What would we say to Mary Butts if we could? Here are a series of letters from modern day individuals, sending their messages back in time.

Dear Mary, Hello from the future! To get it out of the way, no, we do not have hover cars. Although we might be close. I'm writing this letter to you in hopes that you will abide by my rather odd request. Now before my proposal, I must explain a thing or two. You see, my English modernism class is currently studying you and your work after almost one hundred years of you passing away. Crazy right? The craziest part, please forgive us for this; our class is studying the contents of your letter correspondence with Douglas Goldring. And some letters between you, your daughter, and your aunt. I understand if you're slightly angry at us for infringing on your privacy, but we are all very fascinated with you. Our class is conducting an exhibit to showcase and highlight all of the significant talking points in your letters. Hopefully, you feel honoured to see how hard we're all working to do it justice. Your great-grandson is also providing some context and art for this exhibit which is pretty cool. Now for my request, please do not take offence to this, but I was hoping to ask you to write more legibly. You probably haven't considered how future generations will attempt to decipher your handwriting, but we are, and it is challenging at times. For the most part, the transcription of your letters has been accurate. However, there are a few indecipherable words. Since our class is very keen on representing you and your letters precisely, it could be beneficial if you took a little extra time to pay closer attention to penmanship. Again, I mean to ask you this in the most pleasant way possible. It has been a delight getting to know you through your letters. Enjoy the past, or I guess (to you) the present and future. Love - Cian.

Dear Mary,

I’m sorry to write to you this way, but I’m afraid it has gotten rather difficult to reach you through conventional means. Even as I write this, I fear you may never read what I have to say- what a strange thought, when I have read your handwriting so many times that I now see it in my mind whenever I think of you! Nevertheless, I fear my mind will drive itself crazy if I do not make some attempt to communicate with you, so here we are.

I owe you an apology, Mary, and I hope you shall accept it.

I apologize profusely for violating your privacy as I have- I recognize that I had no right to read those letters to Goldring, your aunt, and even your daughter. It was a gross injustice, and I am truly sorry. Please understand that this intrusion into your life was not meant to cause offense, but merely a way to illuminate your enigmatic personage. So much time has passed, Mary, and the letters are some of the only preservations of your personality- your humour, your wit, and sly charm. Through them, you live on, and they are too precious a resource to ignore. I am not ashamed of reading them, and believe I was entirely justified to do so. If you could only see what we’ve created in your honor, I believe you would understand.

All the same, I am sorry. And also grateful- for if you had not written these letters in the first place, the fog that surrounds you would be impenetrable, and I fear even your brilliant light would not be able to escape the confines of time and space. Perhaps you knew, all those years ago, that someone would be reading these letters in one hundred years, that they would be used to keep your name immortalized.

I hope you read this one day, Mary. I hope you forgive me and understand.

All my love,

Thomas Armstrong

Dear Mary,

This journey through time—analyzing your journals, letters, and published works—has unearthed so much regarding your life and the world you inhabited; a world that is not so different from ours.

While I am surrounded by your words, as they flow freely from the page and through my mind, I cannot help but question the validity of my imagination and my understanding of what it meant to be Mary Butts.

In a perfect world, you would write back and correct any possible misconceptions I may have about who you are and why you said what you said. Though, I fear this is not a perfect world and we are separated further by every passing second, eliminating any chance of a two-way conversation.

Yet, your writing astonishingly encapsulates so many issues of modern society, so many hidden truths. I know I shouldn’t, but I must ask, what is at the heart of your writing? Will I ever understand, or will I eventually find myself utterly lost in the labyrinth that is Mary Butts.

Forever and always,

Devon MacLean

Dear Mary,

We have never had the pleasure of having a conversation, and yet I have the sneaking suspicion we would get along swimmingly. You see, I am of the sort who is all too prone to go off on tangents and side tangents; something I have noticed you do throughout your novels and letters to friends and loved ones. Due to this, I firmly believe we could easily pass the better part of a day away having a thoroughly entertaining and laughter-filled chat.

On another note, Mary darling, I simply must apologize. Recently I have been spending far too much time reading through some of your old correspondences – I know, I have been entirely insensitive to you and your relations, all of whom I presume would be thoroughly unsettled and disgusted at the thought of a stranger reading such personal information. However, Mary, you must understand that you have become quite the topic of interest. By the day more and more people are learning your name and itching to know more about you, and with so little information remaining on your life, I hope you can understand the need to delve into your more personal documents. That said, if it is any consolation, your penmanship, while beautiful, can at times be near impossible to read. Who knows, perhaps that was a sneaky trick on your part to ward off prying eyes.

I also wanted to thank you, Mary. As you know, in the days when you worked away on your stories, the world did not look too kindly on the prospect of a man loving another man, or a woman loving another woman. But you saw things not as they were but as they could be. You may not realize this, but by today’s standards, you were not only a proud member, but quite the advocate for the LGBTQ2IA+ community (Oh, and that stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, Two-spirit, Intersex, Asexual, and other identities falling outside the realm of cisgender and heterosexual paradigms – I know, it must be quite the shock to see that sexuality is a far broader spectrum then you may have thought). Anyway, thank you. Through your inclusive work, you had a role to play in getting society to what we are today. You truly bettered this world.

Sadly, Mary, I am afraid I will have to end this letter here. The world is a busier place than it once was, and I have far too much to do. I would very much love to meet up one day and chat well into the early hours of the morning. I just know we would have a hoot of a time.

With much love and respect,

Cameron Bolduc (UVic)