The Collected Letters of Charles Olson and J. H. Prynne
Publication Year: 2017
Edited by poet and scholar Ryan Dobran, this volume of correspondence between the American poet Charles Olson (1910–1970) and the English poet J. H. Prynne (b. 1936) sheds light on a little-known but incredibly influential aspect of twentieth-century transatlantic literary culture. Never before published, the letters capture their shared passion for knowledge as well as their distinct writing styles. Written between 1961 and Olson’s death in 1970, the letters display the mutual admiration and intimacy that developed between the two poets after Prynne initiated their exchange when pursuing work for the literary magazine Prospect. This work illustrates how Olson and Prynne influenced each other, and it represents an important step toward understanding their contributions to poetics on both sides of the Atlantic.
Published by: University of New Mexico Press
Cover
Half Title, Series Page, Title Page, Copyright
Introduction
This volume contains nearly all of the letters written from 1961 to 1970 between American poet Charles Olson (1910–1970) and English poet J. H. Prynne (b. 1936).1 Prynne initiated the correspondence by writing to Olson on November 7, 1961 in search of work for Prospect, a small literary magazine published in Cambridge, England. ...
Chapter 1: 1961
Dear Charles Olson,
You won’t know who I am, but I have just taken over as editor of PROSPECT,
which published two of the Maximus letters when Elaine Feinstein was running
the show.1
Being immoderately reticent, I have for a long time been looking
for a pretext on which to write, and now I have one: ...
Chapter 2: 1962
Dear Charles Olson,
Very sorry for my delay in answering your last letter & query—I have been
away for Christmas, and only yesterday got back to striking distance of a library.
Your problem is a complicated one, and it’s too bad I’m not even half qualified to
give a proper answer. ...
Chapter 3: 1963
Dear Charles Olson,
Just a note written from the search room of the Public Records Office, where
I am awaiting production of the next batch of port books. I have been going
through these fairly steadily, though the state of affairs is not a very encouraging
one. The port books themselves are mostly in a very poor state of repair, ...
Chapter 4: 1964
My dear Jeremy,
Delighted to hear from you. (I don’t know what to advise, had heard from Cook
New Year’s Eve, that he had heard from you—pushed him actually to add you,
if possible, to the middle summer session the coming summer, the one with Ed, ...
Chapter 5: 1965
Prynne returned the manuscript of the second volume of the Maximus poems to Olson in Buffalo. ...
Chapter 6: 1966
Prynne sent a typescript of his poem, “Song in Sight of the World” with the dedication:
Jeremy Prynne, for Charles Olson,
Cambridge, New Year’s Day, 1966. ...
Chapter 7: 1967–1970
My dear Jeremy:
I wonder if I could trouble you to feed my engines by say opening an account
for me at your favourite bookstore there, Cambridge: + letting me have post1 ...
E-ISBN-13: 9780826358332
E-ISBN-10: 0826358330
Print-ISBN-13: 9780826358325
Page Count: 264
Publication Year: 2017
OCLC Number: 958469827
MUSE Marc Record: Download for The Collected Letters of Charles Olson and J. H. Prynne
