Selected letters / Charles Olson ; edited by Ralph Maud.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Olson, Charles, 1910-1970

Contributor:

Maud, Ralph

Standardized Title:

Correspondence. Selections

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Olson, Charles, 1910-1970. Correspondence.

Olson, Charles.

Poets, American--20th century--Correspondence.

Poets, American.

Genre:

Correspondence.

Autobiographies.

Personal correspondence.

Physical Description:

xxxix, 493 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Berkeley, Calif. ; London : University of California Press, [2000]

Summary:

For Charles Olson, letters were not only a daily means of communication with friends but were at the same time a vehicle for exploratory thought. In fact, many of Olson's finest works, including Projective Verse and the Maximus Poems, were formulated as letters. Olson's letters are important to an understanding of his definition of the postmodern, and through the play of mind exhibited here we recognize him as one of the vital thinkers of the twentieth century.

In this volume, edited and annotated by Ralph Maud, we see Olson at the height of his powers and also at his most human. The nearly two hundred letters, selected from a known three thousand, demonstrate the wide range of Olson's interests and the depth of his concern for the future. Complementing the editions of his correspondence with Robert Creeley, Cid Corman, and Edward Dahlberg already in print, this volume seeks to offer a rounded picture of Olson. To this end, Maud includes letters to friends and loved ones, job and grant applications, letters of recommendation, and Black Mountain College business letters, as well as letters illuminating Olson's poetics. As we read through the letters, which span the years from 1931, when Olson was an undergraduate in college, to his death in 1970, a fascinating portrait of this complex poet and thinker emerges.

Contents:

