22 November

22 November 1920

Villa Isola Bella, Menton, France

Darling, your letter enclosing the cover of Bliss came today. Thats alright. Thank you for sending it to me. You must [not] be my dog any more tho'. Pinker must. He sounds a perfectly horrid dog, doesn't he: one that runs sideways - do you know the kind?
I want to tell you I have had a chill. Its over now or rather its turned the corner. Never was serious. But it took it out of me & I have been a farthing candle for light & warmth. I wouldn't bother to mention it except that I feel my novel review suffered so dreadfully in consequence. It took me 11 hours!! and the result was only that!! Is it too bad to print. I simply could not squeeze a review out of my head. But Ill make up for it this week & try & send you two bonzers.
About the punctuation in The Stranger. Thank you, Bogey. No, my dash isn't quite a feminine dash (certainly when I was young it was). But it was intentional in that story. I was trying to do away with the three dots. They have been so abused by female & male writers that I fight shy of them - much tho' I need them. The truth is - punctuation is infernally difficult. If I had time Id like to write an open letter to the A. on the subject. Its boundaries need to be enlarged. But I wont go into it now. Ill try however to remember commas. Its a fascinating subject, ca, one that Id like to talk over with you. If only there was time to write all one wants to write. There seems less & less time. And more & more books arrive. Thats not a complaint. But it is rather cursed that we should have to worry about Louis Golding when we might be writing our own books - isn't it? [To J. M. Murry in Collected Letters, 23 November 1920]