Hazel Barnes: Letters to a Friend

By Andrew Jantz

A collection of letters from Dr. Hazel E. Barnes to Andrew Jantz, a friend and fellow existentialist. They date from 2002 till her death in 2008. Her letters express her reflections on philosophy and culture, and perhaps just as interesting, her day to day life in Colorado with her partner, and their many travels.

Dr. Barnes was crucial, both through her translations and her own writings, in importing French existentialism into America during the mid-twentieth century. Those interested in the life, works and philosophy of Dr. Barnes should find these letters insightful.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Feb 7, 2013
• ISBN: 9781479787821

Andrew Jantz

Andrew Jantz has published a novel and three collections of poetry. His work has appeared in Sail Magazine, the Christian Science Monitor, and the Wallace Stevens Journal, among others, and has won the prize for Best Translation from the New England Poetry Club. He has also served as a journalist in the U.S. Navy Reserve. He resides in suburban Boston.

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December 10, 2002

Dear Mr. Jantz;

I hope you will forgive me for replying to you in handwriting. In August I fell and broke my hip. I am almost back to normal full recovery by now, but I still have not tried to sit down at my typewriter.

Your letter makes me extraordinarily happy. For me Sartre’s work is still very much alive and compelling. And I am most grateful and appreciative of what you say of what I have done. It means more to me than I can well express.

No, I never met Sartre. I was scheduled to do so once, but plans were unexpectedly frustrated. I did meet Beauvoir, and she said that she and Sartre appreciated what I had done.

I talk briefly about that interview and about my encounter with existentialism in my autobiography. You may possibly be interested in reading it. It is called The Story I Tell Myself: a Venture in Existentialist Autobiography, The University of Chicago Press, published in 1997 (paperback in 1998).

Thank you for writing.

With warm, good wishes,

Hazel E. Barnes

December 21, 2002

Dear Andrew Jantz;

You have overwhelmed me with goodness! To start with the most tangible and material, the box of treats from Wolferman’s is a delight! I have never tasted crumpets before and look forward to eating them this morn. So far I have known them only in English literature. But I’ve had the wild blueberry scones already, and they are indeed delicious. I will be enjoying all of the goodies throughout the holidays, sharing them with Doris, of course, but otherwise hoarding them quite selfishly. You have been wonderfully generous in sending me this surprise gift, and I thank you most appreciatively. So unexpected!

On another level, I was moved and touched by your letter telling me more about yourself. Your story is tragic in one way and yet a song of triumph in another. And it is truly wonderful that all is so well with you now. I can understand, because of my own experience, how Sartre could have helped so much, but I rejoice to read of it. I look forward to the book you are writing now. Best of luck with it!

Thank you especially for sending me a copy of Eclipse: Poems of Depression and Recovery. I am reading it very slowly from start to finish, savoring each poem and thinking about it before moving on. I quite honestly find it more satisfying than any other poetry I have read for a long time. I know you did not ask for comment, but I do want to mention how I especially liked The Blossom, with its infinite poignancy. The Artistry of Nothingness seems to me very Sartrean though you may have written it before you were deeply into Being and Nothingness. And I laughed out loud after reading Summa Theologica in spite of the somber images that it offers before the unexpected conclusion.

Your offer of hospitality is lovely. I have no immediate plans for visiting Boston, but my brother, who lives in Auburndale [Massachusetts] keeps urging me to come. So who knows?

A Chinese fortune cookie yesterday told me that my life will be happier now and that my struggle is over. So I have decided to lay aside all skepticism and regard it as a true prophecy.

Warmest and best wishes,

Hazel Barnes

December 31, 2002

Dear Andrew;

I won’t promise that I will always answer your letters this quickly. Neither will I say that you would have to have an accident to get me to respond. I am appalled to hear of your crashing into the tree. I send deep sympathy but also congratulations on having come out relatively intact. It sounds terrible. Perhaps you should do as I do and leave the driving to someone else.

I’m glad you are doing the television and radio appearances. I’m sure they will bring help and/or reward to many.

A book called Existential America by George Cotkin is due to come out any day now, published by Johns Hopkins Press. I read this in manuscript and think you might find it interesting. It deals with the reception of existentialism in this country but also with Americans who anticipated or paralleled the existentialist outlook. Sometimes he stretches the idea a bit too thin, but basically I found the book excellent.

My health continues to improve. Tonight will be the test. I’m going to a quiet but late New Year’s Eve dinner party, I who have been going to bed lately at 9 o’clock!

I hope the coming year will be a really wonderful one for you.

All best wishes,

Hazel

February 3, 2003

Dear Andrew;

I’m glad to know that you have recovered from your injury. I am doing well. In fact I am planning to go with friends on February 22 for two weeks in the Caribbean. This may be an act of hubris, but I’m hoping it will mark a re-entrance into a normal world of mine.

As for your perceptive question: I do not, of course, know why Sartre answered so carelessly to this particular question. But in general I don’t trust what he