DL/A-Z//WHITEH J - [Correspondence with John Whitehorn]

DL/A-Z//WHITEH J

File

[Correspondence with John Whitehorn]

1993-2003

12 Letters (typescript and MS)
3 Postcards
1 Greetings cards

Whitehorn, John
Lessing, Doris May, 1919-2013

16 items, some highlighted. Personal correspondence between John Whitehorn and Doris Lessing, years after the original love letters, regarding the selling of Lessing's letters by Leonard Smithie and Lessing's own gifting of letters to UEA. Includes a highly detailed account of receiving her Companion of Honour medal, after declining OBE/MBE nominations for a number of years (item 011). [See also DL/WHI Whitehorn love letters].

DL/A-Z//WHI/001 [from University of Sussex librarian to John Whitehorn, 29/09/1993]

Letter, 1 leaf, printed, with accompanying copy of Leonard Smith’s ‘Introduction’ to the collection entitled Doris Lessing’s Letters to ‘Smithie’.
A librarian from the University of Sussex writes to Whitehorn that “Len Smith” has deposited 153 letters that Lessing wrote to him between 1944 and 1949. They ask if Whitehorn has any letters from Lessing that he would like to deposit to add to their university archive.

DL/A-Z//WHI/003 [from Doris Lessing to John Whitehorn, 09/11/1993]

Letter, 2 leaves, typed.
Lessing reveals that Smithie had not asked her before depositing her letters to the University of Sussex archive, “I was shocked that Smithie had not asked me first”. Mentions her autobiography, and the “dividing line” between art and truth. References Coll’s death. Reveals that her son, John, has recently died. Gives Whitehorn several options of what he could do with the letters she wrote to him.

DL/A-Z//WHI/004 [from John Whitehorn to Doris Lessing, 14/11/1993]

Letter, 2 leaves, handwritten.
Writes of his anger towards Smithie and the University of Sussex for their “disingenuous” act of selling and buying Lessing’s letters. Proposes to “do nothing” about the letters that he has. Offers condolences for the death of her son.

DL/A-Z//WHI/005 [from Doris Lessing to John Whitehorn, 19/11/1993]

Letter, 1 leaf, typed.
Discusses depositing her letters and papers to UEA. Expresses the opinion that letters displayed before her death “become a kind of corpse”.

DL/A-Z//WHI/006 [from John Whitehorn to Doris Lessing, 19/12/1993]

Letter, 1 leaf recto and verso, handwritten.
Agrees to send Lessing’s letters back to her if he dies before her, and if she dies first then he will bequeath them to UEA.

DL/A-Z//WHI/011 [from Doris Lessing to John Whitehorn, 17/03/2000]

Letter, 2 leaves, typed.
Recounts in detail receiving her Companion of Honour medal at Buckingham Palace. Describes discussing her writing with the Queen.

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Also see DL/WHI Whitehorn letters. Lessing wrote to John Whitehorn from 1945-1949.