The Enormous Room

The Enormous Room

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Title: The Enormous Room
Author: Edward Estlin Cummings
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ENORMOUS ROOM ***

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THE ENORMOUS ROOM
by
E. E. CUMMINGS
* * * * *
CONTENTS

CHAPTER
INTRODUCTION
I. I BEGIN A PILGRIMAGE
II. EN ROUTE
III. A PILGRIM'S PROGRESS
IV. LE NOUVEAU

V. A GROUP OF PORTRAITS
VI. APOLLYON
VII. AN APPROACH TO THE DELECTABLE MOUNTAINS
VIII. THE WANDERER
IX. ZOO-LOO
X. SURPLICE
XI. JEAN LE NÈGRE
XII. THREE WISE MEN
XIII. I SAY GOOD-BYE TO LA MISÈRE
* * * * *
INTRODUCTION
"FOR THIS MY SON WAS DEAD, AND IS ALIVE AGAIN; HE
WAS LOST; AND IS FOUND."
He was lost by the Norton-Harjes Ambulance Corps.
He was officially dead as a result of official misinformation.
He was entombed by the French Government.
It took the better part of three months to find him and bring him back to
life--with the help of powerful and willing friends on both sides of the
Atlantic. The following documents tell the story:
104 Irving Street, Cambridge, December 8, 1917.
President Woodrow Wilson, White House, Washington, D. C.

Mr. President:
It seems criminal to ask for a single moment of your time. But I am
strongly advised that it would be more criminal to delay any longer
calling to your attention a crime against American citizenship in which
the French Government has persisted for many weeks--in spite of
constant appeals made to the American Minister at Paris; and in spite of
subsequent action taken by the State Department at Washington, on the
initiative of my friend, Hon. ----.
The victims are two American ambulance drivers, Edward Estlin
Cummings of Cambridge, Mass., and W---- S---- B----....
More than two months ago these young men were arrested, subjected to
many indignities, dragged across France like criminals, and closely
confined in a Concentration Camp at La Ferté Macé; where, according
to latest advices they still remain--awaiting the final action of the
Minister of the Interior upon the findings of a Commission which
passed upon their cases as long ago as October 17.
Against Cummings both private and official advices from Paris state
that there is no charge whatever. He has been subjected to this
outrageous treatment solely because of his intimate friendship with
young B----, whose sole crime is--so far as can be learned--that certain
letters to friends in America were misinterpreted by an over-zealous
French censor.
It only adds to the indignity and irony of the situation to say that young
Cummings is an enthusiastic lover of France and so loyal to the friends
he has made among the French soldiers, that even while suffering in
health from his unjust confinement, he excuses the ingratitude of the
country he has risked his life to serve by calling attention to the
atmosphere of intense suspicion and distrust that has naturally resulted
from the painful experience which France has had with foreign
emissaries.
Be assured, Mr. President, that I have waited long--it seems like
ages--and have exhausted all other available help before venturing to

trouble you.
1. After many weeks of vain effort to secure effective action by the
American Ambassador at Paris, Richard Norton of the Norton-Harjes
Ambulance Corps to which the boys belonged, was completely
discouraged, and advised me to seek help here.
2. The efforts of the State Department at Washington resulted as
follows:
i. A cable from Paris saying that there was no charge against
Cummings and intimating that he would speedily be released.
ii. A little later a second cable advising that Edward Estlin Cummings
had sailed on the Antilles and