Bruce Lee: Letters of the Dragon: An Anthology of Bruce Lee’s Correspondence with Family, Friends, and Fans 1958-1973

197 Pages·1998·4.69 MB·English

by  Bruce Lee

The Bruce Lee Library
An Anthology of
Bruce Lee's Correspondence
with Family, Friends, and Fans
1958-1973
Edited by John Little

TUTTLE Publishing
Tokyo | Rutland, Vermont | Singapore
The Tuttle Story: "Books to Span the East and West”
Most people are surprised to learn that the world’s largest publisher of books on Asia had its beginnings in
the tiny American state of Vermont. The company’s founder, Charles E. Tuttle, belonged to a New England
family steeped in publishing. And his first love was naturally books—especially old and rare editions.
Immediately after II, serving in Tokyo under General Douglas MacArthur, Tuttle was tasked with
reviving the Japanese publishing industry, and founded the Charles E. Tuttle Publishing Company, which
thrives today as one of the world’s leading independent publishers.
Though a westerner, Charles was hugely instrumental in bringing a knowledge of Japan and Asia to a
world hungry for information about the East. By the time of his death in 1993, Tuttle had published over
6,000 books on Asian culture, history and art—a legacy honored by the Japanese emperor with the “Order
of the Sacred Treasure,” the highest tribute Japan can bestow upon a non-Japanese.
With a backlist of over 1,500 titles, Tuttle Publishing is more active today than at any time in its past—
inspired by Charles’ core mission to publish fine books to span the East and West and provide a greater
understanding of each.
All photos appearing in this book are courtesy of the archive of Linda Lee Cadwell, the Estate of Bruce Lee,
and Warner Brothers Films.
Published in 1998 by Tuttle Publishing, an imprint of Periplus Editions (HK) Ltd.
www.tuttlepublishing.com
Copyright© 1998 Linda Lee Cadwell
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval
system, without prior written permission from Tuttle Publishing.
Lee, Bruce, 1940-1973
Letters of the dragon : correspondence, 1958-1973 / by Bruce Lee : edited by John Little.
p. cm. — (the Bruce Lee library; v.5)
Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-8048-3111-6 (pbk.)
ISBN 978-1-4629-1785-3 (ebook)
1.Lee, Bruce, 1940-1973—Correspondence. 2. Martial artists—United States—Correspondence. 1. Little,
John R., 1960-
II. Title. III. Series: Lee, Bruce, 1940-1973. Bruce Lee library; v.5.
GV1113.L44L43 1998
791.43’028’092—dc21
[B] 98036553
CIP
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First edition
16 15 14 13 12 8 7 6 5 4 3 1112MP
Text and cover design—Vernon Press, Inc.
Printed in Singapore
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DEDICATION
To the letter writers
To those among us who understand that, while historians may concentrate on
coronations and battles, it is to the letter writers that we must turn when we
want to truly understand. Like the journals and private papers of the classic
gossips and diarists—Pepys, Boswell, Saint-Simon—the function of letters is “to
reveal to us the littleness underlying great events and to remind us that history
once was real life.” For it is in letters that history and biography meet, to form the
most intimate of all forms of literature.
Some have said that the theater is what literature does at night. If so, then
letters are what the creators of such literature do and think in the evening of
their thoughts. For it is there, in the darkened, innermost recesses of one's mind,
well behind the glare of superficiality and trivia, that our passions, desires, and
truest selves reside. G. K. Chesterton once described the mailbox as “a sanctuary
of human words,” adding that “a letter is one of the few things left entirely
romantic, for to be entirely romantic, a thing must be irrevocable.”
Finally, this book is for the person who understands the true significance of
letters; who appreciates the fact that it is upon the page of personal
correspondence that the true soul of a human being is revealed and preserved in
a fashion that makes them always present, oblivious to the ravages of time. It is
here that one finds empathy with what Heloise wrote to her beloved Abelard:
What cannot letters inspire? They have souls; they can speak; they have in them
all that force which expresses the transports of the heart; they have all the fire of
our passions. They can raise them as much as if the person themselves were
present. They have the tenderness and the delicacy of speech, and sometimes even
a boldness of expression beyond it. Letters were first invented for consoling such
solitary wretches as myself! Having lost the substantial pleasures of seeing and
possessing you, I shall in some measure compensate this loss by the satisfaction I
shall find in your writing. There I shall read your most sacred thoughts.
— John Little and Linda Lee Cadwell