The Letters of Thom Gunn
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- CHF 30.00
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- CHF 30.00
Beschreibung des Verlags
'Gunn's letters serve as one of the most indispensable epistolary chronicles of an era, especially in the US, of the Eisenhower fifties transforming into the revolutionary sixties and seventies, and then the revanchist, reactionary Reagan eighties and the AIDS epidemic, all seen through the lens of a gay, ex-pat English poet.' August Kleinzahler
Gunn was not just the leather jacket-wearing, motorbike-riding tough that he is sometimes made out to be; nor the rambunctiously laughing happy-go-lucky bon vivant that he often showed to the world. This correspondence, meticulously transcribed and annotated by the editors, charts his contradictions and complexities, bringing alive the biographical, political and poetic landscape that informed his imaginative and heroic body of work. The letters demonstrate not only the poet's role-playing and theatricality - recounting in various voices to share his experiences as fully as possible - but also a deep literariness and humane intelligence: friendship, Gunn himself remarks, 'must be the greatest value in my life'.
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.
