With Robert Lowell and His Circle: Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Elizabeth Bishop, Stanley Kunitz & Others by Kathleen Spivack (PDF)

Description

In 1959 Kathleen Spivack won a fellowship to study at Boston University with Robert Lowell. Her fellow students were Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton, among others. Thus began a relationship with the famous poet and his circle that would last to the end of his life in 1977 and beyond. Spivack presents a lovingly rendered story of her time among some of the most esteemed artists of a generation. Part memoir, part loose collection of anecdotes, artistic considerations, and soulful yet clear-eyed reminiscences of a lost time and place, hers is an intimate portrait of the often suffering Lowell, the great and near great artists he attracted, his teaching methods, his private world, and the significant legacy he left to his students. Through the story of a youthful artist finding her poetic voice among literary giants, Spivack thoughtfully considers how poets work. She looks at friendships, addiction, despair, perseverance and survival, and how social changes altered lives and circumstances. This is a beautifully written portrait of friends who loved and lived words, and made great beauty together. A touching and deeply revealing look into the lives and thoughts of some of the most influential artists of the twentieth century, With Robert Lowell and His Circle will appeal to writers, students, and thoughtful literary readers, as well as to scholars.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review “Spivack records Lowell’s mix of generosity and obliviousness that endeared him to writer friends and students. . . . [Her] portrait offers a window on a man, a city, and a method for anyone not lucky enough to have taken part in those times.”—Valerie Duff, The Boston Globe“I devoured the book in one sitting; it’s extraordinarily evocative of the poet and his time. Thank you so much for writing it.”—Don Share, Senior Editor, Poetry Magazine“A passsionate, unpretentious and carefully documented memoir in which the main character is not a poet—although the book is full of lively sketches of writers—but the practice of poetry itself. We see the intensity and sheer everyday labor, with insight into the particular impact of the period on women writers.”—StreetFeet“Spivack’s portrait offers a window on a man, a city, and a method for anyone not lucky enough to have taken part in those times.”—Boston Globe“Spivack writes feelingly about the plight of the female poet in those days… Grateful to count most of these people as friends, she writes about them with an almost girlish enthusiasm.”—Washington Post”Reporting her impressions with warmth and wit, she tells of Lowell’s kindness, his intense commitment to poetry, his encouragement of other writers, and of some of his well-known shortcomings (especially behaviors associated with his manic depression). . . . A tone of genuine but not reverential affection predominates throughout the book, and Spivack’s demystification of popular associations of genius and madness is particularly welcome. . . .Recommended.”—Choice”Though the term circle might describe any group of people connected by a shared interest, it seems especially apt in its suggestion of gravity, or centripetal force, when referring to Lowell’s influence. Only an artist capable of sharing considerable gifts of expert advice and friendship could have drawn so many talented young writers, future influences themselves, to the “deep gloom” of Boston for so many years. Kathleen Spivack’s retracing of her own orbital path offers an engaging, heartfelt evocation of an uncommonly rich period in the history of American poetry.”—American Book Review”This book is absorbing and alive, human and compelling . . . the best memoir yet about Robert Lowell.”―Steven Gould Axelrod, University of California, Riverside”A portrait [of Lowell] that serves to define his role as poet and teacher in fresh and significant ways . . . This is a memoir that will make an impact right away and that will be referred to by scholars, readers and biographers for many years to come.”―Thomas Travisano, Hartwick College Review “This book is absorbing and alive, human and compelling . . . the best memoir yet about Robert Lowell.” (Steven Gould Axelrod, University of California, Riverside)“A portrait [of Lowell] that serves to define his role as poet and teacher in fresh and significant ways . . . This is a memoir that will make an impact right away and that will be referred to by scholars, readers and biographers for many years to come.” (Thomas Travisano, Hartwick College) About the Author KATHLEEN SPIVACK is an award-winning writer, the author of seven previous books of poetry and prose. She teaches in Boston and Paris. Read more

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Kathleen Spivack is present at much of the Harvard days of poets. She is right there with Robert Lowell, as he strides into the classroom with Anne Sexton in one chair and Sylvia Path in the other.The book is a personnel account of the glory days of the 50’s and verges on the tell all. If you are interested in what Robert Lowell was like in class as a teacher and as a friend, I highly recommend this book to you.

