Product Description

Reissued with a new preface for the centennial. Along with Pound, Eliot, and Joyce, Edward Estlin Cummings is one of the leading American poets who revolutionized literary expression in the twentieth century. He was also a Cubist painter, a champion of the little man, a brilliant conversationalist, a romantic idealist, a famous irrational curmudgeon, and husband to three of the most beautiful women of his time. This critical biography merges these various selves into one fascinating life story, many chapters of which could be mistaken for a great romantic novel. In following Cummings's development as a poet, it also includes a large number of previously unpublished poems and drawings. .

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #228854 in Books
• Published on: 1994-10-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 544 pages

Customer Reviews

"Dreams" a thought provoking bio
Recently having completed DREAMS IN THE MIRROR, I can say that I haven't read a better biography in a long time. If you are a true E.E. Cummings fan (or e.e. cummings as he spelled it), the insights that Kennedy has into the man's life, as well as the interpretations of his poems, seems to make sense. I own a copy of his "Complete Poems 1904-1962", and having read many of them, I thought that the logical next step was to see how someone else thought of them. Kennedy's biography of Cummings is the only one that I know of in existance. Adding to that is Nancy Andrews, Cummings' daughter, who gave a lot of insight into her father, as well as previously unpublished poems and even drawings(!!). The book doesn't read like a novel, so don't expect to pace though it quickly. It is a well-written account of Cummings' life, so remember to pay attention. Being it as it may, and considering that information, I say go on and read it. It's worth the time.

A Complete Biography
This book outlines every facet of the facinating life of E.E. Cummings. A must read for anyone researching or interested in his life.

Reason Without Rhyme
'Dreams in the Mirror: A Biography of E.E. Cummings' is a precise account of a unique, creative poet. Richard S. Kennedy has made sense of the seemingly incoherent mind that made the literary world spin in a profoundly deconstructed orbit during the period following Cummings' graduation from the Harvard School of Arts and Sciences in 1916. Perhaps the most significant element of Kennedy's book is the previously unpublished Cummings' poem discovered in the dusty closet of a Tunisian Bed&Beakfast he'd occupied in 1931. Titled 'Insanity is Just a Mind of State', it is one of Cummings' most autobiographical works, revealing the poet's life-long regret that he'd never wrestled an alligator. The lament, on page 79, reads:

'i'm mad; say they
but Almonds aren't NUTS!
(is) thE river SEINE in pariS;?'

The human mind is a beautiful thing.