Selected Letters of William Empson 1st Edition by John Haffenden (PDF)

Description

This edited collection of letters by William Empson (1906-1984), one of the foremost writers and literary critics of the twentieth century, ranges across the entirety of his career. Parts of the correspondence record the development of ideas that were to come to fruition in seminal texts including Seven Types of Ambiguity, The Structure of Complex Words, and Milton’s God. The topics of other letters range from Shakespeare’s Dark Lady to Marvell’s marriage and Byron’s bisexuality. Empson relished correspondence that was combative, if not downright aggressive. As a result, parts of this edition take the form of a serial disputation with other critics of the period, including Frank Kermode, Helen Gardner, Philip Hobsbaum, and I. A. Richards. Other notable correspondents include A. Alvarez, Bonamy Dobre, Leslie Fiedler, Graham Hough, C. K. Ogden, George Orwell, Kathleen Raine, John Crowe Ransom, Christopher Ricks, Laura Riding, A. L. Rowse, Stephen Spender, E. M. W. Tillyard,Rosemond Tuve, John Wain, and G. Wilson Knight. All readers of literary history and criticism will stand to benefit from this edition. Empson is universally credited as the man who “invented” modern literary criticism, so that all of his writings make a signal addition to the canon of his works. This selection provides a context for the evaluation of Empson’s total literary output; and in many letters Empson seeks to defend his ideas against both published and personal attacks. This volume not only fills in all the missing links, it adds up to a completely new volume of critical writings by Empson.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review “These letters give us more of the Empson we know from the prose, and like the prose they are a startling education in what reading can be, and why it might matter.”–London Review of Books”No collection of letters by any writer I’m aware of comes even close to matching these 50 years worth of continuing argument about literature, the criticism and teaching of which made up Empson’s life.”–Washinton Times”No collection of letters by any writer I’m aware of comes even close to matching these 50 years worth of continuing argument about literature, the criticism and teaching of which made up Empson’s life.”–Washinton Times”Few critics have done more for poetry than Empson (1906-1984); few have led stranger or more adventurous lives…. Empson’s travels make entertaining reading…. The main reason for reading Empson’s own writings is to see what he made of the authors he cherished. (He was the best reader Donne ever had.)… In an era when readers debate whether poetry matters, it helps to remember a man who defended it, and pursued his own arguments about it, even to the ends of the earth.”–New York Times Book ReviewUNEDITED UK REVIEW: “Review from previous edition These letters give us more of the Empson we know from the prose, and like the prose they are a startling education in waht reading can be, and why it might matter.”–London Review of BooksUNEDITED UK REVIEW: “No collection of letters by any writer I’m aware of comes even close to matching these 50 years worth of continuing argument about literature, the criticism and teaching of which made up Empson’s life”–Washinton TimesUNEDITED UK REVIEW: “this edition is authoritative. impeccable and very usable.”–Stefan Collini, Times Literary SupplementUNEDITED UK REVIEW: “Few critics have done more for poetry than Empson (1906-1984); few have led stranger or more adventurous lives…. Empson’s travels make entertaining reading…. The main reason for reading Empson’s own writings is to see what he made of the authors he cherished. (He was the best reader Donne ever had.)… In an era when readers debate whether poetry matters, it helps to remember a man who defended it, and pursued his own arguments about it, even to the ends of the earth.”–New York Times Book Review”To see a truly distinguished mind at war with faith, read this book.” –Adam Gopnik, NewYorker.com About the Author John Haffenden is a Professor of English Literature at the University of Sheffield.

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