Saul Steinberg: A Biography Part 43

Bellow advised caution: The pieces were not published until February 2128, 2000 and are reproduced in Smith, Steinberg at The New Yorker, pp. 218, 22223. On p. 221 there is a reproduction of ST's "autogeography," a map of his personal history that he made in 1966 but never submitted for publication. Correspondence between ST and Tina Brown, January 12 and March 2, 1994, YCAL, Box 65, indicates that negotiations about the "Jewish cover" were protracted and in the end ST and Brown concurred that it should not be published.

"return to me all photocopies": ST to Francoise Mouly, March 14, 1994, YCAL, Box 71.

Steinberg called their collaboration: ST to AB, April 30, 1995.

"even dogs gazed at us": ST to AB, September 26, 1993.

"a terror mixed with curiosity": ST to AB, September 28, 1993.

"a man in the act of thinking": ST to AB, January 7, 1994.

Steinberg and Buzzi talked about: AB, in an interview conducted by Carole Chiodo on July 29, 2008, verified that he and ST either talked about or actually worked or reworked the book's proposed content in the two decades before it was published in Italy. AB also verified that the book was eventually published because he wanted the publication and "could use the money, small though it was."

"thought it over once more": AB, "Foreword," R & S.

"with pleasure, with surprise": ST to AB, April 30, 1995.

In 2002 it appeared in an English translation: Originally published in Italian as Riflessi e ombre (Milan: Adelphi Edizioni, 2001); English translation by John Shepley, Reflections and Shadows (New York: Random House, 2002); French and German editions also 2002.

"a man full of doubts": AB, "Foreword," R & S, p. vii.

"June 28, 1994": ST, spiral notebook, June 1994, YCAL, Box 95.

"keep quiet": SS, note on cardboard tablet backing, Sat.u.r.day, June 17, 1994, YCAL, Box 110.

He had engaged professional photographers: According to the "Preliminary List, 2004," YCAL, Uncat. Mss. 126, photographic material is primarily, but not exclusively, in Boxes 1930. Many that I have referred to are in Boxes 80 (binders filled with negatives of his work) and 81 (photos in a format suitable for cataloguing, all prepared by the same photographer).

On his own initiative: John Hollander to ST, July 29, 1994, YCAL, Box 38; ST to AB, November 8, 1993.

"mostly because not having children": ST to AB, December 18, 1955, SSF.

"curiosity ... searching": ST to AB, July 31, 1993, SSF.

"like a sleepwalker": ST to AB, June 19, 1995, SSF.

Steinberg felt sorrow that such a vital man: ST to AB, June 29 and August 7 and 15, 1995, SSF.

Steinberg's only acknowledgment: IF, interview, October 12, 2007.

He was constantly worried about Sigrid: ST to AB, July 10, 1995, SSF.

He exploded every time: ST to AB, February 20 and 27, 1995, SSF.

"absence of terror": ST to AB, December 27, 1995, SSF.

"This time," he told Aldo: ST to AB, February 11, 1996.

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE: WHAT'S THE POINT?.

"The tragic depression, the constant and inexplicable terror": ST to AB, November 24, 1996, SSF.

"definitely not malignant": ST, note, May 1, 1993, YCAL, Box 95. In a note written by AB and published in Italian with ST's letter of March 30, 1998, AB writes: "During his final visit to uberlingen (1995), routine blood tests unexpectedly revealed the presence of tumorous activity ... The doctors [in NY] called Steinberg's case 'indolent,' meaning that it was progressing very slowly. 'You will not die of this,' they told him."

A second CT scan confirmed: Reading of CT scan taken October 20, 1995, YCAL, Box 71; second CT scan taken October 27, 1997, YCAL, Box 90.

"I have a feeling": Medical diagnosis of Dr. Jatin P. Shah, M.D., copy in YCAL, Box 71.

"medullary carcinoma": Medical diagnosis of Dr. Jatin P. Shah, February 29, 1996, YCAL, Box 71.

"He has had suicidal ideation": Dr. Jeffrey Tepler, M.D., to Dr. Chaikowsky, August 6, 1996, copy in YCAL, Box 71.

Although most of his close friends were aware: I base this on interviews and conversations with HS, AB, Claire Nivola, Charles Simic, Drenka Willen, Cilla and Norman Manea, IF, and many others.

"austerely private self": Muriel Murphy to ST, January 4, 1990, YCAL, Box 87. Although written earlier, I cite it here as the best example of the concern that had been building among ST's friends throughout the 1990s.

