david hayman_beckett: a reluctant sitter
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7/21/2019 David Hayman_Beckett: A Reluctant Sitter
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Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia by and on Behalf of the University of Georgia and the
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Review: Beckett: A Reluctant SitterAuthor(s): David Hayman
Review by: David HaymanSource: The Georgia Review, Vol. 33, No. 1, Focus on the Imagination (Spring 1979), pp. 221-227Published by: Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia by and on Behalf of theUniversity of Georgia and the Georgia ReviewStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41397706Accessed: 12-05-2015 23:53 UTC
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7/21/2019 David Hayman_Beckett: A Reluctant Sitter
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BOOK
REVIEWS
221
don.
In
this
ase,
footnoting,
ather
han
mitation,
may
be
the
sincerest
orm
of
flattery.
One
thing
s clear:
given
the
widespread popularity
f
America
Hu-
mor,
more will-
and
should-
be
written.
n
fact,
here
may
even
come
a time
when such work can
skip
the
obligatory apologies."
And
yet,
that
combi-
nation
of
scholarly ntelligence
nd
a
congenial pirit
which
produced
books
like
Franklin
J.
Meine's
Tall Tales
of
Southwest
(1930)
or
Constance
Rourke's
American Humor
(
193
or Walter Blair's
Native
American
Hu-
mor
(1937)
will still seem rare
and
precious.
As
a
literary
history,
t
once
overview
and
synthesis,
America's
Humor
belongs
to that
distinguished
company.
David
Hayman
Beckett:
A
Reluctant
Sitter
*
Samuel
Beckett has
become
almost
the
emblem
of
the writer
n
retreat,
making
withdrawal
he dominant
eature
f
texts
which
have
progressively
obliterated
hemselves.
Being
a
private
person,
he
has
raised
solation
o new
heights
s
a
value.
Inevitably,
s in
the case
of
Howard
Hughes,
the
assertion
of
privacy
has elicited
n
ever-increasing
mount
of
curiosity
nd
interest
n
the
life
and
background
of
the
man
who
has
generated
exts
which
to
so
many
of us seem
as
deeply personal
s
they
are
personally
moving.
t
is
per-
hapsalso
inevitable
hat
a
biography
has been
written
which
airs
the
secrets
of therecluse and thatthat
biography
has attracted n unusualamountof
public
nterest.
Like
Joyce
before
him,
but
with
less
interested
motives
(for
Joyce
needed
and
soughtpublicity
or his
demanding
works),
Beckett
has tried
to
forestall
biografiends."
e
has acceded
to
the
requests
f
Lawrence
Harvey
for
background
nformation
eeded
to
explain
his
early
writings,
rovided
bibliographical
etails
for Federman
and
Fletcher's
annotated
bibliography,
and
helped
Ludovic
Janvier
o assemble
his
Beckett
par
lui-même
As
might
be
expected,
he
has
(privately)
praised
Janvier
for
not
publishing
ll he
*
An
essay-review
f
SamuelBeckett:A Biography.yDeirdre air.NewYork:HarcourtraceJovano-
vich,
978.
iv,
36
pp.
$19.95.
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222 THE
GEORGIA REVIEW
knew,
an
action
surely
worthy
of
respect.
On
the
other
hand,
he has
con-
sistently
efused
o
give
nterviews r
to
make
public appearances,
as avoided
all
sorts f
publicity
nd mixedwith the
world
only
on
his
own terms.This
is
amply
documented
by
the book
under
consideration,
s
is
the
pain
caused
Beckett
by
untoward
publicity.
One
might
think
hat these
procedures
nd
that
anguish
would at the
very
east
protect
him
until
after
his
death. But
thanks
o
the
indefatigable
Deirdre
Bair,
we now
have before
us
a
bulky
biography
oaded with
answers
to all
the
questions
we didn't
dare
ask
and
some
we never
even
thought
f.
No
matterhow
we
may
regard
the
invasionof
privacy
(one
might
call
it
investigativeeportage)or rather he abuse of good will suggestedby Ms.
Bair's
procedures
by
now so
well
publicized
hat
they
need
not
be
recapitu-
lated),
we
must
agree
thatthisbook
contributes
significantly
o our knowl-
edge
of
the man
and
even
lluminates
ome
aspects
of
his
work.
