One afternoon in 1960, a balding cat named Blackie was thrust upon novelist John Cheever by Josephine 'Josie' Herbst, an old friend who while visiting for lunch explained that she could no longer keep him. Cheever reluctantly homed the cat and renamed him Delmore after the poet Delmore Schwartz, the former wife of whom had once owned the cat in question. Alas, Cheever and Delmore didn’t get on; so much so that Cheever’s friendship with Herbst soon deteriorated and they ceased contact. The rift finally healed in 1963, when Cheever sent her an update by letter.

Sanjeev Bhaskar read this letter at Letters Live at the Freemasons Hall in March 2016.

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