Byways: A Memoir By James Laughlin (Hardcover)

by James Laughlin (Author), Peter Glassgold (Editor), Guy Davenport (Contributor) "Often now as an old man Who sleeps only four hours a night, I wake before dawn, dress and go down To my study to..." (more)
Key Phrases: greeny flower, variable foot, New Directions, New York, Ridge Road (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Like his life, Laughlin's memoir is a bold demonstration of good literary ethics. The scion of Pittsburgh steel men, Laughlin founded America's greatest avant-garde press at the behest of Ezra Pound. New Directions brought immortals like Nabokov, Borges and Sartre to the States while sustaining domestic treasures such as William Carlos Williams and Henry Miller. And all the while, Laughlin's gentlemanly manners-a sporting worldliness and a casual erudition-led to proliferating contacts. Although written in verse, his memoir is so plainspoken it can be read as prose. As a writer, he seems simply happy that "It's / All down on my yellow pad." In fact, the book is an incomplete project, neatly edited by Glassgold, but it nonetheless covers most of Laughlin's life-from ancestors through Harvard and youthful travels to mature relationships with his writers. He lingers on Williams, with whom he once had an interesting quarrel. Laughlin seems to gauge New Direction's worth in terms of this poet, who, underappreciated for much of his life, might have otherwise been forgotten. Laughlin seldom describes his own intellectual growth or personal life, but he does include love affairs at regular intervals. Smoothly candid, he explains that his freshman girlfriend was "a toasty little biscuit." Travels in Germany and India slow the spate of literary anecdote, but probably do justice to Laughlin's life as it was lived. He is an unselfconscious memoirist, who asks "What harm can there be / In remembering?" His sentences are short, plentiful declaratives, indicative of a publisher who believed in getting as many good words to the public as possible. New Directions is a genial legend in American letters; this volume may well be its corresponding bible.
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Review
A book of exceptional charm....A volume that will appeal to all shameless worshippers of the literary life. -- Washington Post Book World, Michael Dirda, 27 March 2005

A lesson in how one person's pluck and insight can alter the literary world. -- New York Sun, Benjamin Lytal, 7 March 2005

It is, indeed, a joyful meditation on the 'byways'—the unexpected paths—which are the fruitful moments that shape any life. -- The Hollins Critic, Irving Malin, 1 June 2005

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 323 pages
• Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation (May 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811216179
• ISBN-13: 978-0811216173
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: No customer reviews yet. Be the first.
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #810,538 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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