It
is
usually
wise
to
discount
by
fifty
ercent
biographers'
laims as
purveyors
f
light
to
purblind
critics,
but
certainly
Beckett's
agonizing
relationship
with a
powerful
mother,
ogether
with
the
psychosomatic
llnesses
nd the
psycho-
analysis
hatwere
its
classic side
effects,
hrow
nto
sharp
relief ertain
par-
ticularly
ark
corners
f
his minor
prose.
They
also affect ur
reading
f
the
Beckett
canon
and
will
probably
timulate
more
people
to
read further
nd
deeper.
If
this s
hardly
he
flawless
work
announced
by
the
critics ited
on the
dust jacket,we mustremember hatthe authormakesno claimsto
being
definitive.
One
of
my
colleagues
alls
thisbook
"materials
or
biography.")
Given the
reticenceof
her
subject,
who
apparently
ranted
her
few
inter-
views
and was
at
no
pains
to
supplement
he
information
supplied
by
those
of
his
friends nd
relations
willing
to
cooperate,
we
may
wonder
that there
are
so
few
obvious
acunae
and
so
little
padding.
On the
other
hand,
much
credit
must
be
shared
with
Beckett,
whose
letters
o
Thomas
McGreevy
enliven
he core
of
the
book,
especially
the
treatment f the
troubled
pre-
fame
years
and
Beckett's
reactions
o the
encroachment
f
fame.
McGreevy
was
a man to
whom
Beckett
felt
ttuned,
nd
Ms. Bair
had access
to
the
en-
tire
correspondence
f
over
three
hundred
etters
which
she
freely
quotes
and frequently araphrases. n many cases, these splendidlettersparallel
Beckett's
creative
writings,
or
he
transfers
passages
from
hem
nto
his
fic-
tion
and
drama,
from
he
briefest
image
and
scantiest
phrase
to
whole
para-
graphs.
Reading
these
xtracts nd
knowing
how
Beckett
manages
o
include
memorable
nd
characteristic
tterances
n
even
the
briefest
ard,
one
can't
help
looking
forward o
the
day
when
these
etters
will
be
available
n
their
entirety.
What,
we
may
ask
rhetorically,
oes
one
expect?
What
can
one
expect
from
literary
iography
oday?
How
does this
effort
measure
up
to
such
expectations?
A
biography
hould
obviously give
us fresh
nformation
nd
insights
n
and
into
the
subject's
background,
youth,
education,
contacts,
and
development.
t
shouldalso settheworkwithin hecontextof the life,illuminate heir
nteraction.
Ideally,
as
Joyce put
it,
a
biographicalportrait
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BOOK
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223
should
describe
the
life
n
termsof "the
curve
of an
emotion,"
giving
the
reader
a keen sense
of the
vitality
behind the works without
freezing
he
subject
or
undercutting
onsistency
f
character.
A
literary iography
need
not
be
dull,
but
t
should
not
be
sensational,
ournalistic,
r
trendy.
t
should
neither
iminish or
magnify
ts
subject.
On
the whole
Bair
does
well,
though
we
may
fault
herfor occasional
slips
nto
sensationalism
nd
for certain
jour-
nalistic ics. Her Beckett s neither
giant,
nor
dwarf.
He
is
vulnerable,
hu-
mane,
gentle,
agonizing,
demanding,
ronic,
generous,
withdrawn:
he
is
a
multiple,
protean
but
remarkably
powerful
ndividual.
The
events
of
his
life
fade
nto
the
background
n
the
presence
f
a
striking
nd
sustained
pres-
ence. In short, heBeckett
of this
portrait ends
to
confirm
he
Beckett
of
the creativework.
I
refer,
f
course,
not
so much
to the
interpretations
f
that
work
by
Bair
as to the assessments
ne
can make
as a careful
ritical
ead-
er,
ssessments
hat
have
been
made
even
by
critics
whom
Bair
consistently
e-
jects.
More
than
ever,
t is clear that
the
powerful
mpression
eadersderive
is
generatedby
powerful mpulses
n
Beckett's
ife.
t does
not
follow
that
we
as critics
and readers
really
need
to know the
precise
sources
of this
power,
but
still
t
is nice
to
have
specific
details
related
to
biographical
n-
formationwhich would
otherwise emain
privileged.
