This volume chronicles the correspondence between William Carlos Williams, a Pullitzer Prize-winning American poet, and his publisher, James Laughlin, the founder of "New Directions". The letters discuss modernism, art, publishing, and the writer/editor relationship between the two men.

William Carlos Williams and James Laughlin: Selected Letters

Biographies & Memoirs

Laughlin, James

WILLIAMS, William Carlos

Arts & Literature

W.W.Norton&Company

Frankly―H. Miller was defended by me only because he spoke against the War, and I think that was the main reason for his fame. Now―I do not believe, what with Palmistry, Chirography, Phrenology, and the Great Cryptogram, he will survive the retooling period. I honestly think he is the most insufferable snob I have ever met―but all reformed pandhandlers are like that.… in a letter from Kenneth Rexroth to James Laughlin Correspondence between author Rexroth, a "presiding figure of the San Francisco Renaissance," and publisher Laughlin, spanning forty years. Introduction, notes on the text, select bibliography, index. Errata sheet laid in.

Kenneth Rexroth and James Laughlin: Selected Letters

REXROTH, Kenneth

A sparkling, lively record of a remarkable author/publisher relationship. Ever mercurial in temperament, an idealist who struggled financially to meet his material needs, Henry Miller for decades relied on his publisher James Laughlin's generosity and expert editorial advice. Although Miller's letters decried the conservatism of American book publishing and were often suspicious in tone, Miller nevertheless admired and trusted Laughlin with intimate details about his work and his personal life. The resulting correspondence, spanning from 1935 to 1979, shortly before Miller's death on June 7, 1980, is a remarkable, uncensored record of the ideas and intentions behind many of the author's most provocative literary endeavors.

Henry Miller and James Laughlin: Selected Letters

Wickes, George

MILLER, HENRY

Thomas Merton and James Laughlin: Selected Letters

The remarkable development of Thomas Merton―monk, poet, and social critic―as documented in nearly thirty years of correspondence with his publisher. Thomas Merton may have seemed an unlikely candidate for a best-selling author. Cloistered in a remote Kentucky monastery, Merton struggled as a young man to reconcile the contemplative life he sought as a monk and his very public passion for writing. Publisher James Laughlin saw Merton's talent and played the muse, encouraging him with the poems, essays, and diaries of other writers and publishing nearly everything Merton sent in return. Ironically, the very society Merton rejected upon entering the monastery embraced his work, bringing him publishing success only dreamed of by more eager authors. Soon Merton discovered he had a podium, a voice, and a responsibility that weighed as heavily on him as his previous quest for silence. Laughlin's encouragement remained constant throughout, as political ally, publishing adviser, and supporting friend. Nearly thirty years of rich correspondence documents this strong literary and personal relationship and traces the remarkable development of Merton's vision: from an early focus on matters internal and religious, to a tremendous world view encompassing issues of race, politics, war, and the spiritual decay of modern society.

MERTON, THOMAS

An epistolary exchange that highlights two singular intellects, their disparate approaches to literature and their mutual admiration. This volume features selections from the New Directions founder's correspondence with Guy Davenport, the polymath artist and author of The Geography of the Imagination. More than simply detailing an author/publisher relationship, these letters depict two fine minds educating and supporting each other in the service of literature.

Guy Davenport and James Laughlin: Selected Letters

DAVENPORT, Guy

The chronicle of Tennessee Williams and James Laughlin’s unlikely yet enduring literary and personal relationship.
In December 1942, two guests at a Lincoln Kirstein mixer bonded over their shared love of Hart Crane’s poetry. One of them was James Laughlin, the founder of a small publishing company called New Directions, which he had begun only seven years earlier as a sophomore at Harvard. The other was a young playwright named Thomas Lanier Williams, or "Tennessee," as he had just started to call himself. A little more than a week after that first encounter, Tennessee sent a letter to Jay―as he always addressed Laughlin in writing― expressing a desire to get together for an informal discussion of some of Tennessee’s poetry. "I promise you it would be extremely simple," he wrote, "and we would inevitably part on good terms even if you advised me to devote myself exclusively to the theatre for the rest of my life."
So began a deep friendship that would last for forty-one years, through critical acclaim and rejection, commercial success and failure, manic highs, bouts of depression, and serious and not-so-serious liaisons. Williams called Laughlin his "literary conscience," and New Directions serves to this day as Williams’s publisher, not only for The Glass Menagerie and his other celebrated plays but for his highly acclaimed novels, short stories, and volumes of poetry as well. Their story provides a window into the literary history of the mid-twentieth century and reveals the struggles of a great artist, supported in his endeavors by the publisher he considered a true friend.

The Luck of Friendship: The Letters of Tennessee Williams and James Laughlin

WILLIAMS, Tennessee

Pound as Wuz: Recollections and Interpretations

Literature & Fiction

History & Criticism

Peter Owen Ltd

New Directions in Prose and Poetry 17

Poetry

W.W. Norton & Co., Inc.

New Directions in Prose and Poetry 21

New Directions

New Directions In Prose and Poetry 30

Norton*(ww Norton Co

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