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I Wanted to Write a Poem: The Autobiography of the Works of a Poet by William Carlos Williams
donasbooks's review against another edition
4.0
If you're a William Carlos Williams fan, or even just a really serious contemporary poet, you might want to consider reading this book. It's WCW discussing every one of his texts and why he wrote them. It's the closest WCW ever came to a writing memior, it's irreplaceable in the writer's canon -- even though I have a couple of very serious issues with it.
The structure takes a little getting used to, but after a page or two, you'll ease in. It's a loose interview with multiple people represented by different typeface. Edith Heal conceived the design in 1974, so we'll forgive it for being a little old.
Most of the book contains responses from WCW, and occasionally his wife Florence, or "Flossie," about each of his manuscripts. The interview is rigidly presented and, from what I can tell, structured and organized. These standards changed, however, once Mrs. Williams became the subject of the interviews. While Heal interviews WCW, her questions focus on each of his manuscripts. Questions to Mrs. Williams covered a range of topics, few of which had to do with WCW's work.
So, while the interviewer provides ample opportunity for Mrs. Williams to humiliate herself (and everyone else she's ever spoken to)(including Bill), there's very little room for WCW to stray into the woods.
And yet that Bambi-eyed fool does stumble off into the deep brambles in this book. I always hated that expression about giving up heros in adulthood. About how eventually they just tumble from that idealized place you hold them to when you learn they're only just as human as everyone else you know...well...
WCW is human, very human. So is Mrs. Williams. The interviews in this book really reveal the humans they are, brilliance, and ugliness, and all.
The structure takes a little getting used to, but after a page or two, you'll ease in. It's a loose interview with multiple people represented by different typeface. Edith Heal conceived the design in 1974, so we'll forgive it for being a little old.
Most of the book contains responses from WCW, and occasionally his wife Florence, or "Flossie," about each of his manuscripts. The interview is rigidly presented and, from what I can tell, structured and organized. These standards changed, however, once Mrs. Williams became the subject of the interviews. While Heal interviews WCW, her questions focus on each of his manuscripts. Questions to Mrs. Williams covered a range of topics, few of which had to do with WCW's work.
So, while the interviewer provides ample opportunity for Mrs. Williams to humiliate herself (and everyone else she's ever spoken to)(including Bill), there's very little room for WCW to stray into the woods.
And yet that Bambi-eyed fool does stumble off into the deep brambles in this book. I always hated that expression about giving up heros in adulthood. About how eventually they just tumble from that idealized place you hold them to when you learn they're only just as human as everyone else you know...well...
WCW is human, very human. So is Mrs. Williams. The interviews in this book really reveal the humans they are, brilliance, and ugliness, and all.
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