The Secret Room - Hardcover

Laughlin, James

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0811213439 ISBN 13: 9780811213431

Publisher: New Directions, 1997

Synopsis

James Laughlin, poet and publisher, is known in Italy as Il Catullo americano, the American Catullus. Like the Latin poet whom Laughlin has long called his master, the subject at the heart of his work remains "love/...& the lack of love,/which is what makes evil," but seen now from the wry, often poignant perspective of old age. In his newest collection, The Secret Room, he has gathered nearly 150 poems that address his mature theme in a variety of ways. The philosophical lyrics of "Looking Inward" and the satirical jabs and invectives of "Epigrams and Comic Verses" employ short-line forms, including Laughlin's signature "typewriter metric," originally devised with the advice of William Carlos Williams. "Byways" continues his autobiographical work-in-progress, in a three-stress line borrowed from Kenneth Rexroth. And with "39 Pentastichs," Laughlin introduces a five-line stanza in a natural voice cadence suited to casual observations.

About this title

About the Author

James Laughlin (1914–1997) founded New Directions in 1936 while still a student at Harvard. He wrote and compiled more than a dozen books of poetry as well as stories and essays; seven volumes of his correspondence with his authors are available from W.W. Norton. 

Reviews

"As long as there are any loose words around," Laughlin says, "I'll try to make them hop, skip, and jump for you." In his old age, he has kept that promise in books full of direct, life-loving, open-hearted poems. His master is the urbane Roman poet Catullus, and Laughlin is exactly what Catullus grown old (he lived only some 30 years) ought to have been. He recalls old loves, old friends, and good times (e.g., in "The Rubble Railroad," immediately post^-World War II travels in Germany with a pal gifted at finding the best car, best digs, and best restaurants even in those dire times), and he responds with romantic gusto to new women and new opportunities to appreciate life, love, and art. May it be several years yet until we bid Laughlin ave atque vale ("hail and farewell," Catullus' last good-bye to his brother). Ray Olson

Laughlin (Collected Poems, LJ 11/1/93), the founding publisher of New Directions, shares his thoughts with humor and tenderness as he wades in the waters of his golden years. The speaker in many of these poems admires young women and thinks, "I could see I was entirely out of/ my depth." He realizes he is not as strong as he once was, but he can still "make old, sick words sound new." Laughlin has unlocked the soul of an old man to free the life "stored in a hidden room/ At the back of the brain./ Only the keeper of dreams/ Has the key to that hidden room." Laughlin has been a keeper of dreams throughout the 20th century. This book gives us a glance into the source of many of the dreams that have "caught fire and entered into/ The body." Highly recommended.?Tim Gavin, Episcopal Academy, Merion, Pa.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: New Directions
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0811213439
• ISBN 13: 9780811213431
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 184