To
return
o
our
list
of
requirements,
biography
hould
be accurate
in
its
details nd
careful
n its
judgments.
Here,
as
we shall
see,
Bair's
book
falls
omewhat,
f
not
catastrophically,
hort.
Beckett readers have hitherto ad only the barestoutlineof his back-
ground
and next
to
nothing
bout
his
family.
What we
now
have
is a
spec-
tacular
and
disturbing
ccount that has
already
made
more
than
one critic
nervous. Bair
gives
us
a
profile
of
an Irish
Protestant
household
with
an
ebullient
atherwho
encouraged
his
sons
to
develop
their
bodies
and
a
rather
starchy
mother
with whom
an
"incompletely
orn" Beckett
had a
painfully
prolonged
ove-hate
relationship.
he otherwise
healthy
nd athletic
young
man was
subject
to
neuroticbouts
and
psychosomatic
maladies
hat
Bair be-
lieves
to
have stemmed
rom hat
relationship.
n
the
early
thirties
e
under-
went
psychoanalytic
reatment
with
only
moderate
uccess.
(It
was
prob-
ably
at
this ime hathe
acquired
the
knowledge
of Freud
and
Jung
reflected
in thenovels.) Throughit all he remained remarkably ood if distant nd
recalcitrant
on.
Were it
not
for
the extreme
eactions,
ne
might
ay
that
all of
this
s
normal nd
that
any
one
of
us
might
have ived
the same
ife
with
minor ariations. uch
equations
ome too
easily
nd
perhaps
ead
us
too
far,
but
given
the
ntensity
f
Beckett's
experience,
suggestive
arallel
between
a mother-ridden eckett
and
a
father-ridden
afka
springs
to mind.
The
affinity
etween
theirworks
and
visionshas
not
escaped
critical
notice,
nd
we
may
also note
certain
parallel
character
raits.
Bair chronicles
n
great
detail the
familial
onds
that,
even
in his
exile,
Becketthas
maintained
hroughout
he
years-
bonds
that
may
find
heir
or-
relatives
n
certain
aspects
of
his
plays
and
novels.
There
is,
for
example,
his
prolongedattachment orhisbohemiancousinPeggy Sinclair,who figures
as the Smeraldina
n
More
Pricks
Than
Kicks
And there
s
his
uncle
Jim,
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224
THE GEORGIA REVIEW
man who lost
his
legs,
his
sight,
nd the use of
his arms to
diabetes
but re-
tained
his
wit
and
cheerful
disposition
ill
he
died.
Beckett was
so
attached
to
this
uncle
that
(though
the
trip
s not mentioned
by
Bair),
he claims he
traveled o
Dublin
for his
funeral.
Perhaps
he was also
fascinated
by
the
ter-
rible
way
life
has
of
imitating
rt. Of
equal
interest,
ecause
equally
fresh,
is
the
account of how
he
spent
the war
years,
he
modesty
with which
he
downplayed
his
heroism,
nd
the
consistency
f his
motives
n
behaving
s
he did.
In
fact,
consistency
n
and
through
omplexity
runs
like
a
thread
throughout
his
portrait.
eckett
has
been
utterly
onsistent
ut
of
a
pro-
found
need to
be
true
to
himself.
his
is evident
lso
in the
account of his
relationship ithhiswifeSuzanne,whichbegan after hewriterwas sense-
lessly
knifed
by
a
pimp
n
Paris.
According
to Bair
(but
not
to
others)
t
has
remained
curiously
eparate-but-equal
rrangement
ver
since.
Consistency
is
also
evident
n
the
account
of
Beckett's
comic/tragic
elationship
with
James
Joyce
nd his
daughter
ucia. The
information
suppliedby
Bair
could
supplement
hat
n
Ellmann's
biography
nd
fill n lacunae
n
the
correspon-
dence.
Unfortunately,
s we
shall
see,
ts
value
is
diminished
by
errors
which
are
bound to
suggest
aveats.
Finally,
n
addition o a
careful
accounting
of
Beckett's
writing,
here
s
a
useful
and
enlightening
iecing
together
f ac-
counts
of
his
oversight
f
productions
f
his
plays.
