Opus Posthumous: Poems, Plays, Prose [Paperback]

Wallace Stevens (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 19, 1990

When Opus Posthumous first appeared in 1957, it was an appropriate capstone to the career of one of the most important writers of the twentieth century. It included many poems missing from Stevens's Collected Poems, along with Stevens's characteristically inventive prose and pieces for the theater. Now Milton J. Bates, the author of the acclaimed Wallace Stevens: A Mythology of Self, has edited and revised Opus Posthumous to correct the previous edition's errors and to incorporate material that has come to light since original publication. A third of the poems and essays in this edition are new to the volume. The resulting book is an invaluable literary document whose language and insights are fresh, startling, and eloquent.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Intended as a companion volume to Stevens's Collected Poems , the Opus Posthumous miscellany (first issued in 1957) contains some of his deepest poetic ruminations on the imagination and the limits of knowledge, along with many verses that seem like metaphysical doodles, mere dress rehearsals for larger poems. The book also includes three philosophical playlets, notes on Stevens's poetry, plus essays on diverse themes: living in Connecticut, the irrational in poetry, Raoul Dufy's lithographs, reading T. S. Eliot to stay young, etc. Original to this revised edition is a wonderful batch of first-rate aphorisms (e.g., "All poetry is experimental poetry"). Among the newly added poems, the standout is "Carnet de Voyage" (1914), an early sequence in which Stevens tentatively sounded his mature themes. Previously uncollected essays and jottings include jejune scribbling on the insurance industry and oracular pronouncements in the form of Stevens's replies to questionnaires sent by Partisan Review and other magazines. Bates is the author of Wallace Stevens: A Mythology of Self.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

Originally published in 1957, under the editorship of Samuel French Morse, Opus Posthumous was designed as a companion to Stevens's Collected Poems (1954), offering the reader various fugitive pieces not appearing in book form. This new edition by Stevens scholar Bates contains 48 items that have never been previously published--or that appear here in a radically new form. These new items include poetry, drama, aphorisms, essays, and even responses to questionnaires. Thus, Bates's edition of Opus Posthumous represents a significant addition to the Stevens canon, one that restores the unofficial poet "who engages today's biographers and historians." To read the beautiful pages of this book is to understand why "poetry is a means of redemption." Required of all larger poetry collections.
- Daniel L. Guillory, Millikin Univ., Decatur, Ill.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; Revised edition (February 19, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679725342
• ISBN-13: 978-0679725343
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,063,747 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The "Other Works" of Stevens, March 27, 2009

By 

David Adams (Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Opus Posthumous: Poems, Plays, Prose (Paperback)

Worth having just for the ADAGIA, a work I have sought long and in vain until now.