Library Sources for the Charles Olson Letters in This Volume xxiii

A Chronology of Charles Olson's Life and Correspondence xxvii

1. To Charles Joseph Olson (1931) 3

2. To the Rhodes Scholarship Committee (1931) 5

3. To Wilbert Snow (1932) 9

4. To John Finch (1935) 12

5. To Barbara Denny (1936) 13

6. To Anne Bosshard (1936) 16

7. To Dorothy Norman (1938-1939) 21

8. To F. O. Matthiessen (1939) 24

9. To Carl Van Doren and Van Wyck Brooks (1940) 27

10. To Waldo Frank (1940) 29

11. To Constance Wilcock (1941) 30

12. To Homer and Viola Barrett (1941) 34

13. To the Office of Strategic Services (1942) 36

14. To Alfred Stieglitz (1945) 41

15. To Malcolm Cowley (1945) 41

16. To Oscar Lange (1945) 42

17. To William H. Tripp (1945) 44

18. To Winfred Overholser and Mary Rudge (1946) 47

19. To Robert Hannegan (1946) 49

20. To Ezra Pound (1946) 53

21. To Adam Kulikowski (1946) 55

22. To Ruth Benedict (1946) 57

23. To John Berryman (1947) 60

24. To Harvey Breit (1947) 63

25. To Eleanor and Harry Metcalf (1947) 64

26. To Douglas Fox (1947) 65

27. To Edward Dahlberg (1947) 67

28. To Monroe Engel (1947) 68

29. To Muriel Rukeyser (1947) 71

30. To the Guggenheim Foundation (1948) 72

31. To Ezra Pound (1948) 75

32. To the Western Playing Card Company (1948) 81

33. To Edward Dahlberg and Caresse Crosby (1948) 83

34. To Henry Murray (1948) 87

35. To Josef Albers (1948) 90

36. To Caresse Crosby and Robert Payne (1949) 92

37. To Kitue Kitasono (1949) 95

38. To Albert Erskine (1949) 96

39. To Ben Shahn (1949) 97

40. To Michael Lekakis (1949) 99

41. To Ray B. West (1950) 102

42. To Vincent Ferrini (1950) 105

43. To Robert Creeley (1950) 109

44. To Jay Leyda (1950) 112

45. To Robert Giroux (1950) 116

46. To Frances Boldereff (1950) 118

47. To Carl O. Sauer (1950) 119

48. To Cid Corman (1950) 121

49. To Rainer Gerhardt (1951) 124

50. To Robert Wauchope (1951) 131

51. To Fielding Dawson (1951) 132

52. To Stuart Z. Perkoff (1951) 134

53. To Ben Shahn and W. H. Ferry (1951) 136

54. To the Fulbright Committee (1951) 145

55. To Henry Murray (1951-1952) 147

56. To Frank Moore (1952) 158

57. To Merton Sealts (1952) 160

58. To Merce Cunningham (1952) 173

59. To Connie Olson (1952) 174

60. To Carl Jung (1952) 180

61. To Edgar Anderson (1953) 183

62. To Worcester Classical High School (1953) 184

63. To Jonathan Williams (1953) 186

64. To Paul Blackburn (1953) 190

65. To Bernard Kneiger (1953) 194

66. To Ronald Mason (1953) 197

67. To Frederick Merk (1953) 202

68. To Robert Duncan (1953) 206

69. To Irving Layton (1954) 217

70. To the Department of Public Instruction (1954) 220

71. To Gerald van de Wiele (1954) 223

72. To William Carlos Williams (1954) 224

73. To Vincent Ferrini (1954) 229

74. To Raymond Souster (1955) 233

75. To Larry Eigner (1956) 236

76. To Edward Marshall (1956) 237

77. To Ruth Witt-Diamant (1957) 239

78. To Robin Blaser (1957) 241

79. To Michael Rumaker (1957) 246

Lettrs VII

80. To Vincent Ferrini (1957) 251

81. To Betty Olson (1957) 252

82. To Philip Whalen (1957) 254

83. To Allen Ginsberg (1958) 258

84. To Gael Turnbull (1958) 261

85. To Elaine Feinstein (1959) 264

86. To John Wieners (1959) 266

87. To David Ignatow (1960) 267

88. To Michael McClure (1960) 271

89. To Gordon Cairnie (1960) 272

90. To Donald Allen (1960) 273

91. To Kenneth McRobbie (1960) 277

92. To Anselm Hollo (1960) 280

93. To Gilbert Sorrentino (1961) 281

94. To Alfred Mansfield Brooks (1961) 282

95. To Harry Levin (1962) 283

96. To Hank Chapin (1962) 285

97. To Florene Williams (1963) 286

98. To George Bowering (1963) 289

99. To Wesley Huss (1963) 292

100. To Robert Kelly (1963) 297

101. To Timothy Leary (1963) 298

102. To Eric Havelock (1963) 299

103. To Ralph Maud (1963) 300

104. To LeRoi Jones (1964) 304

105. To Mac Hammond (1964) 307

106. To Edward Van Aelstyn (1964) 308

107. To Robert Creeley and Vincent Ferrini (1964) 313

108. To Richard Sassoon (1964) 315

109. To Suzie Cardone (1964) 316

110. To Harvey Brown (1964) 317

111. To Harry Martin (1965) 319

112. To Edward Dorn (1965) 321

113. To Mary Shore and Vincent Ferrini (1965) 325

114. To Suzanne Mowat (1965) 326

115. To Albert Glover (1965) 331

116. To John Clarke (1965) 332

117. To Ralph Maud (1965) 335

118. To Andrew Crozier (1965) 336

119. To Albert Cook (1965) 337

120. To the Gloucester Daily Times (1965) 341

121. To Betty Smith (1965) 344

122. To Henry Rago (1966) 347

123. To Bruce Loder (1966) 349

124. To Lawrence Ferlinghetti (1966) 350

125. To John L. Sweeney (1966) 351

126. To Albert Glover (1966) 353

127. To Robert Hogg (1966) 357

128. To Frank Davey (1966) 359

129. To Ed Sanders (1966) 360

130. To Jeremy Prynne (1966) 361

131. To Edward Dorn (1966) 362

132. To Tom Raworth (1966) 364

133. To Constance Bunker (1966) 366

134. To Joyce Benson (1966) 368

135. To Walter Lowenfels (1966) 372

136. To Bill Berkson (1966) 373

137. To Pamela Millward (1966) 374

138. To Alan and Diane Marlowe (1966) 375

139. To Zoe Brown (1966) 376

140. To George Starbuck (1966) 377

141. To Kate Olson and Harvey Brown (1966) 381

142. To T. L. Kryss (1966) 383

143. To Robert Creeley (1966) 384

144. To Mary Shore (1967) 386

145. To Chad Walsh (1967) 387

146. To Harvey Brown (1967) 389

147. To Donald Sutherland (1967-1968) 390

148. To Martin Duberman (1967) 393

149. To Robert Duncan (1968) 396

150. To Joel Oppenheimer (1968) 398

151. To the Gloucester Daily Times (1968) 400

152. To George Butterick (1968) 402

153. To Thorpe Feidt (1968) 403

154. To Barry Hall (1968) 404

155. To Gordon Cairnie (1968) 407

156. To Joseph Garland (1968) 408

157. To Donald Allen (1968) 410

158. To Robert Creeley (1969) 415

159. To Anna Shaughnessy (1969) 415

160. To Barry Miles (1969) 419

161. To Kate Olson (1969) 420

162. To Frances Boldereff (1969) 421

163. To John and Mary Clarke (1969) 422

164. To James Laughlin (1969) 423

165. To Vincent Ferrini (1969) 425

166. To Donald Allen (1969) 425

167. To Joyce Benson (1969) 426

168. To Wilbert Snow (1969) 427

169. To Peter Anastas (1969) 428

170. To Harvey Brown (1969) 429

171. To Inga Loven (1969) 430

172. To Nimai Chatterji (1969) 431.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 433-448) and index.

ISBN:

0520205804

OCLC:

42475707