Bonnie Costello

Rachel Galvin

This collection of essays from a distinguished, international group of scholars offers a portrait of W. H. Auden's creativity. The essayists look in fresh ways at Auden's composition process and artistic virtuosity, and at the astonishing breadth of his interests and activities. Critics have long acknowledged Auden's 'second thoughts' with regard to religion and politics, yet few have considered how essential rethinking and revision were to his writing process. His notebooks and drafts served as a fascinating, multifaceted laboratory for his literary experiments; and even after his writing was published, Auden never stopped revising it. The essays collected here explore cross-pollination in the genesis of his works: how theater collaboration, film work, traveling, teaching, reviewing, and wartime activities shaped his literary oeuvre. They uncover neglected episodes that affected his artistic choices, and overlooked archives full of surprising revelations about his writing practice. The essays also explore manuscript evidence that shows the formal experimentation of one of the great versifiers of modern poetry.

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