First Boredom, Then Fear

First Boredom, Then Fear PDF Author: Richard Bradford
Publisher: Peter Owen Publishers
ISBN: 9780720613254
Category : Poets, English
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
When Philip Larkin's "letters" were published in 1992, the poet's enemies seized on the new disclosures with a frenzy unseen since the McCarthy era. What had previously been regarded only as potential inclination hinted at in his poems--misogyny and xenophobia in particular--were now indisputable facts, and since then Larkin's reputation as a poet has been tarnished by his image as a human being. Richard Bradford's acclaimed biography, now in paperback for the first time, reveals that Larkin treated his prejudices and peculiarities with detached circumspection. Sometimes he shared them, self-mockingly, self-destructively, with his closest friends. He divided up his life so that some people knew him well but none completely, and it was only in his poems that the parts began to resemble the whole.

First Boredom, Then Fear

First Boredom, Then Fear PDF Author: Richard Bradford
Publisher: Peter Owen Publishers
ISBN: 9780720613254
Category : Poets, English
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
When Philip Larkin's "letters" were published in 1992, the poet's enemies seized on the new disclosures with a frenzy unseen since the McCarthy era. What had previously been regarded only as potential inclination hinted at in his poems--misogyny and xenophobia in particular--were now indisputable facts, and since then Larkin's reputation as a poet has been tarnished by his image as a human being. Richard Bradford's acclaimed biography, now in paperback for the first time, reveals that Larkin treated his prejudices and peculiarities with detached circumspection. Sometimes he shared them, self-mockingly, self-destructively, with his closest friends. He divided up his life so that some people knew him well but none completely, and it was only in his poems that the parts began to resemble the whole.

Philip Larkin Poems

Philip Larkin Poems PDF Author: Philip Larkin
Publisher: Faber & Faber
ISBN: 0571271766
Category : Poetry
Languages : en
Pages : 121

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Book Description
For the first time, Faber publish a selection from the poetry of Philip Larkin. Drawing on Larkin's four collections and on his uncollected poems. Chosen by Martin Amis. 'Many poets make us smile; how many poets make us laugh - or, in that curious phrase, "laugh out loud" (as if there's another way of doing it)? Who else uses an essentially conversational idiom to achieve such a variety of emotional effects? Who else takes us, and takes us so often, from sunlit levity to mellifluous gloom?... Larkin, often, is more than memorable: he is instantly unforgettable.' - Martin Amis

First Boredom, Then Fear

First Boredom, Then Fear PDF Author: Richard Bradford
Publisher: Peter Owen Publishers
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
"The trajectory of his poetic writing was influenced principally by his friendship with Kingsley Amis. Without Larkin Amis's imensely successful first novel, Lucky Jim, would not have been written. Its success caused Larkin finally to abandon his own ambitions as a novelist, to concentrate exclusively on his poetry, and his poetry would thereafter become his autobiography. Larkin's poetry is in its own right magnificent, and readers of Bradford's biography will be able to extend their appreciation of his art to an acquaintance with the artist at work."--Jacket.

Jazz Writings

Jazz Writings PDF Author: Philip Larkin
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1441117881
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
Philip Larkin (1922-85) was not only one of the foremost English poets of the twentieth century, but also a notable novelist and a distinguished writer on jazz. He was jazz critic for The Daily Telegraph between 1961 and 1971. Jazz Writings brings together Larkin's reviews, articles and essays written for The Guardian, The Observer, The New Statesman, and numerous other publications.

Philip Larkin

Philip Larkin PDF Author: James Booth
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1408851679
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 815

