At 543 pages, reading this biography allowed me to learn everything I could have ever wished to know about E.E. Cummings and more. Sawyer-Laucanno had the unique opportunity of having full access to diaries, letters, drawings, and first versions of poems. By using these documents as a backdrop to the personal life of Cummings, Laucanno tells the turbulent and fascinating story of one of American culture's greatest poets.I think the most appealing part of this book is that it includes draft versions of the poems that are my favorite. The chance to see the poems exactly how Cummings first wrote them was engaging, as well as seeing several of his drawings and sketches (did you know he was also an accomplished artist?)
I should mention that I am certainly not a big fan of poetry. In fact, E.E. Cummings is the exception for me. His poetry is the only poetry that appeals to me. It is unpredictable and at the time that it was being published it was quite a slap in the face of traditional poets. His irreverence for tradition is yet another intriguing point about his life that I found in this biography. Much of his art and poetry was overtly sexual in nature, making many around him uncomfortable and even causing him to lose a few publishing deals.
What a great life to read about... his loves, travels, fears, family problems, friends, opinions... all are revealed in this book by Sawyer-Laucanno, who seems to have left no stone unturned. Other biographies of Cummings only scratch the surface of the amount of engrossing information there is to tell.
More to read:
Tulips and Chimneys (1938)
1 x 1 (1944)
XAIPE (1950)
Ninety Five Poems (1958)
Prose:
The Enormous Room (1922)
i, six nonlectures (1953)
Fairy Tales (1965)
3 comments:
I haven't had a lot of interaction with Cumming's work, but the little that I have read I've really enjoyed. He is clearly an influential writer and I'd be very interested to learn more about his life. I enjoy reading your blog because it gives me a glimpse at a range of books that I may not have time to read myself. There's just too much good stuff out there.
I once dated someone who was very much in love with cummings' work. He actually introduced me to this poet because he knew that I wrote/read/enjoyed poetry, and after that I went on a mad hunt for everything ee cummings I could get my hands on. I find it fascinating that he uses little to no punctuation and never capitalizes anything. One of my favorite quotes is actually from cummings. :)
Reading your review of this book revives the spark I once had for cummings, and after I get through school, I think I will look into this book. I would love to see the original poems as well as his artwork (because for all the digging about him I did, I never saw any of his sketches!).
I once dated someone who was very much in love with cummings' work. He actually introduced me to this poet because he knew that I wrote/read/enjoyed poetry. After that, I went on a mad search for everything cummings. I find it fascinating that he uses little to no punctuation and practically no capitalization. I think, aside from the content matter (sexual content of poetry is much more prevalent, especially in the "classics"), that his dramatic change of the American "grammar and punctuation" rules probably had a heavy influence on his tone and direction of the poetry.
I really love your review of this book, and after school is over, I plan on reading this book. Your review has revived the spark I once had for cummings, and one of my favorite quotes actually comes from him. I would love to read the information, but seeing the original drafts of the poems and his artwork are just intriguing alone!
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