Page 31 - AT

A31
PEOPLE & ARTS Saturday 4 January 2020
T.S. Eliot letters to muse to be unveiled after 60 years

By CHRISTINA PACIOLLA just released in December.
Associated Press His best known works in-
After more than 60 years clude "The Waste Land,"
spent sealed up in a library "The Hollow Men" and "Four
storage facility, about 1,000 Quartets."
letters written by poet T.S. El- The first poem in the "Quar-
iot to confidante Emily Hale tets" series, called "Burnt
will be unveiled this week, Norton," piques the interest
and scholars hope they will of enthusiasts of the poet,
reveal the extent of a rela- says Eliot scholar Frances
tionship that's been specu- Dickey, because of lines
lated about for decades. that suggest missed op-
Many consider Hale to not portunities and what might
only be his close friend, have been with his muse.
but also his muse, and The poem is named after a
they hope their correspon- home in England that Eliot
dence will offer insight into visited with Hale in 1934.
the more intimate details "His relationship with her
about Eliot's life and work. seems to be deep and
Students, researchers and meaningful and it's a door
scholars can read the let- he chose not to open," she
ters at Princeton University said. Dickey, who served as
Library starting Thursday. one of the editors on "The
"I think it's perhaps the liter- Complete Prose of T.S. Eliot",
ary event of the decade," said the poet was deeply
says Anthony Cuda, an Eliot ashamed of his marriage
scholar and director of the to his first wife, Vivienne
T.S. Eliot International Sum- Haigh-Wood, whom he
mer School. "I don't know of was with for more than 15
anything more awaited or years. Dickey said the let-
significant. It's momentous In this Oct. 14, 2019, photo, letters between poet T.S. Eliot and longtime confidante Emily Hale are ters could reveal just how
to have these letters com- displayed in Princeton, N.J. Associated Press close he and Hale were
ing out." and if the two ever consid-
Lifelong friends, Hale and letters under an agreement spondence must have Eliot's 1939 book of whimsi- ered marriage.
Eliot exchanged letters for they wouldn't be opened been remarkably intimate cal poetry, "Old Possum's "Was this an epistolary ro-
about 25 years beginning until 50 years after either for him to be so concerned Book of Practical Cats," mance they would carry
in 1930. The two met in 1912 her or Eliot's death, which- about the publication," was adapted into "Cats," across the Atlantic?" Dick-
in Cambridge, Massachu- ever came second. Eliot Cuda says. the award-winning musical ey said. "What role did she
setts, but did not rekindle died in 1965. Hale died four T.S. Eliot was born in St. by Andrew Lloyd Webber. play in his emotional life?"
their friendship until 1927. years later. Louis, Missouri, in 1888 and The play opened in London Eliot's letters to Hale began
Eliot was already living in Biographers say Eliot or- gained notoriety as a poet first in 1981 and then on after that first marriage
England and Hale taught dered Hale's letters to him early in life. He was only 26 Broadway the next year. It ended. Whatever else she
drama at U.S. universities, to be burned. when "The Love Song of J. was then turned into a fea- was, Hale was a link to the
including Scripps College in Their relationship "must Alfred Prufrock" became ture film starring an ensem- life Eliot had left behind
California. have been incredibly im- his first professionally pub- ble cast that includes Judi in the United States as a
In 1956, Hale donated the portant and their corre- lished poem. Dench and James Corden young man, Dickey said.q

Josh Duhamel gets new contract to promote North Dakota

JAMES MacPHERSON brings to more than $1 mil- ing campaign next week,
Associated Press lion Duhamel has received said Heather LeMoine, the
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — from the state. agency's marketing man-
North Dakota will again Duhamel is from Minot, a ager.
enlist the help of Hollywood city in the northern part of The previous $2.9 million
actor Josh Duhamel to the state that's about an campaign featured Du-
help promote tourism in his hour's drive from the United hamel doing everything
home state. States border with Canada. from fishing and biking to
North Dakota's tourism de- The advertising campaign attending college football
partment confirmed Tues- featuring Duhamel is a con- and hockey games. Some
day to The Associated tinuation of the North Da- also include his 6-year-old
Press that the star of several kota Legendary brand that son Axl, whose mother is
"Transformers" movies will was established in 2002 to Black Eyed Peas singer
be paid $175,000 to be the help create more aware- Fergie. The campaign in-
face of the state's tourism ness of the state. cluded TV and print ads, as
campaign for the next two Although North Dakota In this March 13, 2018 file photo, Josh Duhamel arrives at a well as travel and hunting
years. The state has had is one of the least-visited special screening of "Love, Simon" in Los Angeles. guides.
a contract with Duhamel states in the U.S., tourism is Associated Press Duhamel "has spotlighted
since 2013 to help lure visi- the state's third-largest in- the state that not many
tors to North Dakota. dustry, behind energy and National Park in western rector Sara Otte Coleman people know about," LeM-
The contract extension that agriculture. The biggest North Dakota's badlands. is scheduled to unveil the oine said. "It has definitely
expires on Dec. 31, 2021, draw is Theodore Roosevelt State Tourism Division Di- new two-year advertis- paid off." q