BR TO SWEDISH ACADEMY / ANDERS OSTERLING, 29 NOV. 1950
BRACERS 56267. ALS(X). Svenska Akademien
Proofread by K. Blackwell

41 Queen’s Road
Richmond, Surreya
Nov. 29, 1950

Dear Sir

Your letter of Nov. 27 has just reached me. I am sorry the word “politically“ caused you uneasiness; it could with advantage be changed to “socially”. There is nothing political in the narrow sense in the lecture, i.e. nothing which could influence the way a man would vote in an election. Every university teaches a subject called “politics”, which has been a matter of academic study ever since Aristotle. It is only in this sense that the lecture is concerned with politics.

When I agreed to give a lecture, I thought it was expected. But your letter since has assured me that I need not give a lecture, and I would much rather not. I am, as you know, not young, and by 11 p.m. I shall be very tired. So if I may be allowed not to lecture, I shall be deeply grateful.

Yours sincerely
Bertrand Russell.

Textual Notes

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  41 Queen’s Road | Richmond, Surrey above deleted <letterhead> Penralltgoch | Llan Ffestiniog | Merioneth