UpDate - Vol. 13, No. 26, Page 3
April 7, 1994
Love letters; Couple's correspondence subject of book

     When two young writers fall in love and decide to marry, the letters
they exchange can be lively and revealing literary works in themselves.
Such is the case with the correspondence between Charles G. Norris and
Kathleen Thompson Norris during their courtship and engagement in 1908-09.
     These letters of the "best-known literary couple in America" of their
time have been collected, edited and discussed by Richard Allan Davison,
professor of English, in a book, entitled Charles and Kathleen Norris: The
Courtship Year, published by the Book Club of California.
     According to the book's preface, the letters "tell a dramatic story of
Charles' and Kathleen's clairvoyant confidence in each other's talent and
tenacity and their mutual preparations for the national and international
acclaim that would be theirs less than a decade after the fateful meeting
of a magazine sub-editor and an underpaid newspaper reporter at a skating
rink in San Francisco."
     As their relationship deepened, the two wrote to each other at least
once a day when telephone service was in its infancy and mail was delivered
twice daily. When Charles left for a career in New York, the letters played
an even more important role in their relationship.
     According to Davison, the letters are interesting, not only because of
what they tell about the feelings and thoughts of the two writers, but
because they give a historical account of the milieu in which they moved in
two of America's most exciting cities in the early 20th century.
     Charles and Kathleen had great confidence in themselves and their
future success, which was later justified, Davison said. Charles wrote 11
critically acclaimed novels-with hard-hitting one-word titles, such as
Salt, Brass, Flint--that dealt with the social issues of the time. A
prolific and popular writer, Kathleen wrote more than 80 lighter novels, as
well as film and radio scripts. Charles also took on the role of business
manager.
     The couple also knew the writers, entertainers, politicians and other
personalities over their lifetimes, from F. Scott Fitzgerald and Noel
Coward to Theodore Roosevelt and Harpo Marx.
     Looking forward to their successful future, in their early years the
two wrote a parody of a fictional biography about themselves, entitled Life
and Letters. Tongue in cheek, Charles wrote, "Her influence during this
period was paramount. Forever she was the stimulus that incited him to
achievement."
     In a similar mode, Kathleen wrote that the young couple commenced
their letters with "poems of such exquisite delicacy and rare merit that it
is with genuine hesitation that even now their biographies give them to the
public. Although at this time the genius of both was under temporary
eclipse...their enforced wait before their marriage gave to the world of
letters so many unequaled examples of exquisite and poetic thought."
     The last letter in the series was written two months after the couple
was married-a marriage that was to last 37 years until Charles' death in
1945. In the book's final letter, Kathleen, unexpectedly coming across her
letters to Charles, proclaimed her happiness, writing, "C.G. I want you to
know that the love that lonely girl felt for you last winter is a mere
shadow to the feeling your wife has for you today-and that the dreams that
she dreamed about your life together are nothing to the glorious
fulfillment."
     Davison, whose research interest is American literature in the first
half of the 20th century, was originally interested in American novelist,
Frank Norris, Charles' older brother, who died in his early '30s. While
carrying out research on Frank, Davison read Charles novel, Salt, and then
some works by Kathleen, and, as he writes, "My study of one author had
become a study of three."
     While writing his 1983 book, Charles G. Norris, Davison learned from
the Norrises' son, Frank Norris Jr., of the existence of family letters and
other papers, and he contacted Kathleen's niece and literary executor,
Rosemary Benet Dawson, whom the Norrises had raised. He found the letters
from Charles, but it was not until two years later that he discovered
Kathleen's letters. The archive is now housed at the Bancroft Library of
the University of California at Berkeley.
     As Davison writes in his comprehensive introduction to The Courtship
Year, the book is a "profile of the literary genesis of an extraordinary
couple" whose careers "have been buried by years of neglect."
     A limited edition of The Courtship Year has been published by The Book
Club of California. The club publishes books pertaining to California, with
an emphasis on fine printing, design and binding. The Courtship Year will
soon be available at the Bookstore and in Special Collections at the Morris
Library.
                                                  -Sue Swyers Moncure