She made another journey to Mali: A telegram from ST to SS in Bamako, Mali, tells her he read about "roads crowded with refugees from Nigeria. Please be wise. Come Home"; YCAL, Box 113.

As this amount would vary: ST to Neuberger & Berman, January 11, 1996, YCAL, Box 112.

"Why can't you be proud of me?": SS to ST, February 27, 1996, YCAL, Box 113.

"Prudence became the brick": HS, interview, October 24, 2007.

Steinberg thought Prudence would be: Information that follows is from PC, in doc.u.ments prepared for this book, December 6, 2010.

On November 5, 1996: A copy of the last will and testament, dated November 5, 1996, with a letter from John Silberman dated November 12, 1996, is in YCAL, Box 70.

He left $50,000: William Gaddis predeceased ST, dying on December 16, 1998. ST wrote to his son, Matthew, on February 3, 1999, that he was honoring his initial bequest "in the name of friends.h.i.+p" by leaving the money to Gaddis's children. ST signed his letter "with strong emotion and love, Saul"; YCAL, Box 70.

"For an hour, in silence": ST to AB, July 9, 1996, SSF.

Steinberg kept a daily diary: YCAL, Box 82.

The official death certificate: Copy in YCAL, Box 113.

Sigrid left two letters: Copy of SS's letter to Ursula Beard and copy of her handwritten suicide letter, YCAL, Box 113. I have followed her spelling and punctuation. ST later made multiple photocopies of the letter and sent it to many of his friends. Other unsent copies are scattered throughout YCAL boxes and are in collections of his correspondence with (among others), AB and IF, both SSF, and Claire Nivola, in her possession. HS put her copy into the large dictionary where she stored "the things that are important to me."

he called Hedda: In a telephone conversation, September 22, 2007, HS said she remembered calling Muriel Murphy, William Gaddis, and Ruth Nivola.

In a state of emotional paralysis: Ruth Nivola, diary, September 25, 1996, and interview, September 22, 2007; Hedda Sterne, telephone conversation, September 25, 2007.

He also called the Riverside Memorial Chapel: ST, diary-datebook, September 25, 1996, YCAL, Box 82. The two unidentified names are "Caroline" and "Tad Soltesz."

"Tangible property": YCAL, Box 113, folder pertaining to SS's cremation.

Although he told everyone: IF, interview, October 12, 1997.

Sigrid's will brought another round of shocks: Copy of SS's last will and testament, March 15, 1989, YCAL, Box 113.

Steinberg had to apply separately: In a handwritten note to her lawyer, YCAL, Box 34, "Sigrid Folder," SS specified that ST's art should go to the New York Public Library. Since it was not witnessed, it did not override her official will and Ursula Beard retained possession of the art and other personal possessions. Beard tried to sell them through the Pace Gallery, which chose not to represent her. Subsequently, however, the Galerie Bartsch & Chariau in Munich and the Adam Baumgold Gallery in New York mounted shows. The Galerie G & B held the show "Sammlung Sigrid Spaeth, 45 Originalzeichnung 195084," September 13November 8, 1997: Adam Baumgold's show, "Saul Steinberg," was DecemberFebruary 1998. It was reviewed in Artnews, May, 1998, pp. 17071. The review began: "When graphic designer Sigrid Spaeth died in 1996, her estate included more than 40 works by Saul Steinberg, dating from the early 1950s to the late 1980s. Collected here, they made for a small enchanting survey of Steinberg's career."

"an almost inaudible deep voice": Ruth Nivola, diary, September 26October 24, 1996. All of Nivola's comments that follow are from this portion of her diary.

"Saul was preparing himself": Charles Simic, Drenka Willen, and Dore Ashton, in separate interviews, all used this expression. IF remarked that ST was "suicidal" after SS's death.

"practically catatonic with grief": AB, interview, June 19, 2008. Ruth Nivola used the same expression in her diary entry for October 16, 1996.

Arthur Danto wrote: Arthur C. Danto, November 30, 1996, YCAL, Box 59; Benjamin Sonnenberg, n.d., YCAL, Box 59.

Peter and Maria Matthiessen: Peter and Maria Matthiessen, n.d., YCAL, Box 65; information about ST's response from AB, interview, June 19, 2008.

And Uschi Beard's letter: Ursula Beard to ST, October 1, 1966, YCAL, Box 71.

"This is the place": SS, letter on pink paper, Sat.u.r.day July 16, 1994, YCAL, Box 113.

