Hart Crane: A Biography

Hart Crane's life was notoriously turbulent, persistently nonconformist, and tragically short. Born in 1899, Crane became one of the most significant modernist American poets, yet his self-destructive tendencies - violent outbursts, massive drinking binges, and dangerous sexual pursuits - came to a catastrophic conclusion when at only thirty-two he threw himself from the stern of an ocean liner into the Gulf of Mexico. This new biography presents a full, frank portrait of the real Hart Crane, a poet attractive both for his flamboyance and passion for life, and for the magnificent sonorities of his work

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Hart Crane

New York Times Book Review

[Fisher] captures the loneliness and pathos of Crane's existence and places his poems where the life illuminates them.

New York Times Book Review - Daniel Mark Epstein

A penetrating and absorbing biography...[A] seamless narrative of compelling momentum.

Booklist

Fisher traces Crane's short life . . . as the steady, inevitable unwinding of a soul.

Publishers Weekly

Elusive, cryptic, and often bewildering, Harold Hart Crane's poetry demands more than a token effort to comprehend; readers should expect to make a similar investment when trying to understand the man himself. Crane (1899-1932) announced at age 11 that he was going to be a poet, not necessarily good news to his battling, soon-to-be-divorced parents. Feeling abandoned and alone, the psychosomatic Crane attempted suicide as a teenager. In New York, he began a lifelong pattern: writing poetry, living in rented rooms, drinking, developing male friendships (almost exclusively heterosexual), and seeking out homosexual encounters (especially with sailors, which connected him to his great love, the sea). Some of his poetry reflects these encounters in oblique terms, nonetheless revealing loss and regret. Increasingly tortured by drink, Crane managed to maintain a generosity of spirit and a childlike faith in certain ideals of life. There were times when he could not write, but his imagination was never stilled. Crane wandered from New York to London to Paris to Mexico, never finding a resting place until he threw himself from a moving ship into the deadly waters of the Gulf of Mexico. What remains is his poetry. Fisher, author of Noel Coward and Cyril Connolly: A Nostalgic Life, rewards the reader with an exacting book that makes knowing Hart Crane a vivid possibility. Recommended for public and academic libraries. Robert L. Kelly, Fort Wayne Community Schs., IN Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Elusive, cryptic, and often bewildering, Harold Hart Crane's poetry demands more than a token effort to comprehend; readers should expect to make a similar investment when trying to understand the man himself. Crane (1899-1932) announced at age 11 that he was going to be a poet, not necessarily good news to his battling, soon-to-be-divorced parents. Feeling abandoned and alone, the psychosomatic Crane attempted suicide as a teenager. In New York, he began a lifelong pattern: writing poetry, living in rented rooms, drinking, developing male friendships (almost exclusively heterosexual), and seeking out homosexual encounters (especially with sailors, which connected him to his great love, the sea). Some of his poetry reflects these encounters in oblique terms, nonetheless revealing loss and regret. Increasingly tortured by drink, Crane managed to maintain a generosity of spirit and a childlike faith in certain ideals of life. There were times when he could not write, but his imagination was never stilled. Crane wandered from New York to London to Paris to Mexico, never finding a resting place until he threw himself from a moving ship into the deadly waters of the Gulf of Mexico. What remains is his poetry. Fisher, author of Noel Coward and Cyril Connolly: A Nostalgic Life, rewards the reader with an exacting book that makes knowing Hart Crane a vivid possibility. Recommended for public and academic libraries. Robert L. Kelly, Fort Wayne Community Schs., IN Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.