With Robert Lowell and his circle : Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Elizabeth Bishop, Stanley Kunitz, and others

256 Pages·2012·1.43 MB·English

by  Spivack

With Robert Lowell
and His Circle

kathleen
spivack
With Robert Lowell
& His Circle
•
sylvia plath,
anne sexton,
elizabeth bishop,
stanley kunitz,
and others
Northeastern University Press
Boston
northeastern university press
An imprint of University Press of New England
www.upne.com
© 2012 Kathleen Spivack
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
Designed by Eric M. Brooks
Typeset in Arno Pro by A. W. Bennett, Inc.
University Press of New England is a member of the
Green Press Initiative. The paper used in this book meets
their minimum requirement for recycled paper.
For permission to reproduce any of the material in this
book, contact Permissions, University Press of New England,
One Court Street, Suite 250, Lebanon NH 03766; or visit
www.upne.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Spivack, Kathleen.
With Robert Lowell and his circle: Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton,
Elizabeth Bishop, Stanley Kunitz, and others / Kathleen Spivack.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
isbn 978-1-55553-788-3 (pbk.: alk. paper)—
isbn 978-1-55553-765-4 (ebook: alk. paper)
1. Spivack, Kathleen. 2. Poets, American—20th century—
Biography. 3. American poetry—Massachusetts—Boston—
History and criticism. I. Title.
ps3569.p56z46 2012
811.54—dc23
[b] 2012027775
5 4 3 2 1
to peter drucker & doris drucker,
whose talents, courage, resourcefulness, love of life,
strong opinions!, zest for ideas, hard work, originality,
gutsy spirits, gifts of surprise, fun, family, friendship,
and relationship inspired us and forever shaped our
lives. Thank you.
• Contents
ix Acknowledgments
xi To the Reader
1 Introduction
6 The “Family”
13 Oberlin and Boston, 1958–1959
17 Early Days in Boston
First Impressions, January 1959
19 First Meeting with Robert Lowell
Boston University, 1959
24 First Classes at Boston University, 1959–1960
31 Sylvia Plath, 1959–1960
43 Robert Lowell’s Appearance
47 Lowell’s Way of Teaching
53 Anne Sexton, 1959–1974
56 Later Visits with Anne Sexton
Reflections on Psychotherapy and Sleep
65 Teatime with Robert Lowell and Elizabeth Hardwick
71 Literary Boston in the Late ’50s and ’60s
Social Milieu, Class, and the Literary Tradition
79 Significant Other, 1959–1977
84 Adrienne Rich, 1960s
89 The Two Sets of Classes
Boston University and Harvard, 1959–1977
96 Elizabeth Bishop and Ping-Pong, 1974–1979
114 Boston and Its Influence
Bishop and Lowell
126 Lowell’s Poet Friends
Frank Bidart, Lord Gowrie, Bill Alfred
135 Stanley Kunitz, 1971–2006
143 Lowell and Women
Students, Friends, and Wives!
151 Young Marriage in Somerville
A Small Apartment, a Mad Inventor, Literary Visitors, 1960–1977
157 He Was Ancient! He Was Over Forty!
(After Office Hours at Harvard)
161 The Underside
“M adness” and the Culture of Nervous Breakdowns
168 Alcohol and Drugs
170 Gender and Suicide
175 A Gifted Young Student
Peter Kaplan, 1963–1977
180 The “Po Biz”
Submission, Rejection, Money
189 “G enius at Work”
Revision, Presentation, Contribution
198 Allen Ginsberg and Robert Lowell
Two Branches of American Poetry
206 The “Romantics” Seminar, Harvard University, Spring 1977
210 Final Spring, 1977
216 Looking for Robert Lowell’s Grave, October 1977
221 Notes of a Witness
227 Notes
231 Selected Bibliography
239 Credits

Acknowledgments
Thank You
To the writers cited in this book, first of all: their words, their
generosity, the journey, the adventure!
To modern American poetry experts: Laura Jehn Menides, Steven
Gould Axelrod, Thomas Travisano, Alice Quinn, Carolyn French,
and to my editor, Richard Pult.
To the Robert Lowell, Elizabeth Bishop, and Stanley Kunitz
Societies. To Lois Ames.
To the journals and magazines that published parts of this work
when it was still in progress.
To the MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, Ragdale, Dorset House. To
Elizabeth Morse, Marilyn Rinzler.
To Kathryn Deputat, Connie Brown, Anne Hoffman, Bridget Nault,
and Lisa Tandy.
In the Boston area, to Louisa Solano, Ifeanyi and Carol Menkiti, the
Grolier Poetry Bookshop, The Bagel Bards.
To Elena Dodd, Marlaina Nugent, Meredeth Turshen, Kate Frank,
Abigail Adler, Judith Steinbergh. Also to Tony Priano, Barbara
Waldorf.
In France, to Jacques Pothier, Odile Hellier, Claire Bruyere, George
and Sylvia Whitman, Dominique Masson, Laurence Fosse,
Virginia Larner, Rosalie Footnick, Tama Carroll, Adrian Leeds,
Patricia LaPlante Collins, David Barnes, Colin Dixon, Paul Volsik,
and special thanks to Jean-Pierre Ledoux. Also to the Village
Voice Bookshop and to Shakespeare and Company.
To Robert and Gail Melson, Cecilia Wolloch, Hazel Rowley,
Anya Achtenberg, Diana Norma Szokolai, Barry and Lorrie
Goldensohn, Paula Phipps, Nadia Stevens, Margot Berdeshevsky,
Rosary O’Neill, Doug Holder, Sam Cornish, Harris Gardner,
Elizabeth Doran, Lee Bartell, Karen Sharpe, Ruth Hanham, Sajed
and Rosie Kamal, Steve Glines, Hannelore Hahn, Phil Helfaer.
With special thanks to the writers who lived this Lowell-Bishop
time, many of whom have written their own works about the
experience. Thank you for generously sharing your insights
ix