[Xmca-l] Re: The Secret Auden by Edward Mendelson | The New York Review of Books

[White, Phillip]

David, i found this essay fascinating and (i hesitate to use this word because it is at times so hackneyed, but...) inspirational.

it also brought to mind Norman Manea's essay "Exile" - which begins:

The increased nationalism and religious fundamentalism all around the world, the dangerous conflicts between minorities in Eastern Europe, and a growing xenophobia emphasize one of the main contradictions of our time: between centrifugal cosmopolitan modernity and the centripetal need (or at least nostalgia) for belonging.  We are reminded again and again of the ancient yet constant predicament of the foreigner and the stranger." (1992)

certainly Auden was in exile not just as a stranger and a foreigner but as a poet, as well as being gay - and yet, while Blanch Dubois noted that she depended upon the kindness of strangers, so may we all.

and, Lois Holzman, congratulations of a well deserved honor!

phillip


________________________________________
From: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu [xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu] On Behalf Of David Preiss [daviddpreiss@gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, February 28, 2014 10:59 AM
To: xmca-l@ucsd.edu
Subject: [Xmca-l] The Secret Auden by Edward Mendelson | The New York Review    of Books

This beautifully written article about Auden at the NYRB will interest creativity researchers in this list. I loved the image of a poet not consumed by narcissism and self-reference and engaged with the others in an un-public manner.
David

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2014/mar/20/secret-auden/?page=1