The Art of
Writing
Martial Rose
Kipling
September, 2014
(A Note to a Friend)
Publisher's Note: The psychic rewards to amateur and hobbyist writers, like many of
our Nevada County writers, are few and far between. Few, if any, such writers make
enough money from their writing to cover the cost of printer paper and ink. Most make
no money at all. So why do they continue to write?
Walter Stump, a writer and Lake Wildwood resident, shared this e-mail message with me
that he received from one of his long time friends, Martial Rose, after Martial got around
to reading Walter's book, Desert Oases, which was published in 2013. The message from
Martial to Walter, a note from one long time friend to another, may give insight into why
Walter will probably keep his pencil, and computer, busy writing stories for a while longer.
Mike Lambert, Publisher – Wildwood Literary Review
Mike: I'm forwarding this letter from Martial Rose who is a world famous scholar. He
understood what I was trying to do in DESERT OASES. You still owe me a cup of coffee.
Walt
From: Martial
To: wstump2
Sent: Wednesday, September 10, 2014 11:48:26 AM
Subject: Kipling
Hello Walter:
Ages ago you kindly sent me a copy of your book Desert Oases. For that I thank you. I
have read the three stories and greatly enjoyed them. But I have no excuse for not writing to
you for so long. I could easily find excuses, but between old friends they just would not do.
When I was at Cambridge I was befriended by E M Forster. He was very much my senior but
we met regularly at the same small play-reading club. He died in 1970 and in that year I
published a book about him and his work. I suppose his major novel is A Passage to India.
It is divided into three parts: Mosque, Caves, Temple. The nub of the action takes part in the
Caves. They represent the primordial powers that once governed human and subhuman
behaviour, much with sexual connotations.
The book ends with the vibrations of the unbridgeable gulf between East and West, and I feel
bound to quote the ballad by Kipling, another Indian buff, "Oh East is East and West is West,
And never the twain shall meet!" And then I turn to Stump and start chanting "Oh West is
West and East is East, And never the twain shall meet!" And I think of the West-East-West
movements in your own life. Your work is a sort of coming home. And indeed your last tale
finishes on that note. But the theatre director from the East is never far away. I read the first
tale acutely conscious that I was sitting in a theatre with my eyes glued to a stage-set. The
actors made their entrances and exits, the set was on two levels, the guest rooms above.
And this convention was strictly adhered to. The stuff for a TV sitting-room drama. Even the
ominous door leading to Covington's Cave as the magnet for the eye. And it is only beyond
that setting one hears "the ancient tribal voice in the wind". And I even sensed the ghost of
Forster's Mrs. Moore in those remarks about "tattoos", the addiction of "the generation of the
ugly".
I loved your Cactus Charlie, and his lingo, in the second story, and sad not to meet him in the
flesh in your third story, but his language was on Hannah's lips, to be enjoyed.
And where in that desert, near that desert do you actually live? And do you still have half an
ear cocked for those old ancestral voices?
And here we are: Heather 86; MR 92; lawns to be mown, shopping from the supermarket to
be collected. Dereham middle-class conformities to be submitted to.
But there are books to read. The way to the stars, the castles on the hills, and even a few
oases in the deserts.
And so, farewell, old friend, and thank you again for your work.
With warmest good wishes
Yours ever,
Martial
Walter R. Stump is a 4 year long resident of Lake Wildwood. He spent
most of his life as a professor of theater and dramatic arts at the
University of Southern Maine. He has written several books on the art of
the theater and his specialty – Readers’ Theater. Walter is also the
author of 2 other books of fiction: The Trail of the Mountain God, and
The Mojave Chronicles. Both contain 3 Novellas, a writing style not
seen much anymore. Walter's books are available at Amazon.com.
Two reviews of Desert Oases were published in the August 2013 issue
of the Wildwood Literary Review. You can find those reviews by going to
the Archives section of the WLR's web site.
You can send your e-mail comments to the Author at: [email protected].
File: 914-AW-Stump-Message from a Friend-14-pdf
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