Once
again
we
are struck
by
the
picture
of
a
surprisingly
elf-assuredman
demanding
of
actors
the
ultimate
against-the-grain
ffort
o
repress
much
of
their
training
n
the
ser-
vice of eccentricbut
powerful
dramatic ffects.n short, hereare
plenty
of
good
things
n
this
book,
and
no
Beckett
enthusiast
r
scholar
can
afford
not
to
read
it.
This
having
been
said,
we
must
also note
some
flaws.
Throughout
the
book,
but
particularly
fter
he
etters
o
McGreevy
have
dried
up,
the
read-
er
gets
whiffs
f the
dissertation
pox,
traces
of the
card
file
generating
re-
quently
boring
catalogues
of
facts
Beckett's
trips,
visits
home,
the
medical
problems
f
both
Beckett
nd
Suzanne,
his
visits
rom
reland,
ontacts
with
relatives,
tc.).
These
are
occasionally
fleshed
ut
with
dubious
passages
of
mind-reading
hich
could
only
be
justified
f
backed
up by
correspondence.
Since
Bair's
sources of
information or
the
recent
years
have
been
meager,
however, largechunkofthebook is veryaridreading, ontainingittle r
nothing
hat
lluminates he
human
situation.And
since
this
happens
to
be
the
period
during
which
scholars
nd
criticshave
had
the
most
to do
with
Beckett,
am
certain
that
much
was lost
because
the
author
failed to
ap-
proach-or
got
no
help
from-many
of
Beckett's
academic
friends
nd
ac-
quaintances:
cholars
ike
Raymond
Federman,
Richard
Ellmann
(who
gets
rough
treatmentn
these
pages),
and
Hugh
Kenner
whose
work
s
obliquely
rejected).
There
is
throughout
his
biography
an
antiacademic
bias
which
may
stem
from an
avowed
distrust
f
critical
approaches
which
lack
the
biog-
rapher's
nside
view.
Yet,
one
wonders
why
those
of
them
who
have
had
real
contact
with the author'ssubject,even thosewho may not have hadBeckett's ealof
approval,
would
not
add
something
o
this
ccount
and con-
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BOOK REVIEWS
225
tribute ubstance o the
concluding
hapters.
No
available
opportunity
hould
have been
neglected
o
bring
the
recent
years
to
life.
t is
curious
that,
ike
Richard
Ellmann
to
whose
biography
f
Joyce
this book
has
been
perhaps
hyperbolically
ompared),
Ms.
Bair
is
weakest
when
approaching
he
pres-
ent. We shall
clearly
have
to await
a
later
study
to
give
us a
full account of
the
post-Nobel
years.
Furthermore,
ince
the
comments f
colleagues
sug-
gest
that
t least some of the sources
were
misrepresented
n
these
pages,
we
will
also have
to
await the
necessary
orrective
study.
As a
Joycean,
was
delighted
o have
new
and
more detailed
nforma-
tion
concerning
eckett's
relationship
ith his
rish master" nd
concerning
his prolonged
and
agonizingrelationship
with
Lucia
Joyce.
It should be
noted
thatBeckett's
sympathy
orLucia in her
deteriorating
mentalcondi-
tion
was
genuine
and
sustained
as
was
his admiration
for
Joyce,
whose
mementos
e stillcherishes.
ut
my pleasure
n this
nstance
was
alloyed
by
disappointment
ith factual
and
interpretive
rrors.For
example,
one of
Beckett's
prized
possessions
s
Joyce's
famous
waistcoat
embroidered
with
dogs,
a
photograph
f which was
reproduced
n the La
Hune
catalogue
of
the
Joyce
collection.
Ms.
Bair
calls
it
his
"extraordinarily lower-patterned
waistcoat."
Perhaps
t is
true that
"in December
1929,
Joyce
nvited
Beckett
to
translate
Anna
Livia
Plurabelle,'
but
Becketthimself
ememberst
differ-
ently,
aying
hat
Alfred
Péron and
he
first
ndertook
he
job
on
their
wn.
The
authority
ited
for this detail
s
Mme
Péron,
and one
is struck
by
the
frequencywithwhich onlyone sourcehas been consulted nd how seldom
that ource
s the
authorhimself.
ow
is
it
possible
that,
despite
he
correct
version
n
Ellmann,
Ms.
Bair
places
the
Breton
seaside
resort
of La
Baule,
where Lucia was
staying
t the
beginning
f
the
war,
in Switzerland?
