An Interview with P.L. Travers (Mary Poppins)

I lived with the Indians, or rather I lived on the reservations, for two summers during the war. John Collier, who was then the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, was a great friend of mine and he saw that I was very homesick for England but couldn’t go back over those mined waters. And he said, “I’ll tell you what I’ll do for you. I’ll send you to live with the Indians.” “That’s mockery,” I replied. “What good will that do me?” He said, “You’ll see.”

I’d never been out West and I went to stay on the Navajo reservation at Administration House, which is at Window Rock beyond Gallup. . . .

More in Paris Review:
http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/3099/the-art-of-fiction-no-63-p-l-travers