, MFK filling us in about the inner rhythms of the Bouv household, all those semi-lunatic servants etc. Oh she was so amusing. I can see her now, twinkling away as she told all that. And, of course, her incredibly good company at innumerable lunches/dinners in the Bouv quarters. Wonderful creature—and what a perfectly beastly few years she had at the end. (Dink wld never let that happen to me—she knows all the ways to put one out of one’s misery. Also, come to think of it, she’s my principal beneficiary, so it wouldn’t pay her not to, if you get the drift.)…
Much love, Decca
To Arthur Lubow67 Oakland
June 29, 1992
Dear Arthur, A few items:
…I forgot to make a list of the people that I suggested—both sides Atlantic—whom you might talk to. …Itoccurs to me that it wld be v. important to include ENEMIES—often far more interesting than friends, who are bound to give bland endorsements: E.g., American Med. Assn. types. Best of all, Kenneth Wagstaff of the Calif. Medical Board who wrote a furious letter to the SF Chronicle (not published, as it arrived too late) about my Chron. article. He’d be prime copy. He was featured on 60 Minutes the other day—marvellously evasive & self-serving. There must be others. I’ll be pondering. Prime enemies were various spokesmen for the Funeral Directors but I fear their ranks have been sadly decimated by the Grim Reaper. Let me know if you are interested in this angle….
Jokes for which I was brought up on charges by the CP Security Commission: The main one was when I was Literature Director (one has to assemble the lit, & make a pitch for the various items) when one of the pamphlets I had to sell was “Mastering Bolshevism” by Stalin. I introduced it as “Bolstering Menshivism”—hoping, no doubt, for a cheap laugh. Oh well, Such were the joys …
Best regards, Decca
To Virginia Durr
Oakland
July 4, 1992
Dearest Va,
I DID love yr letter, do keep it up. Dink was so delighted that you came…. I v. much agree about Terry, a splendid chap. Sheet & pillow-wise—must be OK? As they’ve been married for ages, 12 or 13 yrs, & seem v.v. happy. He’s a super son-in-law which makes our visits with them v. pleasant….
Yes I do think [Marge Frantz] was put out because of yr attitude to the Eleanor liaison, although being herself a Southerner she must be v. aware of the weird prejudice against Lesbianism or any sort of homosexuality. That’s something I could never really understand. In England, in my young day, it was an absolute given—nobody paid much attention, just took people as they were. Most men & boys one knew had been homo at some point…. Later in life, they either did or didn’t switch to hetero. As you love reading about the Bloomsbury crowd, you’ll see what I mean. … Of course male homosexuality was v. illegal until the 1960’s—not so lesbianism, as Queen Victoria said she didn’t know what it was, so they escaped the law! …
