Delta,Manitoba 
Feb 4,1944 
Dear A.L., 
Thanks for yours of the 29th. But you make me wonder what you think 
of your series of sketches; are they merely a series of literary vignettes,

or do you really have something to put across besides a group of pleasing

pictures. Od course, aXAR painting, ther# is a tie between subject and 
and technique;but 4          is the constant, It seems to me that in no 
real art can the subject be ditided into those artistic or not artistic,

literary or not literary. You would smile at your friend Curry,I believe,

if he told you he was starting a series of pictures, with the intent of 
obtaining an artistic effeet. If you really have q4methi ng to say, you 
cannot afford to chose and discar ubject, matterA1uildiev the central 
theme on the basis of the ease or difficulty with which the technique can

draw the picture. 
I can't exactly put my finger on your central theme, although I know 
what it is. What you write about is a state of mind,probably common to all

men, For some, like yourself   it is found in the wilderness; but it isn't

the wilderness. What you may feel in the heart of the Sawtooth Mountains
may 
be found by another on lower Manhattan before sunrise, by another at the
prow 
of a ship,or on a microscope slide, or in the melody of a song. As such this

to indestructable as long as there is life on the earth, although certain

mediums, such as the wilderness, may be destroyed. You are aware of thisof

course; I just wanted to let you know that this thread is grasped by others.

I suppose the closest anyone ever came to its expression As in music* you
havo 
made a good start in prose. 
Since the above is something quite intangible, it is hard to tie it 
in with further discussion. There is, however, a secondary chard# which is

probably more easily graspedl: man's reaction to the American environment
-- 
yours and the Bureau Chief's, the college boy's end the COO road builders'.

And in this theme there is one false note -- the reader cannot help but gather

that you believe your reaction is always the proper one and that it has been

always so. Don't get me wrong; the lesson you wish to put across is the 
lesson that must be taught -- preservation of the natural. Yet it is not

easily taught if you put yourself above other men. That is why I mentioned

your earlier attitude towards the wolf. The Bureau Chief had as much right

to beliefe we should be rid of the Ecauadilla bear, or the government crews
to 
plan roads for the crane marsh, as you had a right to plan the extermination

of wolves in New Mexico. One gathers from parts of Iscud6illa and Marshlahd

Elegy that you bear a grudge against these fellows for not thinking as you

when, in your own writings, you show that you once followed a similar pattern

of thought. Your lesson is much stronger,then, if you try to show how your

own attitude towards your environment has changed. 
And I fail to find as much of hope as of regret in your series so far.. 
Your strongest pieces, I believe,breath deeply of regret. In effect:"I
saw a