From Library Journal
Sarton, the late poet, novelist, and memoirist (she died in 1995), occupies a distinctly midrange position in U.S. literature, and thus the appeal of her letters will be limited largely to specialists interested in the minutiae of her life and work. Too bad: this first volume of her letters should have a broader audience, because Sarton is one of the great letter writers of our time, cultivating friends vigorously with her funny, smart, comforting prose. She tells one chum that, following a morning of distraction, she quieted her mind with a book on Japanese art, whereupon "a great peace descended like an owl sitting beside me and staring solemnly," an effect not unlike that which readers of this pleasant book will feel from time to time. Edited by Sherman (May Sarton: Among the Usual Days, LJ 10/15/93), the collection begins with Sarton's early childhood and continues into middle age; it is part of a larger project that will result in a lifetime of published letters. For pertinent collections.?David Kirby, Florida State Univ., Tallahassee, Fla.Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Kirkus Reviews
Charged with energy and with a cast of characters that includes major 20th-century literati, this is the first volume of what will likely be a massive compendium of Sarton's letters. Sarton was a copious letter writer; according to Sherman (who edited a miscellany of Sarton's writings, Among the Usual Days) she set aside Sunday mornings for her correspondence, ``a religious service devoted to friendship.'' This book begins with some childish notes to her father that foreshadow the direct and revealing style of her later missives. At 15, she was writing to Eva Le Gallienne, declaring her dream of being an actress and pleading for Le Gallienne's advice and help. The direct approach worked; Sarton went on to be associated with Le Gallienne's acting company for many years. Many of the letters collected here are to her parents, from whom she was frequently separated, even as a child. They often discuss money problems but also celebrate such events as the first publication of her poems. Other correspondents include Elizabeth Bowen, Julian Huxley (her lover before Sarton fell in love with his wife, Juliette), Virginia Woolf, Louise Bogan, Diana Trilling, Marianne Moore, and Muriel Rukeyser, some of whom were her lovers. The letters to them and to less well-known friends, brimming with enthusiasm, are full of news of acquaintances, of books and poems, of critics and reviews, of dinners and teas, of Atlantic crossings, and of love and longing for friends from whom she is separated. She shares delight at accomplishments, disappointment at setbacks, and eloquent descriptions of place. Included is a rather startling (in context) letter to Bogan discussing women's homosexual relationships. In the letters of the 1950s, the resentments that colored some of Sarton's journals begin to surface. Also included in this volume is an appendix of unpublished poems, and some letters in the original French. Certainly a must for Sarton scholars, but also a pleasure for Sarton's loyal readers. (50 photos, not seen) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Appearing in book form for the very first time, this trove of May Sarton's voluminous private correspondence illuminates the life of the beloved poet/writer from early childhood into middle age. Among her correspondents were Elizabeth Bowen, Virginia Woolf, Julian and Juliette Huxley, and Murial Rukeyser. 50 photos.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly - Cahners\\Publishers_Weekly

"More than kisses," John Donne wrote, "letters mingle souls." And very few letters can have been more open, more anxious to mingle, than those of May Sarton's. Her carefully crafted volumes of poetry, the novels elegant with insistent intent, the autobiographical works of later years are all rich with the intellect sentience. However, the wide-ranging emotional journey of these letters, so admirably edited by Sherman, may finally bring Sarton the wider renown she always felt eluded her. An ardent correspondent since childhood, Sarton is free in in her declarations of love and longings, her revelations of urgencies to earn a living and uncertainties of life as a writer. The letters include Sarton's feelings about current issues; her wartime fears for the Europe where she was born; her anguish over love affairs gone awry; her dogmatic views; her illnesses, as well as what some recipients felt to be a claustrophobic demanding love. Long letters to the international group of writers, artists, political and scientific thinkers whom Sarton included in her epistolary "festival of friends," are often so utterly candid as to be overwhelming, exhausting. One artist and lifelong friend noted that a letter from Sarton was "a bloodrush," that he needed to "take to a private place and savour it alone, like a wonderful meal." Yet in her craft Sarton was aware of the need to be sparing in written thought: "Poetry is not an orchid, but a crocus. Simplicity is the essence of poetry." Sarton may have devoted most of her life to her crocuses, but this final collection is a different though equally beautiful greenhouse of orchids.

