Letter from James Ivory, London, England, to Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Delhi, India, 1971 June 29 : autograph manuscript signed.

Beginning, "Oh, I am in a despair!"; continuing by explaining that he needs to write narration for "the Chaudhuri film" but cannot seem to come up with anything; begging for her help; walking her through the entire film, sequence by sequence, and noting in green ink the sequences he feels require narration; describing a dinner party at Eden Fleming's, a scene walking around Oxford with Richard McCray and taking him to visit Max Muller's tomb; hoping the film will satisfy the BBC; asking again for her help-- "Do you feel it's awful of me to ask you?"; noting in a postscript that he hasn't bought any clothes i=on this trip to London-- "I'm just not very interested [underlined]. I see my bearded face in windows and mirrors, my white hair, and I feel vanity and desire for worldly things falling away from me"; suggesting in a second postscript a strategy for coming up with narration by using a tape recorder for himself and Chaudhuri.