David Miller, Secretary of the Existentialist Society of Melbourne Australia, has provided a scan of a late handwritten letter from Sidney E. Parker. which we have transcribed. Additionally he transcribed his own reply based on a draft he kept.
19 St. Stephen’s Gardens
London W2 SQU
England
20/10/03
Dear David,
How are you these days? Still working at threescore and thirteen I can still make it from A to B – albeit at a slower pace. I doubt if I will survive long enough to hold a birthday like that of Bilbo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings, however!
I have an idea that when I last wrote to you I recommended Eumeswil by Ernst Junger which puts forward an interesting concept of the “anarch” and is strongly Stirner-influenced. If I didn’t I do so now.
Round the corner from me there lives a man who used to attend the meetings of the Alfred Reynolds Bridge Circle. Some time ago he told me that Alfred died a few years back well into his eighties. After his funeral those of his “disciples” who are involved in his language school went for each other’s throats over who got what from his estate. So much for “commitment to pursue truth,” “being without prejudice,” etc., etc.!
I’ve just finished reading a novel by Colin Duckworth, whom I seem to remember you once had to lecture to the Existential Society. A very readable book entitled Steps to a High Garden. It is, however, full of “auras,” “reincarnation” and other occult goings on. Since you know him, do you know if he actually believes in these things (plus some utopian hoo-ha about living in a world “without conflict”) or is he writing tongue-in-cheek? Although, as I’ve said, his book is very readable, it is also full of loose ends and leaves one as mystified as some of its characters.
Colin Duckworth, incidentally, was at Moseley Grammar School, Birmingham, when I was there in the early 1940s. He was senior to me by two years and belonged to that august body, the school prefects. If you still see him, ask him if he remembers such mates as “Beaky” Brampton, “Woofie” Waugh and “Froggie” Hughes.
Anyway do let me know how you are and what you are doing.
Best Wishes,
Sid Parker
(Mr. Millers response)
Dear Sid,
I’ve recently made contact with Prof. Colin Duckworth. He’s adapted Camus’ novel “The Outsider” into a one-man stage-play. He’s agreed to talk about it at the Existentialist Society in June next year.
Colin remembers the Mosley masters you mentioned. He is visiting the UK sometime between now and November 2005. I’ve given him your address. Has he contacted you yet?
Yours,
David