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June
1900 (11:53) As the author of a Whitman biography titled Walt Whitman: A Gay Life (Penguin/Plume, 1997), I of course read with particular interest and curiosity the items in The Conservator that in one way or another touch upon the “adhesive” subject. A fascinating example of Traubel dipping into his treasury of Whitman manuscripts is the following short item. It consists simply of the reproduction of a letter Whitman wrote in response to an idolatrous and effusive letter from a young man who had written to the poet from Hawaii describing his same-sex adventures there. Traubel’s note to the letter, which he prints under the deadpan title, “Of America,” is: “Copy of a letter written by Walt Whitman, in Washington, to Charles Warren Stoddard, in San Francisco, April 23d, 1870. Produced here by permission.”
Of America* I
received some days since your affectionate letter, & presently came
your beautiful & soothing South Sea Idyl, which I read at once, Now,
as I write, I sit by a large open window, looking south and west down
the Potomac and across to the Virginia heights.
It is a bright, warm spring-like afternoon. I have just re-read
the sweet story all over, & find it indeed soothing & nourishing
after its kind, like the atmosphere.
As to you, I do not of course object to your emotional &
adhesive nature, but warmly
approve them—but do you know (perhaps you do) how the hard, pungent, gritty,
worldly experiences & qualities in American practical life, also serve? How they prevent extravagant sentimentalism?
& how they are not without their own great value and even joy? —It
arises in my mind, as I write, to say something of that kind to you— I
am not a little comforted when I learn that the young men dwell in thought
upon me & my utterances—as you do—& I frankly send you my love—&
I hope we shall one day meet—I wish to hear from you always. Walt
Whitman. *Copy of a letter written
by Walt Whitman, in Washington, to Charles Warren Stoddard, in San Francisco,
April 23d, 1870. Produced here
by permission. |