Eric Mottram's take on the Sri Lankan poet and entrepreneur: "TAMBIMUTTU: "A Prince among Poets" - 1915 - 1983", an essay by T. Wignesan, pub. in the Journal of Eelam Studies, No 3 (London), 1989, pp. 34-61.

40 Guernsey Grove,
London SE 24 9DE
11-11-90

Dear Wignesan,

Sales of the R de PC [Journal of Comparative Poiétics, No 1 - devoted mainly to Eric Mottram's career and achievement] have started at - now -6 copies . £30 -- but I think they will slump now ! I sell to captive prospects so far. But I'll continue to slave for you. What I now have to do is prepare a bit of corrections -- only a few so far -- which is remarkable -- so don't explode at me. The business of my alleged lectures in 1962 is bizarre -- [actually 1964, referring "purportedly" to his FOUR Senate House public lectures spaced out weekly and which I added on to his bibliography: I attended the first lecture - there weren't a great number - some 30 to 40 maybe, say 50. I couldn't find my way in. I was late and by the time I found a door open, curiously enough I sat right in front of EM's sister and another girl way up high in the auditorium. Back in his place EM didn't want me to attend his lectures, and offered to let me read the typed mss after the event - which I did but didn't take any notes. I hadn't that kind of academic training as yet. I would most certainly list this lapse/lacune to the "memory erasures" he suffered in 1977.] -- I thought one of us is hallucinating/erasing [?] -- at the moment I go no further since my "diary" for that year is under a pile of books in the backroom -- I'll get to it when I have a day... Your Tambimuttu essay ["Tambimuttu 'A Prince among Poets' 1915-1983", published in the Journal of Eelam Studies, No 3 (London), pp. 34-61], if the editors of the journal were so critical, they could easily [have] asked you to rewrite some of it, as is what's [?] customary -- sounds a weird existence indeed -- all that ambition to be " a great poet ", "a saint", and so on -- sounds ridiculous in a writer, any writer. I had no idea the ghastly Gawin Evart was T's "production manager' -- it figures: I hope he suffered horribly: perhaps he liked being close to pseudo-royalty (with Irish names: was he in fact a bastard of an Irish Catholic?) (mythically, of course). Don't you think that by apologizing for T. by saying he "probably ... inherited the pride of their hindu kings" of that 17th century is, to say the least, weird ? Genealogical games and such are genealogical games: "royalty" always plays them. The present prince of Wales claims descent from his Hanovian ancestor George III, tyrannical and crazy... and a commoner ( German merchants, etc.) The Druid stuff is hilarious -- and the failure to graduate in botany ! Your details are in fact more interesting than the subject -- a world of messy desires and unfulfillments. My presence in your essay startled me -- especially "à la William Burroughs": how could you make such a statement ?
When you say, "T. was a highly-gifted man", I do think you need to supply evidence -- beyond "entrepreneurial qualities". I have never read any analysis of poetry by T., so I cannot say. Your essay is very fair to T., against severe odds -- the passage on pages 50-1 from T. is a classic case of using "contemporary" vocabulary for a spurious emotion -- "high", "psychedelic" .... it's Beatle time ! It must have been connected with T's nervous breakdown. Certainly, his credo, on page 55, is bizarre -- ripe confusion of religion and art. And perhaps this was T's problem: he wanted to be a priest, and so live not by art or intelligence but by self-styled privilege. I don't know why he attacked Grigson, but surely that was rather pathetic, given Grigson's particular distinctions.
I read of the Leary episode with considerable interest, too -- so it's disappointing that "for good" is not amplified, since Leary affected a number of distinguished people in the 1960s. Your essay is detailed enough to present ["prevent" ?] a mystery: "success" appears a number of times -- his reception in India, for example, on page 57 -- somehow what exactly his achievement was eludes the reader. Your final sentence is a "coup" indeed ! [Last line : « Here indeed was a Prince among Poets ! »] An ironic bang which reflects back into the whole piece.
Well, this is a long-delayed appreciation -- of an essay on an eccentric: not easy to do.
But I still haven't got the interview transcribed. It looks as though I'll have to pay for it myself... Thanks for the invitation to write for the Revue. As for pieces on me: I'll get round to it as soon as I can -- I'm altready making a list -- slowly. Fact is, I have a busy time still. Some teaching, lecturing (one at the Royal Festival Hall -- and an invitation for another in January), and essays on O'Neil, O'Hara, Anglo-American poetic relations, McCluhan, etc. etc. But being an Old Age Pensionner means a grim cut in salary: which is hard to bear. But then it is ---
Yours sincerely,
Eric

(c) T. Wignesan - Paris, 1990-2023