The Letters of Thom Gunn
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- R$ 139,90
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- R$ 139,90
Descrição da editora
The Letters of Thom Gunn presents the first complete portrait of the private life, reflections, and relationships of a maverick figure in the history of British and American poetry.
“I write about love, I write about friendship,” remarked Thom Gunn. “I find that they are absolutely intertwined.” These core values permeate his correspondence with friends, family, lovers, and fellow poets, and they shed new light on “one of the most singular and compelling poets in English during the past half-century” (Hugh Haughton, The Times Literary Supplement).
The Letters of Thom Gunn, edited by August Kleinzahler, Michael Nott, and Clive Wilmer, reveals the evolution of Gunn’s work and illuminates the fascinating life that informed his poems: his struggle to come to terms with his mother’s suicide; settling in San Francisco and his complex relationship with England; his changing relationship with his life partner, Mike Kitay; the LSD trips that led to his celebrated collection Moly (1971); and the deaths of friends from AIDS that inspired the powerful, unsparing elegies of The Man with Night Sweats (1992).
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Poets Kleinzahler and Wilmer join up with scholar Nott for this beautifully selected collection of letters by poet Thom Gunn (1929–2004). The first presentation of "Gunn's private words for public consideration," it's filled with powerful takes on his creative process, interpersonal relationships, and day-to-day life. Gunn often wrote about his garden ("I have all sorts of herbs.... It is amazing how much better some are when fresh"); his poetic craft and workshopping of pieces; and the experience of being a gay man in the second half of the 20th century as he navigates sexual adventures and the AIDS epidemic. The poet comes across as principled and funny: a movie lover his whole life, he memorably notes that Pulp Fiction "is a bit as if Henry James were to write a treatment of Titus Andronicus." He boosts the works of other poets, too, including Gary Snyder (a "careful craftsman") and August Kleinzahler ("better than anybody on this continent of his age"). The editors' footnotes are illustrative rather than intrusive, and the robust collection is packed with life and vigor. This should help bring Gunn and his work to a new generation of readers.