This
would
put
the
Joyce
family
n
a safe
spot
at
the
very
time
they
were
trying
desperately
o be united
on
neutral
ground.
The
less said
the
better oncern-
ing
Bair's
commentary
n
Joyce's
work,
especially
on
Finne
ans
Wake. We
may only
note
n
passing
her naïve
assumption
hat
passage
written
n
1926
and
referring
o
Sam alludes
to
Beckett,
who met
Joyce
in
1928;
the most
obvious
subject
of
this
passage
is
Joyce
himself.
More
surprising
s
a
mis-
reading
both
of
Joyce's
reaction
to
and
Beckett's
probable
intent
n
More
PricksThan Kicks Bair cites only partof Joyce'smildly approvingcom-
ment,
overlooking
he
significant nderlying
nxiety
and
the
biographical
overtones n
the
following
ines: "One
of
the
characters
s named
Lucia
but
is
quite
different.he
is
a
cripple
or
something."*
he
tale
in
question
does
contain
Lucy
(not Lucia).
In
a veiled
fashion
t
may
reflect
eckett's
dis-
turbing
elationship
ith
the
daughter
f the man
he so
admired.
One
would
expect
this
allusion to be
caught by
a
biographer
who
is
so
quick
to
draw
conclusions
rom ther
data,
and we
may question
n this
light
he
statement
that he ast six
stories re
not
autobiographical.
We are
used to
seeing biographers
oing
through
heir
paces
as
critics,
*LettersfJames oyceed. Richard llmannNewYork:Viking ress, 966),II,
316.
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22
6
THE
GEORGIA
REVIEW
adducing
conclusions
rom
details
of
the life.
At
times
uch
details nd con-
clusions
are
genuinely
helpful,
f
only
in
bolstering
he
insights
f
critics.
Here,
where we are
lucky
enough
to
findbits of
diary
or
letters,
r conver-
sations,
we
can
see
what Beckettwas
reading
and
what he valued
in
litera-
ture: the
Journal
f
Jules
Renard,
he
worksand
personality
f
Samuel
John-
son,
and the
early
work
of
Louis-FerdinandCéline
(who,
he
told
Peggy
Guggenheim,
was
the
foremostwriter f our
century
fter
Joyce).
Unmen-
tioned,
but
also
significant
re
the
Portuguese
polypoet
Fernando Pesoa and
van
Gogh
as
letter
writer,
tc.
The
biographical
ources for
images
and de-
tails,
he ife
patterns
epeated
n the
work,
nd the
treatmentsf
unpublished
and, n somecases,hitherto ntreatedmanuscriptsre all of value. Less use-
ful
are the extended
plot
summaries
nd
the
value
judgments
which
reflect
very
ittle
ritical
sophistication.
nd then
here
re
the
all
too
frequent
lar-
ing
errors nd
misreadings.
Her
biographical
ixation
eads
Ms. Bair
to make
statements
ike the
fol-
lowing
concerning
Beckett's
hilarious nd
disturbing
wartime
masterpiece
Watt:
At
times
t
verges
on
autobiography.
.
.
There
are
descriptions
of the
countryside
round
Foxrock,
allusions
to
his
boyhood
and
constant
eferences o
the
seasonal
cycles
of
the
plants
nd
animalsof
Ireland.
At other
times,
Watt
is
only
an
academic
exercisefor a vital mindhemmed n by the accident of war,
which restricted
his
residence,
ccess
to
books,
friends nd
family.
It
is hardto
believe
that o
careful
craftsmans
Beckett s would allow
aca-
demic
exercises o be
printed.
Ms.
Bair
goes
on
to
state that
n
purging
his
style
of
Joyce
(which
he
actually,
hough
perhaps
not
so
consciously,
id),
Beckett
"concentrated
or
[sic]
a
single
meaning,
xplicit,
mmediately
p-
parent
. .
and
with
profound
mplication
or
his own
personal
existence
s
well
as for
the
universal
udience." This is
certainly
rue,
but the
emphasis
is
misplaced.
