| October
1908 (19:121) Once With Walt Whitman
in Camden began appearing in 1906, notices and reviews of it became
fairly common in The Conservator.
Traubel was shameless in offering up rave reviews, but he also
gave, well, not quite equal time to the “resenters.”
Here, in response to volume two, which appeared in 1908, are characteristic
samples of the con and the pro. Traubel
noted of the Stoddard letter, which alludes to the San Francisco earthquake,
that “C.W.S. lives at Monterey, California.” If ever man had
need to pray to be saved from his friends that man was Walt Whitman. The rugged verse, for example, which he used for such large poetic
ends, what doggerel it becomes at the hands of his imitators! Yet still worse are the Boswells who insist
on giving us Whitman day by day, as though his every word were inspired. Here, for example, is dear good Horace Traubel
with another huge volume of extracts from his notebook, With Walt Whitman
in Camden, covering the period from July 16 to October 31, 1888. One hundred and seven days and 562 pages, about
a column of this newspaper for the average day’s record! Imagine biography written on such a scale!
There could not, of course, with a man of Whitman’s individuality
of character, fail to be interesting things in the record, but how much
more telling they would have been if Mr. Traubel; had elected to use his
judgment instead of his memory. No man ever lived who said at all times things worth printing. If
of those select thoughts which are evoked with literary intent the best
authors choose a few and reject many how much rpore rigid must the selection
be in the case of chance spoken words! . . . .The book has the interest
which is not likely to be lacking from any intimate account of a great
man, but it would have been far more interesting if three fourths of the
details bad been omitted. But just this is Mr. Traubel’s one chance of
being remembered, as Boswell is remembered, and he therefore exploits
himself. The
Springfield Republican 1906: When the great trembler seized us and shook the life out of some of us, on the 18th of April, I was deep in your precious volume With Walt Whitman in Camden. I was reading it after we were all driven out the house, for it was falling about our ears, and for five days I was glad to find shelter in the stable. It was my consolation when, perhaps, it was the only book that could have consoled me. 1908: With all my heart I rejoice to find announced as on the press the second volume of your wonderful work. Camden ought to be mighty proud of it. I am so glad that the third and fourth volumes are in preparation. My prayer is that I may live to see all these precious treasures in my library. They are books to live for. Books as dear to me as Leaves of Grass itself because I never saw Walt, but in your pages I seem to see him and get wonderfully near to him. Surely you must know that I consider With Walt Whitman in Camden one of the best biographies ever written of one of the greatest poets that ever lived—and I wish that the world might know you as I do.* Charles Warren Stoddard. *From letters. C.W.S. lives at Monterey, California. Stoddard
had famously corresponded with Whitman as a young man about his “adhesive”
adventures in the Western Pacific. |