Life of Kenneth Rexroth - Hardcover

Hamalian, Linda

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0393029441 ISBN 13: 9780393029444

Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc, 1991

Synopsis

A biography of the American poet traces his life and follows his transformation from high school dropout into a successful newspaper columnist, activist, and poet

About this title

From the Back Cover:

A poet and activist, Kenneth Rexroth is a central figure in the San Francisco literary renaissance. But his nature and love poetry have left their mark on several generations of modern poets, from the Beats to Denise Levertov, Carolyn Forche, and Jessica Hagedorn. A complex person, Rexroth was a self-taught man of great knowledge, a consummate storyteller, a man who could be thoroughly charming one day and who could take your head off the next. In the definitive and only biography, Linda Hamalian explores Rexroth's life and work in all their depth.

From Library Journal:

In this first full-length biography, richly detailed and thoroughly documented, the self-taught Rexroth emerges as a major American poet. Rexroth, a prominent figure in San Francisco's literary renaissance, was also a jazz-poet performer, translator, mentor, critic, leftist commentator, pacifist, Catholic-Buddhist spiritualist, world traveler, wit, and iconoclast. Hamalian depicts the virtues and flaws of this fascinating man with cool, even-handed balance. Married four times, and father to two daughters, he yearned to understand and fulfill the lives of the women close to him. Longing for stable relationships, he sometimes abused, exploited, and alienated others, then accused them of deserting him. He bowed to no authority, but his bravado often shielded hidden insecurities. He took great delight in nature's beauty, but in his poems life and art often diverged. With its multifaceted portrait, rendered with photographic accuracy, this instructive book augments our appreciation of the man and his era. Highly recommended.
- Addie Lee Bracy, Beaver Coll. Lib., Glenside, Pa.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 0393029441
• ISBN 13: 9780393029444
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 464