WILDER, Thornton (1897?1975). Autograph letter signed (?Old T.N.W.?) to author James Herlihy written from Martha?s Vineyard, 25 September 1969. 4 pages, 12mo (178 x 152 mm), on letterhead, creased. With original holograph envelope. Wilder reports that he has had an awful summer, using a Gertrude Stein maxim ?every one is a compound of gregariousness and solitude?, explaining that too much society has made him sick. He is too ?frazzled in mind to write a letter? so he instead jots down various subjects in detail including: the Kennedy?s and Chappaquiddick; deferential ?hippie? women; Wilder?s famous line ?it?s the duty of the old to lie to the young? and what he really meant by it; Erik Erikson?s psychoanalytic histories ?Ghandi?s Truth? and ?Young Luther?; the happiness he felt in writing ?The Ides of March?; and the elements of humor in fiction.