Oct 22 Tuesday

Cold, cold weather. Corduroys & heavy socks. Up early & taught M[RG] Anatolia to get breakfast.
Men working on Casita1; making a bridge, too.
To Posada: planted violets, freezias, red geranium creeper, stuff from the tunel2, nasturtiums, ancharisa, passion flower. Water steady ×××× [crossed out] in well. Also marigolds.
Excellent meal, from customary ingredients.
Wrote to Honor, Hillgarth.
O.S.S. [Old Soldier Sahib] has been accepted as the title: entries about dum-dum bullets & the Drunken Private's name & regimental number.
Laura cleared out my folders for me.
Investigation programme for Schools.
Aqueducts book came: thanked. Laura finished introduction to Schools: I read it over then.
More money from Germany £73 odd in all. From H.S. [Harrison Smith] sending O.S.S. [Old Soldier Sahib] advance, asking about Fool of Rome3 Replied must first write to Korda. (Did so.)
Gelat in bed with cold. Juan reports 3 dedos4 of snow at Valldemossa. On the way to village heard terrific crash of peñasco5. Laura reminded me of a joke of mine. It makes a blankverse line
And cellophane, the nudists' winter-wear.
Another excellent meal.

Editorial Notes

1shed. KG
2tunnel. eds
3KG identifies this title as the "film script." Could RG have referred to the screenplay for I, Claudius under the same title as the condensed novel? eds
4fingers-deep. KG
5rock-fall; lit. "steep rockface." KG

Hands Referenced

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

Places Mentioned

  • Valldemossa

    Valldemossa, Majorca, Sp
    Village on the way to Palma. WG

  • 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.

People Mentioned

  • Laura

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

  • Gelat

    Más, Juan Marroig
    Juan Marroig Mas, called Gelat: Landowner on Deyá and friend of Robert Graves and Laura Riding (L.R. & R.G.'s factotum. W.G.)

  • Juan

    Mas, Juan Marroig
    Usually refers to Gelat's son, sometimes to Gelat himself. WG

  • Hillgarth

    Hillgarth
    Consul? Ambasador? Foreign Office. W.G.; Palma Consul KG

  • Maria Luna

    Luna, Maria
    Also known as Anatolia. Served briefly as RG and LR's maid & cook in October 1935, but didn't work out (was dismissed). Diary, October 21- 29, 1935.

  • 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).

  • Korda

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

Organizations Mentioned

  • Harrison Smith and Robert Haas

    R.G.'s American publisher for I, Claudius and Claudius the God. eds.

Bibliography

    • 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
    • Title: Schools [an international survey of education]
    • Author: Graves, Robert; Riding, Laura
    • Editor: Riding, Laura
    • Title: Fool of Rome, The [Claudius Film Version]
    • Author: Graves, Robert
    • Title: I, Claudius [novel]
    • Author: Graves, Robert
    • PubPlace: London
    • Publisher: Arthur Barker
    • Idno: A42
    • Date: 1934