Beckett's
transparent-seeming
tterance
like
that of
Kafka)
pointsup
its
universal
implications
nd
subverts
any single
meaning.
n
sum-
marizing heplot,Bair makessignificantrrors, mitting romheraccount
the
opening
equence
with
ts
portrait
f
threeestablishment
anies
and
the
oblique
glimpse
f Watt
through
heir
eyes,
telling
s
thatWatt
"is first
n-
countered
n
a
railway
station." submit
hat
the
hunchbacked
Mr. Hackett
is
a
surrogate
or
Sam,
who
admits o
telling
he
ast
part
of the
tale
at
Watt's
dictation.
The
note
sounded
by
Sam
and the
Hackett/Beckett
hyme
are
surely
ignificant
or both
biographer
nd
critic,
nd
the
opening
sequence
with
its
resounding
non
sequiturs
s
easily
as
important
s
the
concluding
pages
of
"Addenda"
over
which critics
ontinue
o
puzzle.
It is
worth
noting
hat
Ms.
Bair has
scant
sympathy
or the
novels
after
Murphy
nd none
for
the
second half
of
the
earlierMore
Pricks Than
Kicks
For her,onlyMurphy s a "carefully rafted ovel";it alonemerits chapter
by
itself.
ut even here
the
bias
s
evident:
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BOOK
REVIEWS
227
Most of
his
characterswere based
on
people
he
had
known,
but
his
ultimate ntention
was to make
Murphy
an
illustration
f
philosophical
principles;
hus,
there
was
a
certain amount
of
structure nd
form
he needed
to invent
nd then
impose upon
the
characters.
Her
treatment
f
the
trilogy
s another
matter.
With
few
biographical
crutches
o lean
on,
she
limps
from rror
o
error,
hedding
ittle
light,
x-
plaining
next to
nothing.
The
plot
summaries
re
mercifully
rief.
n
the
account of
Molloy
we
learnthat t
the
beginning
f his
narrative
Molloy
has
been in
his
mother's oom
"at
least a
year,"
that
he
begins"by telling
how
his
journey
began,"
thatheis arrested for the
way
herides he
bicycle,"
that
Lousse
actually
drugs" Molloy's
food,
that he
goes
to
the
seaside
"to renew
his
sixteen
sucking
tones."
None of these assertions
s
true n
any
verifiable
sense
in
a
novel where truth
nd verisimilitude
re
not
foregrounded.
or
the
record,
Molloy
says:
"I took
advantage
of
being
at
the
seasideto
lay
in
a
store
of
sucking
tones."
What is
important
ere
s the failureof
the
biog-
rapher
not
only
to
follow
the "facts"
but
also to
understand
he
nature
of
the
objects
she
is
dealing
with.
Fortunately,
hough
not
consistently,
he
does better
with
the
plays.
Having
compiled
these
quibbles,
we
must admit
that
Bair
has
written
book
which we
can and will
use. Until
a
better ccount
comes
along
it will
serveus quitewell.For all itsweaknesses,t s neither trivial ora negligible
accomplishment.
till,
f it satisfies ur
curiosity
oncerning
he
details
of
Beckett's
background
nd
life,
t failsto
elicit trust
nd
only
whets
our
ap-
petite
for
more
and more reliable nformation.
ne
may hope
that
it will
send
readers
ack
to
thebooks
to discover
Beckett
who
is
deeper
nd
richer,
more
amusing
nd
more
intriguing
han
anything
ound
on
these
pages.
Poetry
in
America:
Expression
and its Values
in
the
Times
of
Bryant,
Whitman, and Pound. By BernardDuifey. Durham,N.C.: Duke Uni-
versity
ress,
1978.
xiv,
358
pp.
$14.75.
In
Canto
XIII
Ezra
Pound
writes
of
"a
time
when
historians
eft blanks
in
their
writings"-
humble
concession
to
the
mysterious
therness
f their
materials.
The
major
historians
f
American
poetry-
Roy
Harvey
Pearce
and
Hyatt
H.
Waggoner-
have
chosen,
however,
o stress
what
Pearce
called
The
Continuity f
American
Poetry
though
they
defined
hat
continuity
quite
differently.
t
first
glance,
Bernard
Duffey's
Poetry
n
America
seems
an
innovative werve
from
this tradition
f historical
writing.
Right
at
the
start,
uffey
tates
hat he
has
"not
found
any
single
essence,
o much
as
I
havealterationnd a variety fpoeticvoices,"
and it
appears
that
this
critic,
abjuring
he
imperial
hrust
f a monolithic
hesis,
will allow forthe discon-
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