Howard Daniel to Morgans, 16 July 1951 -- "I've been doing a great deal of reading"

Howard Daniel was an astonishingly prolific reader. Considerable chunks of his letters were devoted to listings of classic literature.

Dear Murray and Rosa,

I am writing this without having before me your last two letters so you will have to bear with me if I leave any questions unanswered. We were very glad to hear that you are staying in the United States, for at least that keeps open the possibility of seeing you when we go to Australia the early part of next year or when we are returning in April.

 

I hope everything goes well with your news commenting job and that you don't show any sympathy for the celestial enemies of Senator Cain [Senator Harry P. Cain, R-WA*]. The way things are going here you will take your life in your bloody hands if you venture outside the safe realms, such as the exquisite flavour of Kippered salmon and the natural beauties of the local countryside. Anyway, let us know how you make out. 

[information about proposed piece on Lola Montez]

Benjamin Constant

I have been doing a great deal of reading this year. In fact I have been tidying up some messy little gaps. Thus I have read (or re-read) Rabelais, which I enjoy tremendously; Tasso and Ariosto, which in English at any rate, is as boring as could be; Camoens, which even in a lousy translation from the early part of the last century is exciting and terrific, but then I am somewhat prejudiced as I have always been fascinated by the Indian Ocean; The Characters of La Bruyére, which is a strange mixture of incredible dullness and penetrating insight into the quirks of the human animal; the writings of Benjamin Constant; Rizal's Noli me tangere, which on the whole is pretty terrific and shows that things haven't really changed much in the last seventy years; Manzoni's The Betrothed which has some terrific material in it but leaves you puking as the pro-Church gush comes oozing out like a trod-on carbuncle; the first volume of the Memoires of Duke Saint-Simon, which amazes me by its masterly understanding of power relations within a society -- I am now raring to read the other five volumes; Saltkov-Schedrin's A Family of Noblemen, which with its realistic description of

Saltkov-Schedrin

family life amongst wealthy landowners in early 19th century Russia will give you the dry heaves; the two great Indian classics, The Ramayona and The Mahabaratha, both of which are full of lively action and derring-do. In the last few days I have been reading about Byron, Shelley, and Trelawny. In Margaret Armstrong's biography of Trelawny I came across an incredible Indian Ocean buccaneer -- De Ruyter, who is a sure fire proposition for a magazine article, if he hasn't already been covered. De Ruyter was the first great influence on Trelawny's life, Trelawny jumping ship in Bombay in order to team up with this character who operated as a pirate in the Indian Ocean on license from the French. This De Ruyter who claimed America as his birth place was full of all the Jeffersonian and Tom Paine fervour of the American Revolution. He operated his piracy business from the Cape of Good Hope to the seas near Japan and seems to have established an intelligence network in this area which was a hell of alot more effective than MacArthur's near the Yalu River. De Ruyter was no theoretician in democracy as he seems to have engaged pretty much in the freeing of slaves. If this unsatisfactory note about De Ruyter sets you agog, I shall be glad to do a little research and see what I can dig up.

...

Judith and I have been working like a pair of bastards ever since we moved into the new house. At the moment I am putting the finishing touches to an outside paint job. Some son of a bitch stretched the boards since I started. Christ it feels like it will never end. Judy's become a gone gardener -- very good with lots of flowers.

What's trilliums, and can you eat 'em

Don't eat them.

*Harry Cain, a former mayor of Tacoma (and one of only two elected officials on the West Coast to oppose the Japanese internment), was elected to his one term in the U.S. Senate in the Republican rebound of 1946, in time to become a friend and supporter of Sen. Joe McCarthy and presumably not a fan of Murray's reporting style. After losing to Democrat Henry "Scoop" Jackson in 1952, he morphed into a progressive activist, eventually moving to Florida and becoming a credit union president and Dade County Commissioner. In 1962 he sponsored the resolution proclaiming Dade County bilingual and though no longer in office, he was campaigning for a police review board shortly before his death in 1979.