Across the Spectrum:The Interdisciplinary Life and Letters of John G. Neihardt (‘Flaming Rainbow’)

Your letter telling about your dream experiences with me must have been written at about the time when I was writing to you. As you suspected, I was greatly troubled and I got up out of bed late at night to talk to you by letter. I did not put into my letter anything of my trouble, as I remember; but I was writing to you because I wanted to feel near to one who truly knows me.Your experience was undoubtedly a matter of confused communication between us. There can be no other explanation. My difficulties were not really from the outside. They were due to natural lack of adjustment to new circumstances. When I came here I had a constructive dream of a really distinguished book department for the P-D. The management here not realizing the type of person with which they had to deal has not turned me loose to work out my dream but wishes to have me do a daily column of book stuff. This may work out well but it does not make me happy. Your dream of fire and tragedy symbolically represented my mood and my conception of an unhappy situation. None of this is due to any feeling of unkindness on the part of the management. On the contrary both Pulitzer and the Editor-in-Chief are very kind indeed and will make all allowances for me in my period of adjustment but Oh if they would only let me go ahead with my scheme.

We are looking forward to having you with us during the Christmas vacation. Let us know all about it. I am more eager than I can say to be with you again.

Macmillans have just written about a collection of my recent [criticism?] for a volume to be called [Provincialisms?]