Author Description

Mark Van Doren (1894-1972) was one of the most accomplished men of letters of this century. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1940, he wrote more than 1,000 poems, as well as a number of novels and plays and a substantial body of criticism. Van Doren was also a prolific correspondent. In this volume, Hendrick has assembled a revealing collection of letters to such literary friends and colleagues as Allen Tate, Joseph Wood Krutch, Robert Frost, John Barryman, Thomas Merton, John Gould Fletcher, James Thurber, Mortimer Adler, and Allen Ginsberg. The letters, which are arranged chronologically, present more than half a century's worth of intelligent, sensitive, and witty observations on art and life. A foreword by Mrs. Van Doren, along with Hendrick's editorial headnotes, places the letters in perspective. ISBN 0-8071-1317-4: $30.00.