Late romance Anthony Hecht, a poet's life
Book - 2023
"Anthony Hecht (1923-2004) was one of America's greatest poets, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, and widely recognized as a master of formal verse that drew on wide-ranging cultural and literary sources, as well as Hecht's experiences as a soldier during World War II, during which he fought in Germany and Czechoslovakia and helped to liberate the Flossenburg concentration camp. In Late Romance, David Yezzi-himself a renowned poet and critic-reveals the depths that informed the meticulous surfaces of Hecht's poems. Born to a wealthy German-Jewish family in Manhattan, Hecht saw his father lose nearly everything during the stock market crash of 1929. He grew into an accomplished athlete, actor, writer, and eventually a soldier... in the crucible that consumed the world. Returning from the war, Hecht struggled to reconcile what he had witnessed and experienced, suffering from mental illness that required hospitalization. But he found the means to channel his emotions into poetry of lasting meaning, control, and depth; along with Robert Lowell, James Merrill, Theodore Roethke, and Elizabeth Bishop, Hecht remains a vital presence in letters. Published to celebrate the 100th year of his birth, and to coincide with an edition of his collected poems (to be published by Knopf), Late Romance is the definitive, dramatic biography of a uniquely-gifted writer"--
- Subjects
- Genres
- Biographies
- Published
-
New York :
St. Martin's Press
2023.
- Language
- English
- Main Author
- Edition
- First edition
- Physical Description
- viii, 469 pages, 16 pages of plates : illustrations ; 25 cm
- Bibliography
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- ISBN
- 9781250016584
- Introduction: Recognition and Reversal
- 1. Hecht & Sons (1923-1934)
- 1. "Death Sauntering About"
- 2. Out of the Swamp
- 3. "A grave and secret malady …"
- 2. "An Education for Which I Received No Grades …" (1935-1941)
- 1. "A corn roast and bonfire in summer camp …"
- 2. "Lingering flavors of the clergy"
- 3. Dr. Seuss Makes a House Call
- 3. "Ghosts from the Ovens" (1942-1946)
- 1. You'll Be Sorry
- 2. In the Ruhr Pocket
- 3. "How often you have thought about that camp …"
- 4. "Now the quaint early image of Japan …"
- 5. "I am there. I am there."
- 4. Mr. Ransom in Ohio, Mr. Tate in New York (1946-1948)
- 1. "I had to go back to school"
- 2. "A dangerous influence"
- 3. "Unfettered but unfreed …"
- 5. Italian Journey (1949-1951)
- 1. "The most beautiful sight in the world …"
- 2. "An extraordinarily lucky choice"
- 3. Auden in the Mezzogiorno
- 6. Roman Holidays (1952-1955)
- 1. On the Janiculum
- 2. Bellow, Brandeis, Blucher, and a Book
- 3. Marrying Magdalene
- 7. "Marriages Come to Grief in Many Ways …" (1956-1961)
- 1. Mon Semblable, Mon Frère-Leonard Baskin at Smith
- 2. Sylvia and Ted and Pat and Tony
- 3. Jason and Adam
- 8. Harder Hours (1962-1967)
- 1. "A different mother tongue"
- 2. Back to Bard
- 9. Late Romance (1968-1975)
- 1. Higgledy-piggledy
- 2. "Heureux qui, comme Ulysse, a fait un beau voyage …"
- 3. "Here in this bleak city of Rochester"
- 10. Apprehensions (1976-1980)
- 1. "Something in the light"
- 2. "Something by Shakespeare"
- 3. "He haunts me here, that seeker after law …"
- 11. "Waiting for Things to Mend" (1981-1992)
- 1. Murmurs
- 2. "O ye laurels …"
- 12. Presumptions (1993-1998)
- 1. Leaving Academe
- 2. Deaths in Winter
- 13. Both Alike to Thee (1998-2004)
- 1. A Midrash for Baskin
- 2. Il Golfo Paradiso
- 3. Among the English Poets
- Acknowledgments
- Notes
- Index
Review by Kirkus Book Review