The Autobiography of William Carlos Williams (A New Directions paperbook) [Paperback]

William Carlos Williams (Author)

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

William Carlos Williams (1883-1963) was born in Rutherford, New Jersey. He received his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, where he met and befriended Ezra Pound and H.D. (Hilda Doolittle). At the same time as maintaining a popular medical practice, he became a prolific poet, novelist, essayist, and playwright. Experimenting with new techniques of meter and lineation, Williams sought to invent an entirely fresh—and singularly American—poetics, whose subject matter was centered on the everyday circumstances of life and the lives of common people. He was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2009.

Product Details

• Paperback: 414 pages
• Publisher: New Directions (January 17, 1967)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811202267
• ISBN-13: 978-0811202268
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #434,923 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "To me especially it struck like a sardonic bullet.", September 2, 2007

By 

frumiousb "frumiousb" (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Autobiography of William Carlos Williams (A New Directions paperbook) (Paperback)

I once lent my copy of Ariel (Sylvia Plath) to a poet that I knew. He defaced it by copying out "so much depends" in the front of the book. "Yes," he wrote, "to Plath, but..."

It irritated me then, and it irritates me now, looking back. As though there were a hierarchy and as though that damned red wheelbarrow meant more than anything else someone could choose to write about.

Even still, I came to really admire Williams as a poet. I had actually started to write "love Williams as a poet", but I realize that this isn't true. I admire his work much more than I love it. It seems to me that admiration would have been what he preferred.

Actually, I have to kind of figure that Williams might have preferred I have no opinion at all. I am even more certain, reading his autobiography, that he would have heartily disliked me. I certainly didn't find myself warming to him as a person.

But still. Worth reading. Well worth reading. If you're in the mood for something lighter, it is probably worth reading just for the gossip about other famous folks from the period. If you want to think hard about his ideas about Objectivism, you certainly can find food for thought here. He has a great talent for both observation and introspection. It isn't made less delightful by his apparent total lack of self-doubt.

I've read most of his poetry, but based on this I plan to pick up at least one of his novels. Recommended for anyone with an interest in poetry. Particularly recommended for anyone with an interest in American poetry. Never mind the white chickens, anyhow.

12 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The American Literary Genius of the 20th Century, December 19, 2000

By 

P. Bonoff "Yaleman" (Scarsdale, New York USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Autobiography of William Carlos Williams (A New Directions paperbook) (Paperback)

This autobiography will be recognised 100 years from now as the key to understanding the genius of Williams. He is the preeminent figure in 20th Century American Literature and will inevitably be recognized as such.