Amy Lowell Anew: A Biography - Hardcover

by Carl Rollyson (Author)

The controversial American poet Amy Lowell (1874-1925), a founding member of the Imagist group that included D. H. Lawrence and H. D., excelled as the impresario for the "new poetry" that became news across the U. S. in the years after World War I. Maligned by T. S. Eliot as the "demon saleswoman" of poetry, and ridiculed by Ezra Pound, Lowell has been treated by previous biographers as an obese, sex-starved, inferior poet who smoked cigars and made a spectacle of herself, canvassing the country on lecture tours that drew crowds in the hundreds for her electrifying performances.

In fact, Lowell wrote some of the finest love lyrics of the 20th century and led a full and loving life with her constant companion, the retired actress Ada Russell. She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize posthumously in 1926. This provocative new biography, the first in forty years, restores Amy Lowell to her full humanity in an era that, at last, is beginning to appreciate the contributions of gays and lesbians to American's cultural heritage. Drawing on newly discovered letters and papers, Rollyson's biography finally gives this vibrant poet her due.

Author Biography

Carl Rollyson is a professor of journalism at Baruch College, The City University of New York. Rollyson has published more than forty books, including American Isis: The Life and Art of Sylvia Plath and Hollywood Enigma: Dana Andrews. His articles and reviews have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Minneapolis Star Tribune, The Raleigh News & Observer, The Kansas City Star, The Barnes & Noble Review, and The New Criterion. Visit his website: www.carlrollyson.com.