E.E. Cummings

by Christopher Sawyer-Laucanno

Throughout the forty-five years of his professional writing life, Edward Estlin Cummings consistently celebrated the ordinary, reviled pretentiousness, scourged conformity, experimented boldly with words and syntax and punctuation, and wrote some of the most erotic and tender love poetry in the English language. Yet Cummings could also be difficult, truculent, opinionated, wrong-headed, emotional, bigoted and egotistical. Dubbed by Ezra Pound as "Whitman's one living descendant," Cummings sang of himself and of America in a unique voice, as resonant now as it was a half-century ago.

Charismatic and famous among the famous, Cummings always seemed to be in the right place at the right time, and was a major presence wherever he resided, whether in Cambridge, Europe or New York. He counted some of the most important artists of his time as friends: Pound, Hemingway, Dylan Thomas and many more.

"Sawyer-Lau�anno emphasizes the relation of the private man to his work, offering fresh insights into the grand optical arrangement of Cummings's books."--Starred Library Journal ReviewbrbrFor nearly half a century, the personal papers, journals and diaries of Edward Estlin Cummings were kept from public view. These documents reveal far more about the inner life of the famous poet and painter than has ever been known. Now, noted biographer Christopher Sawyer-Lau�anno presents the first, definitive, revelatory life story of E.E. Cummings (1894 1962), an American original. brbr"Well-researched, comprehensive, and essential to understanding the artist and the artistry."--Starred Kirkus ReviewsbrbrFor E.E. Cummings#58; A Biography, the author had unprecedented access toall of Cummings's papers-anguished diary entries, reflections on consultations with two psychoanalysts, an autobiographical novel, and a carefully prepared manuscript containing more than one hundred blatantly erotic poems. brbrIn the words of William Corbett, author of Boston Vermont and Don't Think Look, "E.E. Cummings, Yankee individualist and, rare for an American poet, satirist is here in full. This means warts and all, but Sawyer-Lau�anno has not come to judge. In this readable and absorbing life he has paid Cummings the honor of clear-eyed candor." Christopher Sawyer-Lau�anno paints a full and memorable portrait of this extraordinary American poet.

Genres: Biography, Poetry, Nonfiction

624 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2004

Reviews

[Stuart · Rating 3 out of 5]

First thing: how about a copy-editor and a proofreader when you're publishing what will become the definitive biography of a major poet? This thing was riddled with typos, grammatical errors and especially sloppy punctuation. The author or someone at the press should do a bit of research about restrictive and non-restrictive commas. Sheesh.

I also felt that Sawyer-Laucanno tended to inflate even the most trivial factoid into an anecdote, as if even the most inane moment in Cummings' life was too precious to omit.

That said, I read this book pretty compulsively. I had had so little idea of Cummings' life, although he was a huge influence on me as a teenager (I bet a lot of poets say that). But the more I read, the more I disliked Cummings and his poetry. Sawyer-Laucanno is worshipful of what I consider to be the most maudlin and purple of Cummings' poetry. I also can't help but think he's something of an apologist. I really wanted to know just how frequently Cummings made anti-Semitic and homophobic remarks in his journals and letters; his biographer gives us an example or two, but was this attitude pervasive for Cummings in the 40s and 50s?

I'm doing my best not to reflect my disappointment in Cummings himself in my rating of this book.

[Jocelyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

very comprehensive, though he did seem to be a bit maudlin in his view of the subject.

[Robert Vaughan · Rating 4 out of 5]

such a strange wit and genius explored from this notorious lower-case poet

[Scott Do · Rating 5 out of 5]

This biography was given to me many years ago by one of my students. She knew I loved "somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond, but it's taken me twenty years to finally read it. There's a wonderful entwinement of chronological, personal information with Cummings' poetry. Although it's one of the few bios I walk away from admiring the person less than before, his poetry challenges me and occasionally pierces me more than most. Engaging, honest and a clear reflection of a true poet and artist.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cummings was an interesting fella and this is a decent biography that covers his years comprehensively (while a little sparse on some of his more controversial beliefs + his relationship with Pound et al). Some light analysis of his more popular stuff too. A great help deciphering some of Cummings's more abstract stuff.

[Reed · Rating 4 out of 5]

He's the best

[Wendy Lu · Rating 3 out of 5]

haha, i know all the random crap about ee cummings now and its fantaaaaastic.

skimmed the first few chapters for pertinent information to use in my poetry paper for ap lit, but then ended up not really being able to leave it at that. on a side note, i really did love writing that poetry paper. am still nervously waiting to hear back from my lit teacher about it. you know, its three quarters into the school year and i still get nervous handing things in to her because i want her to like what i write and i get nervous each time that this time will be the time she thinks its crap :P

[JerryDeanHalleck · Rating 2 out of 5]

OK biography of E.E. cummings. Its weirdly unbalanced. We get 400 pages up to 1935, and then 150 pages cover the last 26 years of his life. We also get far too much about E.E. Cummings politics and views on women, minority groups, and Gays. One gets the impression that Mr. CSL combed through every utterance and written word by E.E. Cummings trying to find some unkind or Bigoted thought or remark.

Leavng that aside, its a well written book that doesn't get bogged down in a day by day narrative and includes quite a bit of his poetry.

[Abby · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this biography on ee cummings, due more to my enjoyment of ee cummings' poetry and my curiosity about his life rather than the writing of the author. The author does a commendable research job, though, and makes use of heretofore unreferenced documents about ee cummings that add to the richness of the biography.

[Nami · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read about half of this book and had to return it to the library cause of this whole leaving the country thing. I will finish it one day, and when I do you can bet your ass that I'll write an awesome review about it here on goodreads.

[Deborah]

I heard the author's interview on NPR and I have been tasting the book for nearly a year, pulling a poem here and there but never finishing the narratives of his life...

[Harley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great biography of cummings. Did you know that cummings thought of himself as a painter more than a poet early in his career?

[Robert]

disturbed individual. i like him.