Ramon Guthrie

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Ramon Guthrie (January 14, 1896 – November 22, 1973) was a poet,[1] novelist, essayist, critic,[2] painter and professor of French and comparative literature.[3] He published five collections of poetry, and two novels, translated three volumes of French nonfiction, edited two standard anthologies of French literature and published numerous reviews, essays and individual poems.[4]

Introduction

His legendary reputation among his contemporaries, many with extraordinary reputations of their own, is demonstrated by the festschrift honoring him upon his retirement from teaching. That volume, Ramon Guthrie Kaleidoscope, contains contributions by the poets: Dilys Laing, Lou B. ("Bink") Noll, Phillip Booth and Tristan Tzara; the critics, Malcolm Cowley, M. L. Rosenthal and Irita Bradford Van Doren; the artists, Stella Bowen, Alexander Calder, Peter Blume and Ray Nash and the journalist, George Seldes[5] plus some two dozen other contributors. However, even though Germaine Bree would write of his penultimate collection, Asbestos Phoenix, that "[It] alone would place Ramon Guthrie among the major poets of the mid-century,[6]" and his masterpiece, Maximum Security Ward would be greeted in 1970 with critical acclaim [7][8][9] and would receive the Marjorie Peabody Waite award,[10] Guthrie and his masterpiece would be neglected.[11] Malcolm Cowley, a major critic of Guthrie's generation, writing 10 years after the publication of Maximum Security Ward, would say of Guthrie and of MSW's reception: "Among the talented writers I have known, the most curiously neglected is the poet and scholar Ramon Guthrie. He started out with the famous writers of the World War I generation, Hemingway, Faulkner, Fitzgerald, and others, some of whom were his good friends. His best writing was on a level with theirs." [12]) Another major critic of the 20th century, M. L. Rosenthal, would choose Maximum Security Ward and Other Poems to be the first volume in Persea Book's Lamplighter Series of significant modern poets because he felt that Guthrie had been neglected and ought to remain in print. Rosenthal said of the neglect of Guthrie that it was "For no good reason, really -- only the familiar general indifference to the real thing and identification of publicity with reputation."[13]

Guthrie was in the middle of the literary ferment following WWI (Ford Maddox Ford and Siegfried Sassoon would invite him to come to England[14][15]) and of expatriate Paris in the 1920s.[16] where he was conversant with James Joyce and Gertrude Stein[17] could stop by Edith Sitwell’s salon[18] and spend an afternoon with Ezra Pound in the Tuileries during which "all Pound talked about was bassoons."[19] In the summer of 1919 at the Café des Tourelles in Paris he joined Norman Fitts and nine others including Steven Vincent Benet, Roger Sessions and Thornton Wilder in what would become "S4N Society." Ramon would become the most consistent and loyal contributor to the little magazine that would result from this meeting S4N,[20] which would publish among many others, E. E. Cummings and Hart Crane.[21][22]

Beginning in the mid 1920s Guthrie would become an important emotional and literary support of Sinclair Lewis.[23] George Seldes would claim, "Of all the persons on whom Sinclair Lewis relied most from 1927 onward, either for help in his work, or as a sounding board for ideas, or as a critic, a commentator on pieces of future novels he would act out spontaneously, the chosen one was Ramon Guthrie."[24]

Bibliography[25]

Poetry

Trobar Clus, Northampton, Mass., S4N, 1923

A World Too Old, New York, George H. Doran Co., [c.1927].

Graffiti. New York, Macmillan, 1959

Scherzo from a poem to be entitled; The Proud City. [a chapbook], Hanover, N. H., The Arts Press, 1933

Asbestos Phoenix, New York, Funk and Wagnal, 1968

Maximum Security Ward, New York, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1970; Doubleday Ltd, Toronto, Canada, 1970; and as Maximum Security Ward: Poem on the Point of Death, Sidgwick & Jackson, London, England, 1971

Maximum Security Ward and Other Poems, edited by Sally M. Gall, New York, Persea Books, 1984

Novels

Marcabrun: the chronicle of a foundling who spoke evil of women and of love and followed unawed the paths of arrogance until they led to madness: and of his dealings with women and of ribald words, the which brought him repute as a great rascal and as a great singer. New York, George H. Doran Co., [c.1926].

