Description
Book SynopsisDespite his celebrity and his fame, a series of literary feuds and the huge volume of sources have precluded a satisfying biography of Allen Tate. This work explores his attempt, first through politics and then through art, to reconcile his fierce talent and ambition with the painful history of his family and of the South.
Trade Review"[A] first rate biography ...[written] with skill, care and psychological acuity."--Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post "[A] compelling account of Allen Tate's formative years ... A biographical study to be treasured as long as Tate's masterful verse attracts readers."--Booklist "The distinction of Underwood's biography lies in its exploration of how cultural identity gets into our heads, shaping us as we shape it."--Lem Coley, Oxford American "Tate is fully dramatized here as a soul in torment, a seminal figure in Southern literature."--Library Journal "An admirable recounting of how Tate began his journey to influence American poetry and criticism in the 20th century."--Kirkus Reviews "Mr. Underwood's portrait of his conservative, combative, politically naive, aristocratic, alienated subject is remarkably balanced."--Sudip Bose, The Washington Times "A well-researched, thoroughly detailed study of how the South shaped and alienated one of its best-known men of letters."--Gary Kerley, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution "Rebellious, hot-headed, arrogant, brilliant, and supremely confident in the rectitude of his controversial views, Tate makes a fascinating subject for a biographical study."--Damon Smith, The Boston Globe "A life full of improving or cautionary lessons, with vistas of a vanished literary world less glamorous by far than the jazz age legends, but with an occasional springtime whiff of genuine barnyard innocence... The interest of Underwood's volume resides ... in its portrait of the poet as a young modernist. For it is the poetry that has, despite its thorniness, stood the test of time: interesting both in its own right and as a uniquely 'pure' specimen of American modernism."--Thomas M. Disch, The Weekly Standard "Tate has been lucky in his biographer. Underwood's book is rigorously researched and sturdily written... Underwood's book is a defense of Tate's fundamental seriousness, and of the historical importance of his stances and stands."--Christopher Benfey, The New Republic "Underwood's exhaustive research and sound judgment have led to a biography of the first rank."--Ben F. Johnson III, Journal of Southern History "A splendid biography."--Henry L. Carrigan, Jr., Charlotte Observer "Underwood has made a substantial contribution to literary history and given readers a poignant portrait of Tate's struggle to come to terms with the past through art."--Melissa McIntosh Brown, Commercial Appeal (Memphis)
Table of ContentsIntroduction: "My Terrible Family" 3 Chapter One: "Mother Wanted Me at Home" 6 Chapter Two: "Unlike a Natural Mothers" 30 Chapter Three: "0 Poet, O Allen Tate, 0 Hot Youth!" 60 Chapter Four: "They Used to Call Me 'the Yankee'" 89 Chapter Five: God the Father and the South 121 Chapter Six: An Agrarian and "the Brethren" 158 Chapter Seven: Orphan of the South 196 Chapter Eight: Fatherless Fame 233 Chapter Nine: A Family Reconstructed 264 A Note on the Text and Abbreviations Used in the Notes 307 Notes 313 Sources and Acknowledgments 413 Index 431
