In James Merrill's Letters, a Workshop and a Stage for the Poet's Wit
In James Merrillâs Letters, a Workshop and a Stage for the Poetâs Wit James Merrill found that letters suited him better than essays. Quick literary judgments became an epistolary specialty.Credit...The New London Day Buy Book â¾ By Thomas Mallon A WHOLE WORLD Edited by Langdon Hammer and Stephen Yenser When he was 25 and traveling abroad, the poet James Merrill (1926-95) learned that his mother had destroyed letters heâd been sent from several different men, fearing that they presented her son with a âthreat of exposure.â Recounting this incident in âA Diffe...
Source: nytimes.com