Synopses & Reviews
Literary Nonficton. Poetry History and Criticism. Letters. Edited by Allen Frost, SELECTED CORRESPONDENCE includes photographs and brief biographies of Patchen's correspondents. They include Harvey Breit, Alex Comfort, E.E. Cummings, Robert Duncan, James T. Farrell, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, James Laughlin, James Boyer May, Alexander Meiklejohn, Henry Miller, Henry Moe, Harriet Monroe, Lewis Mumford, Alan Neil, Miriam Patchen, Henry Rago, Kenneth Rexroth, Harry Roskolenko, Isabel Smith-Stein, Wallace Stevens, Dylan Thomas, Leon Trotsky, Louis Untermeyer, Amos Wilder, Thomas Wolfe, and Jasper Wood.
"When reading Kenneth Patchen, a face stares back out of the text. His very human gaze scrutinizes us and our world with such intensity because he is looking for all the beauty despite such apparent ugliness. The SELECTED CORRESPONDENCE reveals the hardships and pain Patchen endured in this search, bolstered by his muse Miriam. Reading Patchen is a profound literary experience, an absolute delighting in humanity's possibilities yet also a despondence, sometimes even anger, over our shortcomings. These themes play themselves out here in Patchen's impassioned letters to such friends and colleagues as Henry Miller, E.E. Cummings, Wallace Stevens, et. al. To read this correspondence is to be astonished by Patchen's insatiable quest for all that is good in life, one that led him from proletarianism to concretism to jazz to painted poems. Embrace hope, all ye who enter here."—Eckhard Gerdes
Review
When reading Kenneth Patchen, a face stares back out of the text. His very human gaze scrutinizes us and our world with such intensity because he is looking for all the beauty despite such apparent ugliness. The Selected Correspondence reveals the hardships and pain Patchen endured in this search, bolstered by his muse Miriam. Reading Patchen is a profound literary experience, an absolute delighting in humanity's possibilities yet also a despondence, sometimes even anger, over our shortcomings. These themes play themselves out here in Patchen's impassioned letters to such friends and colleagues as Henry Miller, E.E. Cummings, Wallace Stevens, et. al. To read this correspondence is to be astonished by Patchen's insatiable quest for all that is good in life, one that led him from proletarianism to concretism to jazz to painted poems. Embrace hope, all ye who enter here. -Eckhard Gerdes, editor of Journal of Experimental Fiction
Synopsis
Letter from and to Kenneth Patchen to all of these literary figures: Harvey Breit -- Alex Comfort -- E.E. Cummings -- Robert Duncan -- James T. Farrell -- Lawrence Ferlinghetti -- James Laughlin -- James Boyer May -- Alexander Meiklejohn -- Henry Miller -- Henry Moe -- Harriet Monroe--Lewis Mumford -- Alan Neil -- Miriam Patchen -- Henry Rago -- Kenneth Rexroth --Harry Roskolenko -- Isabel Smith-Stein -- Wallace Stevens -- Dylan Thomas -- Leon Trotsky --Louis Untermeyer -- Amos Wilder -- Thomas Wolfe -- Jasper Wood
Synopsis
Selected Correspondence of Kenneth Patchen (1911-1972) contains letters from such literary figures as: Harvey Breit - Alex Comfort - E.E. Cummings - Robert Duncan - James T. Farrell - Lawrence Ferlinghetti - James Laughlin - James Boyer May - Alexander Meiklejohn - Henry Miller - Henry Moe - Harriet Monroe-Lewis Mumford - Alan Neil - Miriam Patchen - Henry Rago - Kenneth Rexroth -Harry Roskolenko - Isabel Smith-Stein - Wallace Stevens - Dylan Thomas - Leon Trotsky -Louis Untermeyer - Amos Wilder - Thomas Wolfe - Jasper Wood.
Synopsis
Selected Correspondence of Kenneth Patchen
Synopsis
Included in this vast correspondence with 20th century artist and writers and publishers are brief bios and photos.
"Patchen was "a rebel all down the line." Cummings, Miller, Rexroth and others hailed this "poet of anger and light" as the quintessential countercultural hero. Frost illuminates Patchen marching to the beat of his passionate heart, pursuing his vocation by fiercely protecting his integrity and exploring innovative directions despite the vicissitudes of illness, chronic pain, and poverty, and despite the Establishment critics' wall of silence. These fascinating and poignant letters map out rich chapters of cultural history and reveal the difficult dance between art and practicalities, and the magnanimous spirit of Laughlin and others who rallied for Patchen." -Rachelle Lerner, biographer of forthcoming "A Rage to Order: Kenneth Rexroth."
About the Author
Kenneth Patchen (1911-1972) was a poet, playwright, fiction and fable
writer, artist, and performer of poetry-jazz, working in the tradition
of engaged writing which he helped to forge in America. Producing
almost a book a year for 36 years, his work stands as an exposed girder
in the structure of American character and art. His friendships with
such writers as Amos Wilder, Lewis Mumford, James Laughlin, Henry
Miller, Kenneth Rexroth, Dylan Thomas, Lawrence Ferlinghetti and
others place him at the center of dissident writing in America. Rising
from his native grounds in working-class Ohio, he became a leading
figure among Leftist thinkers and artists in Greenwich Village's 1930s
and 40s. In the 1950s he moved to the West Coast where he created
artistic blends of poetry and art, and poetry and jazz. Finally crippled
with back pain during the last decade of his life, he created the
wonderful picture-poems. For four decades, on East and West Coast,
by the force of his own will and his native genius, Patchen molded a
life and art as one. With the loving support of his wife Miriam he
endured the pain and travail of years of struggle to recast an art based
on truth and striking beauty. His is one of the great stories of American
literature. Allen Frost lives in Bellingham, Washington, with wife Laura, daughter Rosa and son Rustle. He was born in La Jolla, California, and graduated from Bowdoin College in Maine. He has lived and worked in Seattle, Washington; Portland, Oregon; and Huron, Ohio. He works in the library at Western Washington University. His Ohio Trio: Fictions appeared in 2001 from Bottom Dog Press, followed by Bowl of Water written between 1989-2002. Another Life is drawn from limited edition poetry chapbooks written 2002-2007. Home Recordings appeared from Bird Dog Publishing in 2010. He contributed an article to the collection d.a.levy and the mimeograph revolution (2008). He is an associate editor of Bottom Dog Press.