The Bridge Uncollected Version, from Periodicals and Anthologies, 1927–1930 by Hart Crane, ed. Ben Mazer
This edition of Hart Crane’s long poem The Bridge, first published as a book in 1930, collects, for the first time ever, the variant, earlier versions of the poem’s sections as they were first published in periodicals and anthologies during the years 1927–1930. The many differences between these earlier versions and the versions which appeared in the Horace Liveright edition of 1930 make this book an indispensable volume for anyone with a deep interest in Hart Crane, or indeed in American poetry, and a tremendous tool for the understanding of Crane and his poetry.
“Crane was one of those men whom every age seems to select as the spokesmen of its spiritual life; they give the age away.” —Allen Tate
“I think Crane is the great poet of that generation. He got out more than anybody else. Not only is it the tremendous power there, but he somehow got New York City; he was at the center of things in the way that no other poet was.” —Robert Lowell
“So far as I am concerned, I would gladly emulate Odysseus, if I could, and go down to the shadows for another hour’s conversation with Crane on the subject of poetry.” —Yvor Winters
“The wisely included opening assortment of critical comments assures this edition will find a deserved spot on any ready reference shelf focused upon twentieth-century poetry. This extremely condensed mini-spectacle of bibliophilism presents a chronological spread of documental commentary which has long been relied upon for biographies and critical studies of Crane. Mazer judiciously dips into Crane's personal correspondence, as well as published reviews by R.P. Blackmur, Allen Tate, and Yvor Winters, to evoke feeling for how Crane and his peers conceived of the poem at the time of its development, from earliest conceptualization through subsequent publication.” —Patrick James Dunagan
Review at Bookslut: http://www.bookslut.com/poetry/2016_03_021399.php