Parachute. New York, Harcourt, Brace and Co., [c.1928].

Translations

The Other Kingdom, by David Rousset. New York, Reynal & Hitchcock, [1947].[Includes an introduction by the translator.]

The Republic of Silence, compiled and edited by A. J. Liebling. New York, Harcourt, Brace and Co., [1947]. [Includes "Notes on the Vercors," by the translator, p. 280-281.]

The Revolutionary Spirit in France and America; a study of moral and intellectual relations between France and the United States at the end of the eighteenth century, by Bernard Fay. New York, Harcourt, Brace & Co., [c.1927].

Anthologies

French Literature and Thought Since the Revolution, edited by Ramon Guthrie and George E. Diller. New York, Harcourt, Brace and Co., [1942].

French Literature of the Twentieth Century, edited by Ramon Guthrie and George E. Diller. New York, Charles Scribner’s Sons, [1964].

Articles in Journals, Newspapers and Magazines

"Anent truth," S4N, 14th issue ([December?] 1920).

"Art credo—a challenge," S4N, 5th issue (March 1920).

"The birth of a myth, or how we wrote Dodsworth," Dartmouth College Library Bulletin, n.s., vol. 3, no. 3 (April–October i960), 50-54.

"Dilys Laing," the Nation, vol. 190, no. 10 (March 5, i960), 212. [Foreword to "Five last poems," by Dilys Laing.]

"Dilys Laing (1906–1960)," Carleton Miscellany, vol. 4, no. 1 (Winter 1963), 9-13. [Foreword to "Poems," by Dilys Laing.]

"French language and literature," American Peoples' Encyclopedia.

"The ‘Labor Novel’ that Sinclair Lewis never wrote: the curious and revealing saga of the phantom project that carried his greatest literary hopes," New York Herald Tribune Book Review, vol. 28, no. 26 (February 10, 1952), I, 6.

"Letter[s]," S4N, 2nd issue (December 1919); 3rd issue (January 1920); 7th issue (May 1920).

"Lettre d’un Americain," La Pensie, n.s., no. 26 (Septembre-Octobre 1949), 128-130. "Marcel Ayme: he throws rocks at sacred cows," New York Herald Tribune Book Review, August 13, 1961, p. 7.

"Note," S4N, 1st issue (November 1919).

"On serious young men," S4N, 11th issue (September 1920).

"An open letter to Sydney Hook," Dartmouth Quarterly, vol. 2, no. X (Spring 1948), 3-6. • reprinted: ibid., vol. 14, no. 2 (Winter 1959), 12-13, 16-17. "Proust’s La Prisonniere," Explicator, vol. 8, no. 8 (June 1950), article 57

"Le rôle du corps électoral dans le gouvernement fédeéral des États-Unis." Toulouse, Impr. du Sud-Ouest, 1922.

"Sinclair Lewis and the ‘Labor Novel,’ " American Academy of Arts and Letters, National Institute of Arts and Letters. Proceedings, 2nd series, no. 2, 1952, p. 68-82.

"Stendhal’s "Le rouge et le noir," Explicator,", vol. 7, no. 5 (March 1949), article 40.

"Stevens’ "Lions in Sweden,"" Explicator, vol. 20, no. 4 (December 1961), article 32.

"Typesetter’s despair," S4N, 26th-29th issue, combined (May–August 1923).

Poetry in periodicals and anthologies

"Billy and the once-upon: a cosmogony," Dartmouth Quarterly, vol. 9, no. 4 (June 1954), 10. reprinted: Beloit Poetry Journal, vol. 8, no. 3 (Spring 1958), 31-32.

"The clown: he dances in the clearing by night," the Nation, vol. 185, no. 14 (November 2, 1957). p. 37.

"The clown: oral examination," New York Times Book Review, vol. 65, no. 19, pt. 1 (May 8, 1960), p. 2.

