Selected Letters of John Gould Fletcher FROM THE PUBLISHER
John Gould Fletcher, the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and essayist, was a prolific correspondent who, during the course of his life, wrote hundreds of letters to such literary luminaries as Harriet Monroe, T. S. Eliot, Amy Lowell, Conrad Aiken, H. D., John Crowe Ransom, Allen Tate, and Donald Davidson. Because he was prominent in both the Imagist and Fugitive-Agrarian groups, Fletcher's letters offer a unique insight into the many crosscurrents and personalities that characterize the Modernist movement. Included here are also letters that shed light on the composition of Fletcher's own works, on his influential theories of poetry and poetics, and on the many conflicts and conjunctions that arose between Fletcher and his contemporaries in the course of a writing career that spanned nearly four decades. Leighton Rudolph's introduction to this astutely selected correspondence presents a valuable overview of Fletcher's life. With this volume, the entire John Gould Fletcher Series from the University of Arkansas Press is completed.
FROM THE CRITICS
Library Journal
A fascinating minor figure, Arkansas-born Fletcher (1886-1950) led two poetic lives: first as an Imagist in England and then as an Agrarian in the United States. This is the last of a seven-volume series of his work that includes a biography, an autobiography, and selected works. Of some 1800 letters, only 137 are represented here, but it is easy to see why: Fletcher was a fussy writer, and his letters do tend to go on. He treated his friends to the kind of trenchant criticism made tolerable by the meticulousness that is one hallmark of true friendship, whereas his enemies bore the special wrath that comes only from someone who has always thought himself right; both sides were subject to tirades against well-meaning fools in general and Ezra Pound in particular. Ultimately, Fletcher's king-sized personality transcends his slight status as a writer; he is as much fun as the irascible guest you want to encounter at someone else's party but never at your own. For literature collections.-David Kirby, Florida State Univ., Tallahassee
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