Publication date:
08 August 2013Length of book:
278 pagesPublisher
Rowman & Littlefield PublishersDimensions:
232x161mm6x9"
ISBN-13: 9781442223929
The controversial American poet Amy Lowell (1874-1925), a founding member of the Imagist group that included D. H. Lawrence and H. D., excelled as the impresario for the “new poetry” that became news across the U. S. in the years after World War I. Maligned by T. S. Eliot as the “demon saleswoman” of poetry, and ridiculed by Ezra Pound, Lowell has been treated by previous biographers as an obese, sex-starved, inferior poet who smoked cigars and made a spectacle of herself, canvassing the country on lecture tours that drew crowds in the hundreds for her electrifying performances.
In fact, Lowell wrote some of the finest love lyrics of the 20th century and led a full and loving life with her constant companion, the retired actress Ada Russell. She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize posthumously in 1926. This provocative new biography, the first in forty years, restores Amy Lowell to her full humanity in an era that, at last, is beginning to appreciate the contributions of gays and lesbians to American’s cultural heritage. Drawing on newly discovered letters and papers, Rollyson’s biography finally gives this vibrant poet her due.
In fact, Lowell wrote some of the finest love lyrics of the 20th century and led a full and loving life with her constant companion, the retired actress Ada Russell. She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize posthumously in 1926. This provocative new biography, the first in forty years, restores Amy Lowell to her full humanity in an era that, at last, is beginning to appreciate the contributions of gays and lesbians to American’s cultural heritage. Drawing on newly discovered letters and papers, Rollyson’s biography finally gives this vibrant poet her due.
'God made me a business woman,' Amy Lowell said, 'and I made myself a poet.' Since Jean Gould's Amy: The World of Amy Lowell and the Imagist Movement (CH, Mar'76), biographers have often focused on the poet's sexuality. This aspect of her life in relation to her poetry is addressed in Amy Lowell, American Modern, ed. by Adrienne Munich and Melissa Bradshaw (CH, Sep'04, 42-0146). Rollyson (Baruch) employs it to present Lowell as a maverick. . . . For Rollyson, Lowell's wealth was a source of authority with promoters and conflict with fellow poets. She was a strong-willed but somewhat isolated character, beset by 'enemies' and most vulnerable in her secretive relationships with younger women. There is little psychological or literary analysis, and one is left to wonder about Lowell's obsession with John Keats, her interest in classical themes, and her nuanced relationship with Ezra Pound. Clearly ambiguous (and rare) moments of feminist conviction in poems like 'The Sisters' are trotted out without explication. The volume is light, but engaging and readable. Summing Up: Recommended. . . . General readers.