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

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.

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.