“Many readers of Wallace Stevens,” notes the jacket copy of James Longenbach’s second book, “wonder at his ‘double’ life: the poet, crafting phrases of supernal elegance and beauty, and the lawyer and insurance executive, wading through life’s utilitarian chores with practical aplomb. For more than one critical generation it has seemed as if these two men were unacquainted. . . . [But this notion] is misleading. . . . Stevens was not only aware of the momentous events taking place around him, but often his poetry was inspired by those events. . . . [H]e . . . thought deeply about the strengths—and, equally important, the limitations—of poetry as a social product and force.”

This thesis is presented as revolutionary; but it’s hardly that. For who would argue that Stevens’s two “halves” were unacquainted, or that he was unaware of the...

 

A Message from the Editors

Your donation sustains our efforts to inspire joyous rediscoveries.

Popular Right Now