by Malia » Thu Oct 29, 2009 2:54 pm
I'm pretty sure you're right about the letters, Aquarius. It seems that Keats was in the habit of burning letters--I know there is a quote out there somewhere. . .actually, I found it quoted in an article in the Cambridge Companion to Keats that I've been reading. Let me see if I can find it.
Yes, here it is. . .this is from an essay entitled "Keats's Letters" by John Barnard. He speaks of the fact that Keats's letters are really one side of an ongoing conversation with those with whom he is writing. He says that " . . .the relative paucity of surviving letters *to* Keats is due partly to Keats himself, who, on at least one occasion (in May 1819) made 'a general conflagaration of all old Letters and Memorandums, which had become of no interest to me.' "
That, of course, could be why most of Keats's letters from others don't exist today--it seems to be his habit to destroy old letters. However, I think he willfully destroyed his letters from Fanny before he left for Italy not because they were of no interest to him, but as a kind of symbolic gesture of "cutting the ties." Knowing he would die there, it would be too painful to bring her letters with him and torture himself by reading them over again. He couldn't even bear to write her directly on the journey or by the time he reached Italy. So, in the case of Fanny's letters, he might have had a slightly different reason to do a purge, but I expect he did burn those that he received before he went to Italy.
Stay Awake!
--Anthony deMello