Bastard in the Ragged Suit/Writings of, with drawings by Herman Spector - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0912184035 ISBN 13: 9780912184036

Publisher: Synergistic Pr, 1977

Synopsis

This book tells the story--through his published work, selections fromunpublished manuscripts, 44 drawings not seen publicly prior to this publication and abiographical introduction by co-editor Bud Johns--of Herman Spector. This writer of the late Twenties and the Thirties, whose experimental work influenced then-radical poets who came out of that period, continued to write during the last two decades of his life in New York but never again submitted his talents to the opinion of editors, critics and the public.

About this title

From the Back Cover

" '1929 and a decade audible in these poems. The poetry tells this story, the tones of the poetry, even the borrowed tones, which are dreams, tell the story of a man who risked himself for the hope of a poetry that would isolate no man and no thing, that would seem to him in no way 'privileged' and he became perhaps the loneliest of the impoverished men of his time and I believe he must have become afraid. Before he died, fear had abolished his poetry.'

"Pulitzer Prize-winning poet George Oppen never met Herman Spector but he knew his work and, as the lines above and those which follow establish, he also knew the man.

" 'Yes, I think (he) stopped short, or was stopped...Yes, sure his spirit failed (but) he did a great deal more than most men have.'

"Bastard in the Ragged Suit tells the story--through his published work, selections from unpublished manuscript fragments, his drawings and a biographical introduction--of Herman Spector. This writer of the late Twenties and the Thirties, whose experimental work influenced then-radical poets who came out of that period, continued to write during the last two decades of his life in New York but never again submitted his talents to the opinion of editors, critics and public.

" 'A rare talent, a rare person,' recalls Albert Halper. 'His was an original talent and his work deserves to be known today.'"

About the Author

Herman Spector was born in New York City in 1905 and died there the day before his 54th birthday. The title to this book comes from his poem "Outcast", first published in 1929 in New Masses where he was a contributing editor and later included in the musch-praised collection We Gather Strength. He was a co-editor of the literary mag-azine Blues (until he rejected a role as a protege of Ezra Pound), a founding editor of theinfluential Dynamo and a member of the WPA Writers' Project before his withdrawal as an actively publishing writer.

About this edition

• Publisher: Synergistic Pr
• Publication date: 1977
• ISBN 10: 0912184035
• ISBN 13: 9780912184036
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 216
• Editor: Bud Johns And Judith S. Clancy