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Book Description
_______________ 'Superb ... Booth's psychology is subtler than Motion's and more convincing' - Peter J. Conradi, Spectator 'Booth's diligence is unquestionable and even readers who think they know the poems will see nuances they had previously missed ... should render further attention by biographers superfluous for several years' - Guardian 'Those of us who never warmed to Larkin the man or poet, will have our aversions challenged by this sympathetic but different account of his life and work' - Independent _______________ A fascinating and controversial study of Philip Larkin's world and how it bled into his work, James Booth's biography is a unique insight into the man whose life and art have been misunderstood for too long Philip Larkin was that rare thing among poets: a household name in his own lifetime. Lines such as 'Never such innocence again' and 'Sexual intercourse began / In nineteen sixty-three' made him one of the most popular poets of the last century. Larkin's reputation as a man, however, has been more controversial. A solitary librarian known for his pessimism, he disliked exposure and had no patience with the literary circus. And when, in 1992, the publication of his Selected Letters laid bare his compartmentalised personal life, accusations of duplicity, faithlessness, racism and misogyny were levelled against him. There is, of course, no requirement that poets should be likeable or virtuous, but James Booth asks whether art and life were really so deeply at odds with each other. Can the poet who composed the moving 'Love Songs in Age' have been such a cold-hearted man? Can he who uttered the playful, self-deprecating words 'Deprivation is for me what daffodils were for Wordsworth' really have been so boorish? A very different public image is offered by those who shared the poet's life: the women with whom he was romantically involved, his friends and his university colleagues. It is with their personal testimony, including access to previously unseen letters, that Booth reinstates a man misunderstood: not a gaunt, emotional failure, but a witty, provocative and entertaining presence, delightful company; an attentive son and a man devoted to the women he loved. Meticulously researched, unwaveringly frank and full of fresh material, Philip Larkin: Life, Art and Love definitively reinterprets one of our greatest poets.

Somebodies and Nobodies

Somebodies and Nobodies PDF Author: Brian Turner
Publisher: Penguin Random House New Zealand Limited
ISBN: 1775531597
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 480

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Book Description
Honest and insightful, this memoir is a revealing picture of our recent past, of sport and poetry, the spirit of New Zealand's south and its distinctive people. This is the story of a typical Dunedin childhood, surrounded by 'nobies' - an extended family of eccentric grandparents and uncles, cousins and neighbours - who made a huge impact on a young mind. It's also the story of a not-so-typical family that was fanatical about sport - cycling, hockey, cricket, golf, fishing - and went on to produce top-ranking sportsmen. It's also the story of the growth of one of New Zealand's most loved poets. It shows three boys who became somebodies, but no better nor worse than the nobodies who inspired them. This is Brian Turner's view of the world: the landscape and people he was surrounded by; the principles he was taught; his sporting achievements; the early development of his brothers; his time moving between jobs as distinct as rabbiting in Central Otago and working in Customs; and his entry into the world of books.

High Windows

High Windows PDF Author: Philip Larkin
Publisher: Faber & Faber Poetry
ISBN: 9780571260140
Category : English poetry
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Re-packaged in the much-loved Faber typographic look.

A History of Modern Poetry

A History of Modern Poetry PDF Author: David Perkins
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674399471
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 712

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Book Description
This study of British and American poetry from the mid-1920s to the recent past, clarifies the complex interrelations of individuals, groups, and movements, and the contexts in which the poets worked.

On Not Being Someone Else

On Not Being Someone Else PDF Author: Andrew H. Miller
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674238087
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
A captivating book about the emotional and literary power of the lives we might have lived had our chances or choices been different. We each live one life, formed by paths taken and untaken. Choosing a job, getting married, deciding on a place to live or whether to have children—every decision precludes another. But what if you’d gone the other way? It can be a seductive thought, even a haunting one. Andrew H. Miller illuminates this theme of modern culture: the allure of the alternate self. From Robert Frost to Sharon Olds, Virginia Woolf to Ian McEwan, Jane Hirshfield to Carl Dennis, storytellers of every stripe write of the lives we didn’t have. What forces encourage us to think this way about ourselves, and to identify with fictional and poetic voices speaking from the shadows of what might have been? Not only poets and novelists, but psychologists and philosophers have much to say on this question. Miller finds wisdom in all these sources, revealing the beauty, the power, and the struggle of our unled lives. In an elegant and provocative rumination, he lingers with other selves, listening to what they say. Peering down the path not taken can be frightening, but it has its rewards. On Not Being Someone Else offers the balm that when we confront our imaginary selves, we discover who we are.

Philip Larkin: Letters to Monica

Philip Larkin: Letters to Monica PDF Author: Philip Larkin
Publisher: Faber & Faber
ISBN: 0571264611
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 435

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Book Description
Philip Larkin met Monica Jones at University College Leicester in autumn 1946, when they were both twenty-four; he was the newly-appointed assistant librarian and she was an English lecturer. In 1950 Larkin moved to Belfast, and thence to Hull, while Monica remained in Leicester, becoming by turns his correspondent, lover and closest confidante, in a relationship which lasted over forty years until the poet's death in 1985. This remarkable unpublished correspondence only came to light after Monica Jones's death in 2001, and consists of nearly two thousand letters, postcards and telegrams, which chronicle - day by day, sometimes hour by hour - every aspect of Larkin's life and the convolutions of their relationship.