Patrick O’Connor
Love From Snoopie
The Letters of Noël Coward
By Barry Day (ed)
Methuen Drama 800pp £25
In her poignant short story 'Mad About the Boy', Georgina Hammick describes a teenage flapper writing a fan letter to Noël Coward. Having received no response after several attempts, the persistent admirer tries once more, only this time signs with a boy's name. By return of post comes an autographed photo. This has such a ring of truth to it that I was convinced, reading Hammick's book (People For Lunch, 1987), that it must have been based on fact. In this sturdy collection of Coward's letters, however, there are no replies to unknown admirers, no letters to the taxman, creditors, or tailors (not even Sulka, suppliers of all those silk dressing-gowns). Such prosaic scraps of correspondence can often enliven editions like this, providing a different kind of insight from the 'on stage' mood of most of the letters here.
The cast of characters is familiar and largely predictable: Gertrude Lawrence, Marlene Dietrich, Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud, Mary Martin and other famous players. Barry Day has chosen to group the letters by theme or in some cases individuals, so a sense of chronology is often absent. For instance, we have
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
When @djbduncan notices the text for a literary jigsaw puzzle had been written by a former colleague, his head spins. A wild surmise. Are jigsaws REF-able?
Dennis Duncan - The W Factor
Dennis Duncan: The W Factor
literaryreview.co.uk
In an effort to scold drinkers, Victorian temperance societies furiously marked every drinking establishment with a red X on city maps. It was a spectacular case of propaganda backfiring.
@foxtosser explores the history of drink maps
Edward Brooke-Hitching - From Beer Street to Gin Lane
Edward Brooke-Hitching: From Beer Street to Gin Lane - Drink Maps in Victorian Britain by Kris Butler
literaryreview.co.uk
How did a workers’ insurance agent who died of tuberculosis at the age of forty become a global literary icon?
@MortenHoiJensen on Kafka's metamorphosis
Morten Høi Jensen - Paranoid Humanoid
Morten Høi Jensen: Paranoid Humanoid - Metamorphoses: In Search of Franz Kafka by Karolina Watroba; Kafka: Making o...
literaryreview.co.uk