Robert Lowell’s Selfish Determination

Robert Lowell’s Selfish Determination

by | Apr 11, 2021

The Dolphin (Two Versions, 1972–1973) by Robert Lowell, edited by Saskia Hamilton. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2019, Paperback, ix + 195 pages, $18. The Dolphin Letters, 1970–1979: Elizabeth Hardwick, Robert Lowell, and Their Circle edited by Saskia Hamilton. Farrar,...
The Habit of Being a Catholic Writer

The Habit of Being a Catholic Writer

by | Jan 13, 2019

The Letters of Flannery O’Connor and Caroline Gordon, edited by Christine Flanagan. The University of Georgia Press, 2018. Hardcover, 254 pages, $32.95 Reviewed by Emina Melonic “This girl is a real novelist,” said Caroline Gordon in a letter to Robert...
When Elites Were Elites

When Elites Were Elites

by | Dec 2, 2018

The Republic of Letters by Marc Fumaroli. Yale University Press, 2018. Hardcover, 382 pages, $30. Reviewed by Addison Del Mastro The Republic of Letters is one of those fascinating history books that introduces an almost completely new element of analysis into already...
Thought Is a Labyrinth

Thought Is a Labyrinth

by | Nov 18, 2018

Questioning Minds: The Letters of Guy Davenport and Hugh Kenner Edited by Edward M. Burns. Counterpoint, 2018. Hardcover, 2016 pages, $95. Reviewed by Phil Christman Culture is, among other things, a conspiracy of the like-minded. “The idea is to accumulate a Vortex,”...

The Critic as Catalyst

by | Jun 8, 2014

The Long Voyage: Selected Letters of Malcolm Cowley, 1915–1987. Edited by Hans Bak. Harvard University Press, 2013. Hardcover, 848 pages, $40. Hans Bak rightly calls Malcolm Cowley (1898–1989) the “chronicler of the lost generation.” His pioneering literary history,...