New Books:
My Kafka Century by Arielle Greenberg
First Boredom, Then Fear: The Life of Philip Larkin by Richard Bradford
--Isn’t that a great title for a book? I’m so jealous he stole it for a biography. I’d love to steal it for a book of poems.
Are folks out there reading Larkin? He’s one of the poets I keep in my back pocket. I need to know he’s out there. So far the biography’s good, if a bit stuffy. Look for my review in PW in like a month. (I know you won’t look for it, but it’ll be there if you happen to chance upon it.)
2 comments:
Dear old Uncle Phil. Funny, just this morning the opening stanza of "Annus Mirabilis" popped into my head on the subway for no good reason besides poetry. There was also that Motion bio of PL a few years back that, along with the first Collected, stirred up everything. I never read it, but I like Martin Amis's response to it/memoir of PL (who really sort of was MA's Uncle Phil) in the NYer some years back.
Yeah, I've shelved the motion bio in the back of my mind for a few years from now when I need to rekindle the little Larkin flame in my heart. Subways, sidewalks, and other public places where there are people to be bitter about are good places to think of Larkin.
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