Autograph letter signed to Gerald Krum: the page quoting Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey

Autograph letter to Reverend Gerald A. Krum

N.p. (but Nashville, TN), n.d. (but October/November1 979)

Autograph letter signed, five 8.5×11 inch sheets of unlined paper, written on one side of each sheet. Stapled in top left corner. Lacking transmitting envelop. Housed in red cloth custom presentation folder. 

The letter in full reads:

Dear Jerry,

Thank you for the letters and my apologies for the late answer. I try to get letters written every few weeks, but sometimes it’s longer. Several years ago, I was in your neck of the woods — I remember York and of course the marvelous Amish Country and the place names like Bird-In-Hand and King of Prussia. It is beautiful country, I agree. We also have another common geographical interest in the Outer Banks. I’ve been there several times and it is a favorite place of mine — especially in the fall, about this time of year — when most of the tourists are gone and you can have miles of beach to yourself. When I first went there years ago there were no bridges between the islands and you waited for the ferry boat and it was very remote: The natives spoke with English accents and I suppose some still do. (— Do you know The Outermost House by Beston?). 

I’ve only been in Nashville the past year. For the five years previous, I have been in Mexico and the Southwest working on a book set in this place. The desert country has mesmeric fascination for many people and I am one of them. Have you spent any time in the SW? You mentioned Desert Solitaire — which is a book I am also fond of. I’ll look up Schulze’s book. I have a pretty good sized collection of books on Texas and the Southwest but they are in storage in El Paso. If it’s a favorite subject I’ll recommend some titles. Some of the accounts by early travelers are really exceptional and should be better known.

Finding novels to read is not easy, I agree. I think I read one of every fifty or so that I investigate (on the basis of a review, or advice of a friend).

Some of the South American writers are good, although I don’t share the seemingly universal love for 100 Years of Solitude. I do love Borges, and a recent book by a Brazilian — whose name may be Joao Ubaldo Ribeiro — called Sergeant Getulio was very good. I’ve been living a sort of nomadic existence, so I don’t have books with me and I can’t look at the shelf and see what I’ve read. I do have a novel I’ve just started reading called Desperadoes by Ron Hansen and I think it may be interesting. If Carlos Castaneda’s books are novels they are high on my list anyways. High on my list anyway as a matter of fact. Also enjoy John Mcphee — If you haven’t read Encounter with the Archdruid do so, because I know you will like it. Also The Pine Barrens + The newer one Coming into the Country. Tom Wolfe’s new book is very good (The Right Stuff) and Joan Didion’s The White Album. I haven’t read her novels but I really like her earlier essay, Slouching Towards Bethlehem — and this new book. I don’t know why we have such crackerjack essayists and no fiction writers. A good essayist like Gore Vidal — for instance — just falls apart the minute he makes an essay at “fiction.” I heard Mailer’s new book is good — he’s another case in point. Do you know Guy Davenport’s stories? Tatlin published by Scribner, and a new book just out — don’t have the title at hand but I think you would find him interesting. Also really liked Michael Herr’s Dispatches and have been reading Flannery’s letter with great enjoyment. 

Thank you for the invitation. Would enjoy meeting you and your family if I should get up east again. Right now I’m finding an excuse to move south, or southwest, as the winters here are a bit bracing for my taste. Keep in Touch.

All the best

Cormac”