Early Auden, later Auden : a critical biography / Edward Mendelson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mendelson, Edward, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Auden, W. H. (Wystan Hugh), 1907-1973--Criticism and interpretation.

Auden, W. H.

Auden, W. H. (Wystan Hugh), 1907-1973.

Criticism and interpretation.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

xiv, 895 pages ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, [2017]

Summary:

"Presented in one volume for the very first time, and updated with new archival discoveries, Early Auden, Later Auden reintroduces Edward Mendelson's acclaimed, two-part biography of W.H. Auden (1907-73), one of the greatest literary figures of the twentieth century. This book offers a detailed history and interpretation of Auden's oeuvre, spanning the duration of his career from juvenilia to his final works in poetry as well as theatre, film, radio, opera, essays, and lectures. Early Auden, Later Auden begins with Auden's emigration from England to the United States. The book follows the evolution of his thought, offering a comparison of the poet's views at various junctures over a lifetime. With penetrating insight, Mendelson examines Auden's early ideas, methods, and personal transitions as reflected in poems, manuscripts and private papers. The book then links changes in Auden's intellectual, emotional and religious experience with his shifting public role--showing the depth of his personal struggles with self and with fame, and the means by which these internal conflicts were reflected in his art in later years."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Early Auden

Introduction to Early Auden 3

Part 1 The Border and the Group (August 1927-May 1933)

I The Exiled Word 15

II The Watershed 36

III Family Ghosts 53

IV The Evolutionary Defile 69

V Trickster and Tribe 86

VI Private Places 115

VII Looking for Land 132

Part 2 The Two Worlds (June 1933-January 1939)

VIII Lucky This Point 151

IX The Great Divide 167

X The Insufficient Touch 196

XI Their Indifferent Redeemer 220

XII Parables of Action: 1 236

XIII Parables of Action: 2 257

XIV History to the Defeated 277

XV From This Island 297

Epilogue 325

Later Auden

Introduction to Later Auden 329

Part 1 Vision and After (1939-1947)

I Demon or Gift 339

II The Vision Enters 363

III Against the Devourer 389

IV Investigating the Crime 418

V It without Image 448

VI Imaginary Saints 471

VII The Absconded Vision 495

VIII The Murderous Birth 522

IX Asking for Neighborhood 557

Part 2 The Flesh We are (1948-1957)

X The Murmurs of the Body 589

XI Waiting for a City 615

XII The Great Quell 638

XIII Number or Face 664

XIV The Altering Storm 690

Part 3 Territorial (1958-1973)

XV Poet of the Encirclement 715

XVI The Air Changes 735

XVII This Time Final 755

XVIII The Concluding Carnival 783.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780691172491

0691172498

OCLC:

948560858