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I got a laugh out of your Feiffer cartoon. I'll put it on my office door this fall, for my colleagues' edification. with
a great stroke of luck I have managed to set up a year off (starting in January) to write ^ (at last) my sequel to underline Paper Walls. /underline I've been researching this second book since 1969 & have about 14 cartons of materials, but I've had no long stretch of time to start writing. when I reached home I learned that Pantheon Books (part of Random House) was trying to reach me. They wanted me to send some of my stuff. Luckily, besides underline Paper Walls /underline, I had a 9-page outline of the current work & drafts of 3 speeches I've made based on the newer research. On the strength of that, they offered (& I accepted) a contract with a $12,000 advance & $2,000 more for paperback rights for underlinePaper Walls /underline. By coughing up $4,000 ^ of our own (half our life's savings!), we can afford to take leave from the groves of our academy for a full year & get the damned job done at last. It still looks too good to be true, but I have it in black & white -- ^ in a legal contract! This beats playing with the damned foundations. Imagine Guggenheim putting you off with some imbecility about using the money for promising beginners! As if they couldn't find the funds for both. I'll be working with Andre Schiffrin, whom Studs Terkel acknowledges very impressively in underline Hard Times /underline & underline Working /underline. (I haven't seen the newest Terkel, but enjoyed your review in underline Foolkiller.) /underline
The NH countryside is beautiful & comparatively peaceful. We have the garden almost our from under the weeds. It's growing
luxuriantly so far, though we are beginning to need more rain. Woodchucks did a job on the beans while we were away, but ^ that's come to a stop.
Again, we both thank you for a delightful afternoon. The Monkey Nest trip was ^a very moving experience. And we treasure
those wonderful autographs. Best, Dave (the Sage of Canterbury, pro tem) & Chicken