THE SELECTED ESSAYS OF WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS

by William Carlos Williams ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 5, 1954

A selection from Dr. Williams' published and unpublished prose writings once again indicates the extraordinary range of his literary genius as it developed over three decades, and his interests as they embrace the arts in America and abroad. Diverse as Williams' subjects and styles may be, they continually fascinate. Perhaps it is through their very diversity that they do, Music, poetry, painting, prose- in each field Williams is at home. Take the contrast between two essays. One is a conversation piece on the painting of Tchelitchew, whose studio he visited. It is a record of an afternoon's talk, and from it emerges the sharp contrast between delicacy and monstrosity that is Tchelitchew. A second is a critical essay on the poetry of Lorca, who died of fascist bullets. It develops as a treatise on Spanish literature, the Iberian tradition that stemmed from the romance of the Cid and found its further expression in Lorca too. Among the contemporaries Williams scrutinizes are Dylan Thomas, Marianne Moore, Carl Sandburg, Cummings, Shapiro, and the musician Antheil. Further essays record his thinking on criticism, on art and society in relation to each other. And in all there is a fresh note, a sense of individual scholarliness.

Pub Date: Nov. 5, 1954

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Random House

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1954

Categories: NONFICTION