July 18th, Thursday.

Got up at 11. Went to Posada, hung curtain, took glasses there & butter cooler. Then went on with Richards1 which Mary is now typing. Have done 36 pp which works out to about 10,000 words.
Laura did not get up till 4, then we had tea at the Posada. She wore her wax-patterned dress (brown green &white) for first time.[RG] I stayed behind for a bit waiting for ice – made plum ice with lemon flavouring. Chairs & table came for Posada and the Madora gave us a square stool.[RG] I had also got plums & damsons from Can Juni: boiled these up, and later picked & boiled blackberries. Transplanted zinnias. Sent up painted chair to Posada, and while there swept up shavings of carpenter, who had at length fixed the bathroom door.
Laura[RG] Honor & Mary to supper: ice not very solid: what was left went to Joan.
Worked till 1.30 again, at Frank Richards2.
Satisfactory letter from Korda to L. about Fantasia & Troy & to me about Lawrence film & my good advice. Hawthornden money paid in.
Ch[RG] Schw. & Strenge came back today.
L. & Isabel unsuccessfully tried to kill consumptive black kitten.

Editorial Notes

2book: see above. eds

Hands Referenced

    • Annotation: ink correction
    • Character: regular
    • Ink: black

Places Mentioned

  • Posada, La

    Deyá, Majorca, Sp
    House on the Puig next to Deyá church. Originally part of the Es Molí property. It had been rented by the church for Sunday school. RG and LR bought it in February, 1935, to use as a guest house for their visitors. WG, eds.

  • Ca'n Juni

    Deyá, Majorca, Sp
    garden terraaces belonging to Juan Gelat KG . RG also had access to the fruit there. WG

People Mentioned

  • Laura

    Riding, Laura
    (1901-91) American poet. Laura Riding (née Reichenthal; then Laura Gottschalk).

  • Swartz

    Schwarz, Georg
    German Jew. Deyá neighbour. Antique dealer. Lived with Frau Emmy Strenge, his house keeper, in Can Caballo some hundred yards from Canellun. RG and LR translated his "Almost Forgotten Germany." WG

  • Strenge

    Strenge, Frau Emmi
    Schwarz's house keeper and ? mistress. WG

  • Honor

    Wyatt, Honor
    Journalist. Arrived in Deyá fortuitously. Married to Gordon Glover...Son Julian. W.G. First acquainted with R.G. and L.R. early in 1934; returned to visit in 1935; continued friendship in England. eds (RPG 211).

  • T.E.

    Lawrence, T. E.
    'Lawrence of Arabia.' Met Robert in Oxford in the early twenties. Made Robert his biographer and had him write "Lawrence and the Arabs." WG

  • Mary

    Phillips, Mary
    Visitor. Typed most of I, Claudius. Later married James Reeves. WG

  • Joan

    Joan
    Surname? Julian Glover's nurse-maid. She stayed behind at the Viña Vieja when they moved up to the Posada. Was sent left-over cakes and ice-cream. WG

  • Korda

    Korda, Alexander
    Director of the film version of I Claudius.

  • Isabella

    Isabel
    Live-in maid from Murcia. Her mother (Carmen) then came over with Josefa who also came to work later. WG

  • Madora

    Marroig Más, Madora
    Gelat's wife. W.G. R.G. often spells her first name "Medora," and precedes it with "the." eds.

  • Richards

    Richards, Frank
    Author of Old Soldiers Never Die and Old Soldier Sahib which R.G. rewrote for him. Was in The Royal Welch Fusiliers, R.G.'s regiment. eds.; Birth name is Francis Phillip Woodruff eds. see Diary September 27, 1936

Organizations Mentioned

  • Hawthornden Prize

    A literary prize awarded to R.G. for "I, Claudius" and "Claudius the God." (RPG 224; diary May 12, 1935). Oldest of the famous British literary prizes, founded by Alice Warrender in 1919. eds.

Bibliography

    • Title: Fantasia [became A Film Scenario (Fantasia of Life), by Laura Riding]
    • Author: Riding, Laura/Lye, Len
    • Editor: Riding, Laura, Graves, Robert (Associate Editor)
    • PubPlace: Deyá & London
    • Publisher: Seizin & Constable
    • BiblScope: 162-189
    • Idno: B24
    • Date: 1936
    • Title: Trojan Ending, A [novel]
    • Author: Riding, Laura
    • PubPlace: Deyá & London
    • Publisher: Seizin & Constable
    • Date: 1937
    • Title: Old Soldier Sahib
    • Author: Richards, Frank
    • Editor: Graves, Robert
    • PubPlace: London, New York
    • Publisher: Faber & Faber; Harrison Smith & Robert Haas
    • Idno: A44
    • Date: 1936