On November 7, with the a.s.sistance: PC, in a mss. note, 2011, said she tried to arrange a session with Dr. Virginia Goldner but the meeting never happened. Instead, Dr. Goldner suggested a male colleague, whom ST saw only once.

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX: NATURE'S CHARITABLE AMNESIA.

"I often surprise myself": ST to AB, December 31, 1996, SSF.

"rich, noisy invitations": ST to AB, November 28, 1996, SSF.

"the local Beaujolais": ST to AB, November 24, 1996, SSF.

"profound sadness": ST to AB, November 28, 1996, SSF.

Often she came to him: ST to AB, January 7, 1997, SSF.

He could not help but think: ST to AB, December 31, 1996.

"tremendous fear of dirt": Mary Frank, interview, January 25, 2009.

He liked Jean Stein's dinner parties: Jean Stein, telephone conversation, August 15, 2007.

"not thrilled to meet": Norman Manea, interview, June 11, 2008.

"When did you leave": Norman Manea wrote a version of this meeting in "Made in Romania," New York Review of Books 47, no. 2, February 10, 2000. I quote from his interview of June 11, 2008.

At first the friends.h.i.+p was "tentative": ST to AB, January 23, 1995, SSF.

"an impossible return": From "Un Dadaist?" (the Romanian version of Manea, "Made in Romania"), Apostroph, 10, no. 12 (1999), special issue, "In Memoriam Saul Steinberg," pp. 1222. There were many cuts in the published English version, but the full text in a translation by Emil Niculescu is in SSF.

The magical feeling: ST's boyhood home was still there in 1972, according to a photo in YCAL, Box 22.

Prudence found: The map is reproduced in S:I, p. 267, along with a drawing ST made from it. It is also mentioned in ST to AB, February 4, 1999, SSF.

"I'm pa.s.sing my days": ST to Henri Cartier-Bresson, February 28, 1999, YCAL, Box 73.

"the poor guy": ST to AB, January 23, 1995, SSF.

"never be fightened or ashamed": ST to AB, April 22, 1995, SSF.

Ada had died quietly: I am grateful to Elissa Bruschini, who found the Ufficio dello Stato Civile Certificato di Morte, Comune di Erba, Provincia di Como; to Signora Loredana Masperi, director of Casa Prina, who, although constrained by Italian privacy laws, was able to provide background information; to AB, interview, June 19, 2007. MTL provided a copy of the death certificate to SSF, which was also made available to me.

He knew they were serious: PC did not remember that he told her of Ada's death, but her datebook for January 16 contains a note saying "Saul" followed by "Dr. Brooks," who may have been one of the several psychiatrists Steinberg consulted that year; Prudence Crowther, e-mail, January 7, 2011.

Steinberg liked the tree so much: Ibid. The drawing was published in AB's article "Key West," Raritan 27 (Summer 2007): 160. Ann Beattie remembered ST's fascination with the tree in a conversation with DB, Brattleboro, Vermont, September 30, 2007. Four drawings of the tree are in YCAL, Sketchbook 4846, and are reproduced in S:I, p. 266.

"strangeness more than anything else": ST to AB, February 22, 1997, SSF.

"a blessing I regard": ST to AB, March 6, 1997, SSF.

He asked Gordon Pulis to construct: ST to AB, April 13, 1997; Gordon Pulis, interview, September 22, 2007.

He was afraid to see people: ST to AB, June 17, 1998, SSF.

Searching for some explanation: References to Bernhard are found throughout ST's letters to AB, 199798, SSF.

At first Steinberg made excuses: ST to AB, July 7, 1998, SSF.

He decided that the friends.h.i.+p stemmed: HS, conversation, December 11, 2008.

The phone calls worried Aldo: Internal evidence in ST/AB correspondence suggested this; AB verified it in an interview, July 28, 2008.

Even though he had not driven: The rusted body of his first Chevrolet, a 1953 model, is behind the garage of his property in Springs. In ST to AB, November 7, 1998, he wrote that Huang, his Vietnamese gardener, was clearing the underbrush that had been growing around it for many years. In a mss. note, 2011, PC affirmed that he bought the Volvo on Gaddis's recommendation.

He expressed regret that he had not reached out: ST to AB, June 17, 1997, SSF.

He pretended to complain: ST to AB, August 14, 1997, SSF.

"maybe the terror will disappear": ST to AB, September 10, 1997, SSF.

For more than a month at the end of 1997: ST to AB, October 14, 1997, SSF.

Like one of his favorite fictional characters: ST to AB, November 5, 1997, SSF.