West is West

Quick post today – slowly reading through the Paris Review Interviews, and came across this great, slightly catty, bit from Rebecca West (who was interviewed by Marina Warner):

MW: Do you do many drafts?

RW: I fiddle away a lot at them. Particularly if it’s a fairly elaborate thing. I’ve never been able to do just one draft. That seems a wonderful thing. Do you know anyone who can?

MW: I think D. H. Lawrence did.

RW: You could often tell.

Ouch!

3 thoughts on “West is West

  • March 30, 2009 at 9:49 pm
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    Ouch indeed! I’ve only read one of his works, I think, but that seemed to be true.

    Reply
  • March 30, 2009 at 10:43 pm
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    Wonderfully catty!

    I have an edition of Jane Eyre, for which Rebecca West wrote the introduction – and what a catty introduction it is too. It basically says that JE isn’t as good as Wuthering Heights! Whether or not you agree with that (and I don’t, personally), why write that in an introduction??

    Reply

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