false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170540120m/60317.jpg 60317 2 Poet, playwright, and translator Daniel Mark Epstein certainly has the right background to understand and evaluate poet, playwright, and translator Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950)--though Millay didn't write biographies. Readers of Epstein's <I>Sister Aimee</I> and <I>Nat King Cole</I> will recognize the intense personal engagement the author brings to his task. He's not afraid to express an almost physical fascination for his subjects, which is especially appropriate for the flamboyant Millay, who insisted on the right to take as many lovers as she pleased and to write about them in some of the greatest erotic poetry in American verse. Epstein focuses on that poetry, deciphering the affairs that fueled it and elucidating the boldly iconoclastic, almost cynical acceptance of love's fleeting nature that informs it. (Of the last sonnet in <I>A Few Figs from Thistles</I>, with its notorious putdown, "I shall forget you presently, my dear / So make the most of this, your little day," he remarks: "For a woman, not yet thirty, to compose and market such a poem... was a scandal, an alarm, and a red flag to censors.") While the Edna St. Vincent Millay who emerges in Nancy Milford's <I>Savage Beauty</I> is indelibly shaped by her upbringing, particularly her relationship with her mother and sisters, Epstein's Millay is a self-created goddess of love and literature. It's fascinating to compare these two biographies, published nearly simultaneously and each with considerable merits. Milford's lengthy book, the product of three decades of research, is lavish with details and comprehensive in scope. Epstein's more selective work excels in cogent summaries and forcefully stated opinions. Either book will satisfy readers with an interest in Millay or American literature; really passionate aficionados of the art of biography will want to read both. <I>--Wendy Smith</I> 58679 2001 What Lips My Lips Have Kissed: The Loves and Love Poems of Edna St. Vincent Millay total:83|5:30|4:30|3:19|2:3|1:1| 83 334 124 17 5 1 false false Wed Oct 15 05:13:44 -0700 2008 Wed Oct 15 05:19:11 -0700 2008 4 1 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2001 Tue Aug 14 07:25:33 -0700 2007 Tue Aug 14 07:27:00 -0700 2007 3 0 false false Tue Jul 22 12:50:15 -0700 2008 Tue Jul 22 12:56:38 -0700 2008 more...]]> 2 0 false false Mon Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Sat May 03 16:25:05 -0700 2008 Sat May 03 16:42:10 -0700 2008
Throughout the bio, Epstein...more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Feb 02 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Dec 08 09:58:34 -0800 2008 Tue Feb 03 07:31:32 -0800 2009
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I did not realize that Edna St. Vincent Millay was such a prolific writer of sonnets (one of the only poet since Shakespeare to wr...more...]]> 0 0 false false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 10 16:15:51 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 10 16:15:51 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Mon Nov 10 05:43:40 -0800 2008 Mon Nov 10 05:45:25 -0800 2008 4 0 false false Sat Aug 02 06:55:11 -0700 2008 Sat Jan 03 22:30:42 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Fri Jul 20 11:33:17 -0700 2007 Fri Jul 20 11:41:47 -0700 2007 3 0 false false Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2002 Mon Jan 07 04:12:05 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 07 04:12:55 -0800 2008 Savage Beauty.]]> 3 0 false false Thu Feb 28 16:29:32 -0800 2008 Tue Feb 05 17:50:38 -0800 2008 Thu Feb 28 16:29:00 -0800 2008 3 0 false false Sat May 03 13:53:56 -0700 2008 Tue Nov 10 21:36:12 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Mon Oct 08 12:44:55 -0700 2007 Mon Oct 08 12:46:20 -0700 2007 4 0 false false Mon Nov 19 16:43:55 -0800 2007 Mon Nov 19 16:44:31 -0800 2007 4 0 false false Wed Nov 01 00:00:00 -0800 2000 Mon Jan 07 04:18:50 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 07 04:23:36 -0800 2008 4 0 false false Sat Oct 27 00:50:32 -0700 2007 Sat Oct 27 00:51:26 -0700 2007 ]]> 4 0 false false Thu Nov 26 05:18:39 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 26 05:18:39 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Wed Nov 11 03:28:52 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 11 03:28:52 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Wed Nov 04 10:59:14 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 04 10:59:14 -0800 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=60317