New Frost Letters
 

The release of a new volume of Frost's letters, replete with heretofore unseen letters to family and friends, should warrant a reconsideration of a great poet's personal reputation, as well as a re-evaluation of his authorized biographer's [Thompson's] judgment and motive.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/05/bo...ref=books&_r=0

Sigh...it's disheartening to read an editor of this new collection of letters proclaiming "These letters will dispel all that [i.e. the Thompson portrayal of Frost]." While I am quick to denounce the Thompson biography (and have done so in print), it is not helpful to respond to it by trying to recreate the pre-Thompson mythology about Frost.

Thompson was not entirely wrong. Frost had an oversized ego that got more bloated with acclaim and sometimes damaged his work. He could be heartless, and strange, but he could also be warm and thoughtful, a part of the script Thompson chose to excise for petty reasons.

It is time for time academics to start writing about Frost the man, not some cartoon figure of their own creation.

Probably this thread needs to be merged with the one in general talk...
Anyway, there's also an article about these letters in the New Yorker, which I'm eager to read. As a writer-biography junkie, I'd be interested in the new material. I would love to know more about Elinor Frost, for example. Apparently she was a strong character, since Frost failed to persuade her to drop out of college with him, & she graduated before they married. Were they happy, or did the marriage survive without being happy? I don't yet know...

Not happy, I'm afraid.

Oates's story is pretty awful but has a couple of funny moments.

http://harpers.org/archive/2013/11/lovely-dark-deep/