The Letters of James Schuyler to Frank O'Hara [Paperback]

James Schuyler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2006

Pearl Without Price,
First the worst: your five dollar check bounced. N’importe. I made it good, and you can pay me back when . . . the primroses come back to 49th Street.
 
Poet Mark Ford has described the letters of James Schuyler as “witty, graceful, sophisticated, and gossipy.” Particularly poignant are these Schuyler letters to fellow poet Frank O’Hara. Entertaining and transcendently poetic, they are the portrait of a friendship between two great New York School poets.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

James Schuyler (1923-1991) was the recipient of the 1981 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for The Morning of the Poem. He belonged to the first generation of New York poets along with Kenneth Koch, John Ashbery, Frank O'Hara and Barbara Guest. He wrote three novels including one with John Ashbery.

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Turtle Point Press (September 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1885586485
• ISBN-13: 978-1885586483
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #738,145 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Letters beginning: Pearl Without Price...Sweets...Bright bauble...Dear Kitten...My wounded wood dove, February 28, 2010

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This review is from: The Letters of James Schuyler to Frank O'Hara (Paperback)

Frank O'Hara died in 1966, James Schuyler in 1991. Soon thereafter, William Corbett began editing the "Selected Letters of James Schuyler, 1951-1991" (paper 2004). During his 13 years of preparation, he was unable to obtain Jimmy's letters to O'Hara from the latter's executor(s). Better late than never, Frank's sister finally passed the letters to Corbett, thus the present little book (paper 2006).

Surprisingly, the letters span only 1954-1958. They are not windbags, but balloons, totaling 32. Jimmy's happiness, sweetness, and ease in writing Frank just bubbles, as if they were childish identical twins, hugging and kissing in all naturalness and trust. But as I felt about the Selected Letters, the content avoids the shadows, the revelations, the troubles, the Unvarnished Truth.

So, these letters of 1954-1958: what was happening in those years? and just before and after? I referred to Nathan Kernan's valuable detailed Chronology printed in the Diary (publ. 1997).
In late 1951, Schuyler's first mental breakdown resulted in several months of hospitalization.
In fall 1952, Jimmy became Frank's roommate in a cheap apartment on NY's East Side.
In mid 1953, Jimmy met duo-pianists Fizdale and Gold and began an extended relationship with the latter.
In August 1954, Jimmy went to Europe with the touring piano duo.
In February 1955, back in NY, Jimmy lived with Gold but spent a lot of time at Frank's apartment, though Joe LeSueur had moved in as Frank's lover. Jimmy also spent time with the Fairfield Porter family in Maine.
In 1956, Jimmy broke with Gold and returned to Frank & Joe's apartment. In July on Fire Island, Jimmy had a serious anxiety attack, and Frank helped him. In the fall, Jimmy went into analysis.
In January 1957, Frank & Joe moved, Jimmy having become a burden. Jimmy began an affair with art dealer Donald Droll. He began working at the Museum of Modern Art, where Frank had a much better job.
In 1958, Jimmy divided his time between Donald's apartment and the East Side apartment.
In latter 1959, Jimmy & Donald became just friends, and Jimmy moved out of the East Side apartment prior to demolition. He & Frank continued to socialize in NY, but less and less.
In March 1961, Jimmy was hospitalized again for a few months, and such episodes would continue.

Surely, Jimmy saved Frank's letters to him. Much better would be the present book if these letters could have been shuffled in, so these two boys could put their arms over one another's shoulders and smile through the Five Golden Years.

For this little book, Editor Corbett provides a little Introduction summarizing Jimmy's & Frank's closeness. And a little Epilogue commenting on Schuyler's elegiac poem for Frank, "Buried at Springs," and Schuyler's poem of greeting, "To Frank O'Hara," when O'Hara's Collected Poems were published (1971).

The book's front cover design is so different and sooo silly. Truncated bodies of two comic-strip first-graders pasted together, type in two poorly legible vertical strips. Better reserved for Joe Brainard's "lost" Nancy correspondence.