TYPED LETTER SIGNED (TLS)

London, 22 December 1953. Letter. Central vertical and horizontal folds with staple holes to one upper corner. Fine. One-page letter on both sides of Faber & Faber stationery SIGNED by the poet. Addressed to Anne Munro-Kerr of London's League of Dramatists. In part: "I am not quite clear, I am afraid, as to how we have been dealing with productions of my plays in the French translation, outside of France itself--that is to say, in Brussels and Geneva.... I excepted France in my arrangements with you for the reason that Monsieur Henri Fluchere, the translator, who had taken the whole initiative in getting the successful production of MEURTRE DANS LA CATHEDRALE in 1945, likes to deal with these matters himself, as he has theatrical connections and also considerable financial interest in the success of my plays in his translation, he has seemed wholly competent to do so.... He would like, however, to make his responsibility inclusive--that is to say, have the four plays that he has translated whenever they are produced in French ... and I am prepared to sign an agreement to that effect. This will not, of course, have any retroactive value for any of the productions previously in Brussels or Geneva that have been arraigned by yourselves." The letter is 6-1/2" x 7-1/2" and is double-matted with a portrait and framed to an overall size of 18-1/2" x 14-1/2".

Fluchere was a prominent literary critic and translator, best known for his studies of Shakespeare, who served as Eliot's primary French translator. In addition to his plays, Fluchere translated several of Eliot's poems and critical essays; the collaboration was mutually beneficial, with Eliot contributing the foreword to the English version of Fluchere's 1956 scholarly work SHAKESPEARE AND THE ELIZABETHIANS. This letter, in particular, refers to the translation of MURDER IN THE CATHEDRAL, which was first performed in 1935. A fabulous letter revealing the worldwide appeal of Eliot's acclaimed literary work.