"The clown’s report on satyrs," the Nation, vol. 187, no. 17 (November 22, 1958), p. 388.

"A comparison of angels," Carleton Miscellany, vol. 1, no. 1 (Winter i960), pp. 76-77.

"L’enfance de la sirene," Poetry, vol. 100, no. 6 (September 1962), pp. 365-366.

"Europa," the Nation, vol. 185, no. 18 (November 30, 1957). p. 408.

"Ezra Pound in Paris and elsewhere," the Nation, vol. 185, no. 16 (November 16, 1957), p. 345.

"The fool and the beggar," Hermonite, vol. 27, no. 17 (July 4, 1914), p. 304.

"Fragments of a travelog," Beloit Poetry Journal, vol. 8, no. 3 (Spring 1958). pp. 32-34

‘‘Garden-party," Saturday Review of Literature', vol. 2, no. 9 (September 26, 1925), p. 149.

"In vino," S4N, 13th issue (November 1920).

"Jan van Stuybrant," Hermonite, vol. 27, no. 16 (June 20, 1914), p. 289.

"A lovely morning at Beaumont barracks," Hip Pocket Poems, no. 2 (May i960), p. 21-22.

"Marchand d’habits," S4N, 24th issue (January–February 1923).

"Megallesia," S4N, 26th-29th issue, combined (May–August 1923). [By Anne Zimmerman, pseud.]

"Melitta," S4N, 19th issue (February 1922).

"Mermaids in Maine," Dartmouth Quarterly, vol. 9, no. I (Fall 1953), 14-15. reprinted: ibid., vol. 14, no. 2 (Winter 1959), 9.

"The mess of pottage," S4N, 4th issue (February 1920).

"Mr. H. G. O’Brien as Endymion," S4N, 32nd issue (February 1924), 12-20. [By Anne Zimmerman, pseud.]

"More Helen," S4N, 16th issue ([February?] 1921).

"The pagan’s creed," S4N, 9th issue (July 1920).

"The passing of Jehovah," S4N, 17th issue ([March?] 1921).

Readings from Graffiti, with introduction by Alexander Laing. Hanover, N. H., 1959. [1 reel of taped voice recording.]

Readings from Graffiti for Harvard Poetry Room, request of John Sweeney, May 23, 1961. [1 reel of taped voice recording.]

"Reasons," S4N, 21st issue ([month?] 1922).

"Recipe and introduction," Vox, vol. 1, no. 1 (Spring 1958), 13.

"Reflections on the future state of intellectual poets," S4N, i8th issue (April 1921).

"The reseda and the rose," Dartmouth Quarterly, vol. j, no. 3 (Spring 1950). [Translation of poem by Louis Aragon.]

"Richard Coeur-de-Lion," Bookman, vol. 64 (December 5, 1926), pp. 424, 425 "Salonika," S4N, nth issue (September 1920).

"Scarab," The independent poetry anthology, 1925 .... [New York, Burke Printing Company, c.1925], p. 70.

"Some aspect* of baroque architecture (on a theme by Francesco Gemi- niani, born in Lucca 1667, died in Dublin 1762)," Greensleeves, vol. 1, no. 1 (1959) pp. 18, 19

"Sonnet," S4N, 7th issue (May 1920).

"Springsong in East Gruesome, Vt.," Carleton Miscellany, vol. 2, no. 1 (Winter 1960–61), pp. 42, 43.

"To and on other intellectual poets on reading that the U.S.A.F. had sent a team of scientists to Africa to learn why giraffes do not black out," the Nation, vol. 185, no. 13 (October 26, 1957), p. 292.

"The triumph," S4N, 13th issue (November 1920).

"Unveiling a statue to a one-time poet," the Nation, vol. 191, no. 11 (October 8, 1960), p. 232.

"The upside-down bug," Vox, vol. 1, no. 1 (Spring 1958), pp. 13, 14.

"A word or two for war poets," S4N,12th issue (October 1920).

