Synopses & Reviews
For over fifty years, Eudora Welty and William Maxwell, two of our most admired writers, penned letters to each other. They shared their worries about work and family, literary opinions and scuttlebutt, moments of despair and hilarity. Living half a continent apart, their friendship was nourished and maintained by their correspondence.and#160;
What There Is to Say We Have Said bears witness to Welty and Maxwelland#8217;s editorial relationshipsand#8212;both in his capacity as New Yorker editor and in their collegial back-andforth on their work. Itand#8217;s also a chronicle of the literary world of the time; read talk of James Thurber, William Shawn, Katherine Anne Porter, J. D. Salinger, Isak Dinesen, William Faulkner, John Updike, Virginia Woolf, Walker Percy, Ford Madox Ford, John Cheever, and many more.and#160;It is a treasure trove of reading recommendations.and#160;
Here, Suzanne Marrsand#8212;Weltyand#8217;s biographer and friendand#8212;offers an unprecedented window into two intertwined lives. Through careful collection of more than 300 letters as well as her own insightful introductions, she has created a record of a remarkable friendship and a lyrical homage to the forgotten art of letter writing.
Review
"How rewarding to become the third person present in the discoveries of life and literature between Eudora Welty and William Maxwell. I have always believed the only and#8216;knowingand#8217; one can have of a fiction writers is through the fiction itself; but here, in the personal medium of to-and-fro wit and vitality, is to be had further experience of the writer Eudora Welty, whose stories, in particular, have opened my vision of human relations." and#8212;Nadine Gordimer and#160; "What a glorious collection! These letters make a map into the very heart of friendship and creativity. They are bursting with intelligence, tenderness, and insight. Every page is a privilege to read."
and#8212;Ann Patchett, author of The Patron Saint of Liars, Bel Canto, Run, among others and#160; "Something truly special happened each time Eudora Welty and William Maxwell wrote a letter to the other. Suzanne Marrs has collected more than 300 of those letters and set them into a time and context. Anyone who relishes and celebrates the magic use of words, storytelling, and friendship will treasure the end result forever. And, most likely, they will continue to pick it up and read from it forever. Itand#8217;s truly that kind of special."
and#8212;Jim Lehrer and#160; "A complex improvisation carried on for years by two artists for whom nothing in the realm of literature or feeling was remote."
and#8212;Alec Wilkinson, author of The Happiest Man in the World and My Mentor: A Young Writerand#8217;s Friendship with William Maxwell and#160; "This book lets us in on the happy fact that two splendid writers, who did not sacrifice humanity to career, were warmly admitted to each othersand#8217; lives."
and#8212;Richard Wilbur and#160; "These letters evoke a lost world when events moved a bit more slowly, and friends could take the time to be both eloquently witty and generous with each other, and letters were unobtrusively artful about daily life. Welty and Maxwell are like two birds of the same species, calling to each other across the distances."
and#8212;Charles Baxter and#160; "If friendship is an art, this volume is its masterpieceand#8212;the complex rendering of two long, literate lives well-lived, always written with care, intelligence, grace, and even humor! Miss Weltyand#8217;s gentle, constant humor is a revelation, providing the grace notes in this beautiful exchange. And, oh myand#8212;our own paltry e-mails pale beside these letters, as our scatter-shot lives seem trivial in comparison to the constancy and purpose of the correspondents."
and#8212;Lee Smith and#160; "A literary revelation. Suzanne Marrsand#8217;s editing of this rich collection is superlative."
and#8212;Roger Mudd, journalist and broadcaster and#160; "One of the richest and most riveting collections of famous-people letters to emerge in some time."
and#8212;Booklist
"A vivid snapshot of 20th-century intellectual life and an informative glimpse of the author-editor relationship, as well a tender portrait of devoted friendship."
and#8212;Kirkus Reviews and#12288;
Synopsis
Ted and Sandy Berrigan's honeymoon ended when her father, a well-connected doctor, forced Sandy into a mental hospital, had Ted run out of town by the sheriff, and hired private detectives to investigate his friends. In addition to passionate letters detailing the young couple's struggle to reunite, this book provides gossip about the thriving 1960s art scene, serious advice for developing readers and writers, and reproductions from Ted's scrapbook for Sandy, a journal that led to his masterwork The Sonnets.
Ted Berrigan (1934-1983) was a central figure in the second generation of New York School poets and an influential mentor to an entire generation of writers.
Synopsis
Ted and Sandy Berrigans honeymoon ended when her father, a well-connected doctor, forced Sandy into a mental hospital, had Ted run out of town by the sheriff, and hired private detectives to investigate his friends. These intimate, irresistible letters, written over the course of their three-month separation, read like a passionate, epistolary novelfull of longing, intrigue, and gossip. They also offer serious advice for developing readers and writers, bring the thriving cultural scene in mid-twentieth-century New York to life, and serve as a day-by-day chronicle of Ted Berrigans developing voice.
In addition to the letters, this collection contains never-before-published reproductions from A Book of Poetry for Sandy,featuring Berrigans cutouts, drawings, photographs of fellow poets and artists, and excerpts from poems that eventually became The Sonnets.
Synopsis
Letters illuminating a legendary literary love affair and the young artists who made 1960s New York the worlds cultural capital.
Synopsis
Suzanne Marrs--Welty's biographer and friend--has culled all the extant letters between Eudora Welty and William Maxwell, granting us a unique glimpse into the friendship of two of our country's most beloved literary icons. Bear witness to what began as a writer-editor relationship and bloomed into a life-long intimate conversation between two artists.
About the Author
This volume vividly preserves young love through Teds letters to Sandy while she was institutionalizedpacked with rage, frustration, and thoughts about writing . . . Its time for less warm tears and more cold fury, writes Ted, transporting the reader to a time when a passionate and impulsive young woman could be committed for behavior contrary to social norms. Even those unfamiliar with Teds poetry will be fascinated by the drama inherent in this collection.”Publishers Weekly(starred review)
Table of Contents
Contents
Introduction 1
1. and#8220;Never Lose Letters from an Editorand#8221;: 1942and#8211;1943 17
2. and#8220;Wonderful to Be a Writer. Wonderful to Grow Roses.
Wonderful to Careand#8221;: 1943and#8211;1954 21
3. and#8220;Similar Discoveriesand#8221;: 1954and#8211;1959 70
4. and#8220;Stubborn Enough to Be a Writerand#8221;: 1960and#8211;1966 141
5. and#8220;Your Heart Down on Paperand#8221;: 1966and#8211;1970 194
6. and#8220;So Much Honor Coming Down on My Headand#8221;: 1971and#8211;1980 278
7. and#8220;What There Is to Say We Have Saidand#8221;: 1981and#8211;1996 370
Acknowledgments 445
Notes 446
Index 480