Louise Bogan [Paperback]

Elizabeth Frank (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 1986

A full-scale biography of the distinguished lyric poet, translator, and critic details the highs and lows of her elegant and sorrowful life and the steady growth and influence of her work.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The biography of poet Louise Bogan, who died in 1971, and whose poems collected in The Blue Estuaries, were first published in the 1920s. A prolific writer in her youth, Bogan was overcome by demons she could not master, and as this book reveals, struggled with a temper, paranoia and jealousy greater than anyone might have guessed. While Frank provides insightful descriptions of Bogan's childhood and her problematic relationship with her mother, she offers clues as to why the poet was so private and why it became increasingly difficult for her to write. The book won the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for biography.

Review

A thorough, cogent and dispassionate account of Bogan's life. -- Wilson Library Bulletin, Carol Moldaw

Product Details

• Paperback: 460 pages
• Publisher: Columbia University Press (October 15, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0231063156
• ISBN-13: 978-0231063159
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #510,136 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Rare Find, August 9, 2010

By 

John N. Currie - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Louise Bogan: A Portrait (Hardcover)

One wants to find in a literary biography a judicious mix of attention to the writer's work and to the writer's life. One finds that here in Elizabeth's Frank's biography. One also finds just the right attitude toward Bogan -- not fawningly exuberant, not tediously scholarly -- but calmly,level-headedly, and insightfully appreciative. Coming to this biography, I knew little of Bogan's life, though I knew some of her poems. I marched through the book with gratitude for every chapter. Properly the biography has sent me back to Bogan's poems, recordings of her readings, and to her prose. While I'm not a "New Yorker" groupy, Bogan's colleagues at that magazine had something: William Maxwell, E. B. White's wife, et. al. These were people who came of age in the 1920s and 1930s but never lost their heads. Bogan was a remarkably strong individual and a gifted poet and critic. More people should know about her life and work. "Louise Bogan: A Portrait" probably will never be surpassed as a place to acquaint oneself with Bogan, her time period, and other writers like Rolfe Humphries and Theodore Roethke. As biography this rates as one of the best one could ever read.