Random Essays Recollections of A Publisher

A selection of rich and varied essays which together form a personal and literary autobiography of writer and publisher James Laughlin. Sunning on spine. Edges of jacket and book worn. Closed tear on upper right corner of jacket. Corners bumped. xiv, 272 pages. cloth over paper-covered boards, dust jacket, gilt stamp on spine. 8vo..

As a poet, editor, and founding publisher of the avant-garde New Directions, Laughlin counted among his friends most of the major figures in American Modernism. His mentors included Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, and Kenneth Rexroth, and he was himself the mentor of Thomas Merton, Kenneth Patchen, William Carlos Williams, and many others. This book collects an assortment of mostly recent talks, reviews, and prefaces, providing a combination of literary autobiography and critical evaluations of the leading figures in modern American literature. While some of his critical insights are uneven or dated, his recollections, especially of Pound and Stein, are always interesting and insightful.
- T.L. Cooksey, Armstrong State Coll., Savannah, Ga.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.