Back to Results
Cover image of The Selected Letters of Anthony Hecht
Cover image of The Selected Letters of Anthony Hecht
Share this Title:

The Selected Letters of Anthony Hecht

Anthony Hecht
edited with an introduction by Jonathan F. S. Post

Publication Date
Binding Type

Spanning seven decades, these often intimate, brilliantly astute letters by the eminent poet Anthony Hecht reflect a body of work that influenced the history of twentieth-century American poetry.

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Anthony Hecht (1923–2004) was known not only for his masterful control of form and language but also for his wit and humor.

With the help of Helen Hecht, the poet’s widow, Jonathan F. S. Post combed through more than 4,000 letters to produce an intimate look into the poet’s mind and art across a lifetime. The letters range from Hecht’s early days at summer camp to college at...

Spanning seven decades, these often intimate, brilliantly astute letters by the eminent poet Anthony Hecht reflect a body of work that influenced the history of twentieth-century American poetry.

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Anthony Hecht (1923–2004) was known not only for his masterful control of form and language but also for his wit and humor.

With the help of Helen Hecht, the poet’s widow, Jonathan F. S. Post combed through more than 4,000 letters to produce an intimate look into the poet’s mind and art across a lifetime. The letters range from Hecht’s early days at summer camp to college at Bard, to the front lines of World War II, to travels abroad in France and Italy, to marriage, and to fame as a poet and critic. Along the way, Hecht corresponded with well-known poets such as John Hollander, James Merrill, Anne Sexton, and Richard Wilbur. Those interested in the lives of contemporary poets will read these highly personal letters with delight and surprise.

Reviews

Reviews

Aside from the literary light it sheds, Hecht's correspondence is just plain fun to read—witty and learned, warm and humane... Hecht's work depicts both light and shadow, fashioning from their chiaroscuro poems that figure among the finest of the last century.

We can only be grateful that Anthony Hecht was a pack-rat, so that nothing was lost—all those anecdotes, all those loves lost and found, all the ups and downs that made for a life in poetry and for a poetry now collected and preserved, so that his voice remains crystal-clear in death as it was in life.

On the spectrum of letter-writing readability, Anthony Hecht combines elements of Keats and Moore. He is never less than charmingly fluent... Hecht as a letter writer is often at his best with confident, off-the-cuff assessments of writers, their lives and works.

Aside from the literary light it sheds on his work and the work of others, Hecht’s correspondence is engaging and fun to read.... This extensive collection of letters offers satisfying insights into the life and times of one of the major literary figures of the last century

A resounding success.

See All Reviews
About

Book Details

Publication Date
Status
Available
Trim Size
6.125
x
9.25
Pages
400
ISBN
9781421407852
Illustration Description
21 halftones
Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Introduction
Brief Chronology
1. Childhood and College, 1935–1943
2. World War II, 1943–1946
3. Back Home and Abroad, 1946–1952
4. Marriage and Single Life, 1954–1967
5. A Second Life

List of Illustrations
Introduction
Brief Chronology
1. Childhood and College, 1935–1943
2. World War II, 1943–1946
3. Back Home and Abroad, 1946–1952
4. Marriage and Single Life, 1954–1967
5. A Second Life, 1968–1982
6. Critic and Poet, 1983–1992
7. The Flourish of Retirement, 1993–2004
Acknowledgments
Credits
Index

Author Bios
Anthony Hecht
Featured Contributor

Anthony Hecht

Anthony Hecht (1923-2004) was the author of seven poetry collections and several works of criticism. He was awarded the Pullizter Prize in 1968 for The Hard Hours and his other honors include the Bollingen Prize, the Eugenio Montale Award, the Ruth Lilly Prize, the Dorothea Tanning Award, and the Robert Frost Medal.