References

  1. ↑ The Modern Poetic Sequence, M. L. Rosenthal and Sally M. Gall, Oxford University Press, New York, NY. pp. 9-10, 79, 353, 445-61,462, 470 and 476.
  2. ↑ "Ramon Guthrie as Critic."Irita Van Doren, Ramon Guthrie Kaleidoscope, The Steinhour Press, Lunenburg, Vermont, 1963, p37
  3. ↑ "Epic for a Bad Century," by Alexander Laing, The Nation, February 15, 1971, p. 216.
  4. ↑ "An Attempt on Ramon Guthrie's Bibliography," by Alan Cook, Ramon Guthrie Kaleidoscope, The Steinhour Press, Lunenburg, Vermont, 1963 pp. 143-149
  5. ↑ Ramon Guthrie Kaleidoscope, edited by George Diller, The Steinhour Press, Lunenburg, Vermont, 1963
  6. ↑ "Lyrical Discourse" by Germaine Bree, The Nation, July 7, 1969, p. 24
  7. ↑ "A completely fascinating work one of major character, it is like nothing else in contemporary poetry," Louis Untermeyer, Saturday Review December 5, 1970, p. 28
  8. ↑ "Ramon Guthrie is a magnificent American poet in his seventies who has been overlooked." Julian Moynahan, the New York Times Book Review, January 24, 1971
  9. ↑ "The leap of genius in [Maximum Security Ward] begins at that level [of a major poet of the mid century]. ... it is ... a testament that all the reasons for despising and despairing of humanity are not quite enough", from "Epic for a Bad Century," by Alexander Laing, The Nation, February 15, 1971, p. 216.
  10. ↑ The papers of Ramon Guthrie, Dartmouth College Library
  11. ↑ "Foremost among those practitioners [Whitman, Yeats, Eliot and Pound], we should list the somewhat neglected Ramon Guthrie, whose Maximum Security Award focuses much of its attention upon the poet's private sufferings, physical and emotional." The Modern Poetic Sequence, p. 445
  12. ↑ Malcolm Cowley, "Masterpiece From the Rubble,"Quest/80 p. 82, see also The View From 80 by Malcolm Cowley, The Viking Press, New York, NY, 1980 p. 66
  13. ↑ "Foreword," by M. L. Rosenthal, Maximum Security Ward and Other Poems edited by Sally M. Gall, Persea Books, New York, NY, 1984 p. vii
  14. ↑ "Ramon Guthrie 1920-22." by Edmund Meras, Ramon Guthrie Kaleidoscope, The Steinhour Press, Lunenburg, Vermont, 1963 p. 70
  15. ↑ Exiles Return by Malcolm Cowley, Viking Compass edition, New York, NY, 1956 pp. 172, 174 and179.
  16. ↑ Drawn From Life, by Stella Bowen, Virago Press Limited, London, 1984 pp. 207-09
  17. ↑ Meras, Ramon Guthrie Kaleidoscope p. 72
  18. ↑ Anecdote told to Wendell Smith in 1972.
  19. ↑ Ramon Guthrie’s papers in the Rauner Special Collections Library at Dartmouth College
  20. ↑ Alan Cook, "An Attempt on Ramon Guthrie's Bibliography," Ramon Guthrie Kaleidoscope, The Steinhour Press, Lunenburg, Vermont, 1963 p. 143
  21. ↑ Walker Rumble, "Space for Name: Printing a 1920s Little Magazine," in Massachusetts Review, summer, 2007.
  22. ↑ Norman Fitts, "Right After the War," Ramon Guthrie Kaleidoscope p. 59
  23. ↑ Sinclair Lewis, Rebel From Main Street, Random House, New York, 2002, pp. 308, 308-11, 318, 322, 324, 328, 340, 348-49, 375, 410-11, 423, 426-27
  24. ↑ George Seldes, "De Havilland Fours and Sinclair Lewis," Ramon Guthrie Kaleidoscope, p. 87
  25. ↑ This is a modification of "An Attempt on Ramon Guthrie's Bibliography," by Alan Cook in Ramon Guthrie Kaleidoscope, The Steinhour Press, Lunenburg, Vermont, 1963 p. 143-149
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