2110-5-7-11

Station: Clandon, L.S.W.R. Telephone: 622 Guildford

HARROWHILL COPSE, NEWLANDS CORNER, GUILDFORD.

18th October, 1930

Dear Mr . Buchan,

How understanding you are! I am very grateful for your review. It says so much that I had to leave unsaid. I think and hope from what you say that you personally like the book. I am so glad that the ''pervasive happiness" comes out through the printed page. To you, as a friend, I should like to say why I went into such detail as to our personal history, though I was frightened all the time by St. Loe's dictum in "The Adventure of Living" saying he must not break the freemasonry of marriage; but if you will look at the paragraph in the introduction which follovs the sentence "And one thing more", you will see that this is my little sermon to the young people of today. I see a great many of them, and they are full of zeal to abandon permanent marriage. I wanted to show them, and those whom I see will probably read the book, that it really gave something of value to life. If you are a1ways looking at your life's partner and wondering whether he or she is satisfied, or whether the whole thing had not better break up, how are you to

have any continuity? I wrote the introduction before the rivival of "Little Eyolf", but went to it the other night and again felt how true was Ibsen's psychology when he pointed out the disadvantages of all relations which are "subject to the law of change".

I hope perhaps I shall see you for a moment on Wednesday at the Granfell wedding to thank you personally.

Yours sincerely,

Amy Strachey