In this Book
- Intimate With Walt: Whitmans Conversataions With Horace Traubel
- Book
- 2001
- Published by: University of Iowa Press
- Series: Iowa Whitman Series
summary
In March 1888 Horace Traubel, Whitman's loyal and hardworking assistant, began to record his almost daily conversations with the most famous resident of Camden. The result: more than 1,900,000 words that were eventually published between 1906 and 1996 in nine volumes. Titled With Walt Whitman in Camden, these volumes contain much that is mundane and repetitive, but they also include many passages crucial for a full and humane understanding of America's first great national poet.
In Intimate with Walt Gary Schmidgall has condensed Traubel's nearly 5,000 pages into one manageable volume featuring the many self-revealing, humorous, nostalgic, and often curmudgeonly words of the Good Gray Poet. The book is divided into five sections, each consisting of several chapters: the first, presenting Walt on himself, his family, and his daily life and visitors at the only home he ever owned; the second, on his artistic credos, the literary life, and a large array of comments on the writing, publication of, and critical reaction to Leaves of Grass; the third, focusing on his friends, admirers, idols, and lovers; the fourth and longest, presenting his no-holds-barred views on a variety of topics, including the American scene, race, religion, music, and even alcohol; and finally, a gathering of passages revealing Whitman's struggles with his infirmities, his poignant final days, and Traubel's observations on Whitman's deathbed scene and burial rites.
In Intimate with Walt Gary Schmidgall has condensed Traubel's nearly 5,000 pages into one manageable volume featuring the many self-revealing, humorous, nostalgic, and often curmudgeonly words of the Good Gray Poet. The book is divided into five sections, each consisting of several chapters: the first, presenting Walt on himself, his family, and his daily life and visitors at the only home he ever owned; the second, on his artistic credos, the literary life, and a large array of comments on the writing, publication of, and critical reaction to Leaves of Grass; the third, focusing on his friends, admirers, idols, and lovers; the fourth and longest, presenting his no-holds-barred views on a variety of topics, including the American scene, race, religion, music, and even alcohol; and finally, a gathering of passages revealing Whitman's struggles with his infirmities, his poignant final days, and Traubel's observations on Whitman's deathbed scene and burial rites.
Whitman was the great poet of autobiography, and with this volume we gain entry into a most remarkable life in his own words. Whimsical and highly entertaining, poignant and moving, illuminating and candid, Intimate with Walt makes accessible the most amazing oral history project in all of American letters.
Table of Contents
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- Title Page
- p. iii
- Introduction
- pp. vii-xxxii
- Part One
- The Mickle Street Manage
- pp. 3-10
- Serendipity: Visitors and Vignettes
- pp. 11-22
- Walt on Walt
- pp. 23-32
- Walt on the Whitman Family
- pp. 33-38
- Walt on Images of Himself
- pp. 39-43
- Part Two
- Walt on the Literary Life
- pp. 62-68
- Before Leaves of Grass
- pp. 69-70
- About Leaves of Grass
- pp. 71-82
- Individual Poems and Sequences
- pp. 83-88
- Printing Leaves of Grass
- pp. 89-96
- Leaves of Grass and the Critics
- pp. 97-109
- Expurgation
- pp. 113-115
- Waning Powers
- pp. 116-119
- Part Three
- Avowal Letters
- pp. 123-131
- Walt and His Inner Circle
- pp. 132-140
- A Flaminger Soul: William Douglas O'Connor
- pp. 141-143
- Walt and His Boys
- pp. 147-153
- Walt's "Big Secret"
- pp. 154-157
- Part Four
- Views of America
- pp. 161-170
- Affection, Love, and Sex
- pp. 171-174
- The Woman Sex
- pp. 175-178
- Memories of Washington and the Secession War
- pp. 179-188
- Turned to a Generous Key: Abraham Lincoln
- pp. 189-192
- Famous Authors
- pp. 198-210
- Walt and the Bard
- pp. 211-215
- Sweet Magnetic Man: Ralph Waldo Emerson
- pp. 216-221
- Oxygenated Men and Women: Walt's Pantheon
- pp. 222-227
- Scoundrel Time
- pp. 228-232
- Ecclesiastic
- pp. 233-237
- Music, Opera, and Marietta
- pp. 238-242
- Bottoms Up
- pp. 243-246
- Walt's Way with Words
- pp. 247-249
- Walt on Various and Sundry
- pp. 256-266
- Part Five
- "A Voice from Death"- The Last Months
- pp. 276-280
- "The Last Mile Driven" -The End
- pp. 281-283
- "The Touch of Peace" -Mortuary
- pp. 284-289
- The Burial House at Harleigh Cemetery
- pp. 290-292
- The Last Hurrah: May 1919
- pp. 293-296
- Bibliographical Note
- pp. 311-312
Additional Information
ISBN
9781587293382
Related ISBN(s)
9780877457664, 9780877457671
DOI
MARC Record
OCLC
50321153
Pages
351
Launched on MUSE
2011-07-21
Language
English
Open Access
No
Copyright
2001