⭐With Robert Lowell and His Circle bursts with the energy of being young and creative. It glows with the presence of some of the greatest American poets, including Lowell, Plath, Sexton, Rich, Bishop, and Bidart. It also displays the unpretentious, funny, savvy voice of Kathleen Spivack. That interplay between Spivack and the amazing poets she became friends with, described in an accessible yet poetic style, drives the narrative forward. The book is a pleasure journey of good stories and unfolding insights. It is also the story of Spivack herself, growing up in this company, becoming her own person, and becoming a poet on her own terms.This is the best memoir yet about Robert Lowell. Unlike Sarah Payne Stuart’s nicely written My First Cousin Once Removed, this book is written by someone who knew Lowell well and understood what his poetry was about. Unlike Richard Tillinghast’s excellent Robert Lowell’s Life and Work: Damaged Grandeur, this book does not incorporate academic critique. And unlike the many brief memoirs published in journals and collections, this memoir is a sustained narrative. Spivack tells more about Lowell than does any previous memoirist. Moreover, this is a memoir not only of Lowell but of an age. Plath, Sexton, Bishop, Kunitz, and Rich appear and reappear, sometimes according with the picture we previously had of them but often in a new light.I was particularly struck by the portrait of Plath. Before now, such portraits have been written by her friends or enemies, but here she is described by an acquaintance, and we see the face Plath presented to those who did not know her well—reserved, pent-up, inward, and ambitious. It’s a face we really haven’t seen before. It’s an absorbing, vivid portrayal. The portrait of Sexton is equally distinguished. It accords very well with my own memories of the poet—her talent and beauty intermixed with her despair. And the portrait of Lowell is detailed, complex, and fascinating.Spivack’s book has exactly what one wants in a memoir: specifics, a good story well told, an observant eye, a witty yet emotionally rich speaking voice. It is more than a record of a significant creative movement in American letters. It is also a late, unexpected example of the art that movement produced—a candid, sympathetic, perceptive recreation of a key moment in American literary history. Anyone interested in poetic genius and celebrity will have a hard time putting it down.

⭐The comment about With Robert Lowell and His Circle being very repetitive is accurate. It seems that with a good editor, this book might have been trimmed down and cleaned up to be an excellent book. Nevertheless, if you are interested in someone who has had first-hand experience with Lowell, Plath, Sexton, Bishop, et al, this is a valuable book to read. I particularly enjoyed the settings and context; these are important details so often overlooked in favor of the drama of these “confessional” poets. Spivack was witness to a very important time in American poetry when a new voice would rise up against both the old classical form and the trendy beatniks. A poet and Sylvia Plath scholar/writer myself, I went into this book to find new information on Plath (and I got some), but I also very much enjoyed learning about the other writers and their influences upon each other.

⭐If you want an autobiography of Kathleen Spivack, then this is a good book for you. If you wanted to learn anything about Robert Lowell,Anne Sexton,Sylvia Plath, or Elizabeth Bishop you will be greatly disappointed. The title of this book is very misleading the author writes basically about herself and her own feelings not about this subject the title implies. There are too many other good books out there dealing with these poets to waste your money on this one.

⭐I simply love it! Didn’t know anything about Kathleen Spivack but did study Lowell, Plath, Rich, Bishop and Sexton during my college days. They still remain my favorites. Kathleen Spivack has been a wonderful find for me which leads me to read all her works. Thank you Kathleen for making me read again!

⭐As the author of Not at All What One Is Used To, the biography of Robert Lowell’s cousin, poet Isabella Gardner, I am very interested in books about mid-century poets and poetry. I loved this one: very atmospheric, very personal and touching.

⭐This book is very accurate and a wonderful ride through a time and place that was quite special. It’s really a collection of essays and vignettes that convey the flavor of a unique moment in literary history. Enjoy it!

⭐You’ll nowhere else get so many personal glimpses of Lowell and Plath and Sexton before they became national myths. Spivack was in class with Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton, and for complicated reasons became a regular visitor at Lowell’s households. She gives us a very complete sense of the era (almost a character in itself) and adds essential information to our understanding of the poets.

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