{"product_id":"the-letters-of-thom-gunn-9781250867209","title":"The Letters of Thom Gunn","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Letters of Thom Gunn\u003c\/i\u003e presents the first complete portrait of the private life, reflections, and relationships of a maverick figure in the history of British and American poetry \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"I write about love, I write about friendship,\" remarked Thom Gunn. \"I find that they are absolutely intertwined.\" These core values permeate his correspondence with friends, family, lovers, and fellow poets, and they shed new light on \"one of the most singular and compelling poets in English during the past half-century\" (Hugh Haughton, \u003ci\u003eThe Times Literary Supplement\u003c\/i\u003e). \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Letters of Thom Gunn\u003c\/i\u003e, edited by August Kleinzahler, Michael Nott, and Clive Wilmer, reveals the evolution of Gunn's work and illuminates the fascinating life that informed his poems: his struggle to come to terms with his mother's suicide; settling in San Francisco and his complex relationship with England; his changing relationship with his life partner, Mike Kitay; the LSD trips that led to his celebrated collection \u003ci\u003eMoly\u003c\/i\u003e (1971); and the deaths of friends from AIDS that inspired the powerful, unsparing elegies of \u003ci\u003eThe Man with Night Sweats\u003c\/i\u003e (1992).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThom Gunn\u003c\/b\u003e (1929-2004) was educated at Cambridge University and wrote his first collection of poems, \u003ci\u003eFighting Terms\u003c\/i\u003e (1954), while he was still an undergraduate. He moved to Northern California in 1954 and taught at American universities until his death. His last collection was \u003ci\u003eBoss Cupid\u003c\/i\u003e (FSG, 2000). \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eAugust Kleinzahler\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of more than a dozen books of poetry and several collections of essays. He lives in San Francisco and was a close friend and neighbor of Thom Gunn's for more than twenty years. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eMichael Nott\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of \u003ci\u003ePhotopoetry, 1845-2015: A Critical History\u003c\/i\u003e (2018). He was a Fulbright fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, and a postdoctoral fellow at University College Cork. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eClive Wilmer\u003c\/b\u003e, who first met Thom Gunn in 1964, is the author of eight books of poetry, including \u003ci\u003eNew and Collected Poems\u003c\/i\u003e (2012). He edited Gunn's first collection of essays, \u003ci\u003eThe Occasions of Poetry\u003c\/i\u003e (1982), and his \u003ci\u003eNew Selected Poems \u003c\/i\u003e(2018). He is an emeritus fellow in English at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Picador USA","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51623855292690,"sku":"9781250867209","price":23.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_f78fc88c-6316-4782-8a01-419f967fcb9b.jpg?v=1758647231","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-letters-of-thom-gunn-9781250867209","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}