We recently learned about legendary poet Robert Frost’s favorite books, and were surprised to notice that only two of them were books of poetry (and neither a straight collection of the stuff, at that). Nevertheless, we were inspired by his recommendations, and since it’s National Poetry Month and all, we took to the Internet to find out what books of poetry other great poets were loving, recommending, and writing about. After the jump, a few favorite books name-checked by a few wonderful poets. What’s your favorite book of poetry? Let us know in the comments. … Read More
Emily Dickinson
The Fascinating, Handwritten Poems of Famous Authors
“Poets don’t draw. They unravel their handwriting and then tie it up again, but differently,” Jean Cocteau once said. When examining the handwritten poems of famous authors — those made popular by their texts and several famous for other art forms — there is an unparalleled intimacy that typed words cannot convey. Many of these poems were born from spontaneous bursts of creativity or late-night meditations, unsparing and instinctive in thought. Words are ostensibly silent, but these handwritten poems speak volumes about their creators. See what poets put pen to paper and revealed their inner worlds. … Read More
Read the First Poems of 10 Famous Poets
In conjunction with the recent publication of a new, gorgeous dual-language edition of The Collected Poems of Marcel Proust, this morning The Daily Beast shared the first poem ever written by Marcel Proust (as far as anyone knows). The poem, penned when the legendary author was a mere 17 years old, reflects his struggle with homosexuality and his blossoming talent. After the jump, read Proust’s debut poem and a collection of nine other of the earliest known verses of now famous poets. Did we miss your favorite? Let us know about it in the comments. … Read More
12 Beautiful Poems for Book Lovers
There are volumes of poetic tributes honoring love, nature, and even death, but books have frequently been a poet’s greatest muse. These deliciously meta verses reveal the magic, wisdom, and imagination that books offered each author — an intimate and endearing view most lovers of literature can relate to. We collected odes to books by 12 different writers who unabashedly shared their mutual adoration for the greatest form of the written word. Melt your heart with these literary verses, below. … Read More
10 Books That Could Save Your Life
This week marked the release of Reality Hunger author David Shields’ newest book, How Literature Saved My Life, a wonderfully meandering meditation on reading, writing, and the reason for art. In that spirit, we offer ten books that just might save your life — some which Shields mentions in his latest, some of which are our own favorites.… Read More
The Private Book Collections of 10 Famous Readers
Earlier this month, we stumbled across Carolyn Kellogg’s great article about Bernie Madoff’s book collection, parts of which are being sold slowly on eBay by the person who won Madoff’s books in an auction. Sure, the books someone has may not be as great an indicator of their personality as, er, some other things we know about them, but, nerds that we are, we tend to consider our libraries extensions of ourselves. So of course, we did a little digging, pouring through the collections of famous (or infamous) cultural icons and see what they were made of. After the jump, browse through our excerpts of the private libraries of everyone from Darwin to Houdini to Oprah, and draw your conclusions where you may. … Read More
A Survey of Emily Dickinson's Family Artifacts
Emily Dickinson is probably literature’s most notorious shut-in — after all, the woman didn’t leave her family compound for a full 20 years — so we’re always fascinated by the details of her strange and (we imagine) lonely life. Recently, we came across this collection of family artifacts from the Dickinson family estate, curated by Harvard University, and we’ve been poring over them ever since. Something about the fact that she never left the house lends her personal things a more meaningful tone — she spent every day surrounded by these things, and her experiences were so limited that we find ourselves looking for answers in every teacup. Click through to see a few of the most interesting objects from the Harvard College Library’s collection, and let us know your thoughts in the comments. … Read More
The Artist and the Critic: 8 Famous Author/Editor Relationships
This week, we were totally psyched to hear that Colin Firth and Michael Fassbender will be playing Thomas Wolfe and his legendary editor Max Perkins in a film adaption of A. Scott Berg’s National Book Award–winning account of their relationship, Max Perkins: Editor of Genius. And not just for all the Firth/Fassbender it means we’ll be getting. Inspired by this national nod towards an important literary relationship, we’ve rounded up a few other famous author/editor relationships to inspire both the critics and the scribblers among you. Read about them after the jump, and if we’ve missed your favorite, tell us the story in the comments. … Read More
Famous Last Words: 15 Authors’ Epitaphs
In this the spookiest of months, we find ourselves occupied with the world’s darker themes, and we got to wondering — what words have sent famous men and women of letters into the great unknown? Or perhaps more precisely, which words were chosen to honor them for eternity? From the tongue-in-cheek to the ponderously serious, from the knightly to the poetic, and even one that doubles as a grave robber’s curse, we’re fascinated by the epitaphs of famous authors, so we’ve collected a few of them here for your shivering pleasure.… Read More
The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories
1. The shortlist for the 2012 Man Booker Prize has been named, with Hilary Mantel’s critical darling Bring up the Bodies and Jeet Thayil’s awesome debut Narcopolis both making the cut. The winner will be announced at a dinner on October 16th. [via Largehearted Boy]
2. Here’s a way too brief… Read More
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