Publishers Weekly

"More than kisses," John Donne wrote, "letters mingle souls." And very few letters can have been more open, more anxious to mingle, than those of May Sarton's. Her carefully crafted volumes of poetry, the novels elegant with insistent intent, the autobiographical works of later years are all rich with the intellect sentience. However, the wide-ranging emotional journey of these letters, so admirably edited by Sherman, may finally bring Sarton the wider renown she always felt eluded her. An ardent correspondent since childhood, Sarton is free in in her declarations of love and longings, her revelations of urgencies to earn a living and uncertainties of life as a writer. The letters include Sarton's feelings about current issues; her wartime fears for the Europe where she was born; her anguish over love affairs gone awry; her dogmatic views; her illnesses, as well as what some recipients felt to be a claustrophobic demanding love. Long letters to the international group of writers, artists, political and scientific thinkers whom Sarton included in her epistolary "festival of friends," are often so utterly candid as to be overwhelming, exhausting. One artist and lifelong friend noted that a letter from Sarton was "a bloodrush," that he needed to "take to a private place and savour it alone, like a wonderful meal." Yet in her craft Sarton was aware of the need to be sparing in written thought: "Poetry is not an orchid, but a crocus. Simplicity is the essence of poetry." Sarton may have devoted most of her life to her crocuses, but this final collection is a different though equally beautiful greenhouse of orchids. (May)

Library Journal

Sarton, the late poet, novelist, and memoirist (she died in 1995), occupies a distinctly midrange position in U.S. literature, and thus the appeal of her letters will be limited largely to specialists interested in the minutiae of her life and work. Too bad: this first volume of her letters should have a broader audience, because Sarton is one of the great letter writers of our time, cultivating friends vigorously with her funny, smart, comforting prose. She tells one chum that, following a morning of distraction, she quieted her mind with a book on Japanese art, whereupon "a great peace descended like an owl sitting beside me and staring solemnly," an effect not unlike that which readers of this pleasant book will feel from time to time. Edited by Sherman (May Sarton: Among the Usual Days, LJ 10/15/93), the collection begins with Sarton's early childhood and continues into middle age; it is part of a larger project that will result in a lifetime of published letters. For pertinent collections.David Kirby, Florida State Univ., Tallahassee, Fla.

Kirkus Reviews

Charged with energy and with a cast of characters that includes major 20th-century literati, this is the first volume of what will likely be a massive compendium of Sarton's letters.

Sarton was a copious letter writer; according to Sherman (who edited a miscellany of Sarton's writings, Among the Usual Days) she set aside Sunday mornings for her correspondence, "a religious service devoted to friendship." This book begins with some childish notes to her father that foreshadow the direct and revealing style of her later missives. At 15, she was writing to Eva Le Gallienne, declaring her dream of being an actress and pleading for Le Gallienne's advice and help. The direct approach worked; Sarton went on to be associated with Le Gallienne's acting company for many years. Many of the letters collected here are to her parents, from whom she was frequently separated, even as a child. They often discuss money problems but also celebrate such events as the first publication of her poems. Other correspondents include Elizabeth Bowen, Julian Huxley (her lover before Sarton fell in love with his wife, Juliette), Virginia Woolf, Louise Bogan, Diana Trilling, Marianne Moore, and Muriel Rukeyser, some of whom were her lovers. The letters to them and to less well-known friends, brimming with enthusiasm, are full of news of acquaintances, of books and poems, of critics and reviews, of dinners and teas, of Atlantic crossings, and of love and longing for friends from whom she is separated. She shares delight at accomplishments, disappointment at setbacks, and eloquent descriptions of place. Included is a rather startling (in context) letter to Bogan discussing women's homosexual relationships. In the letters of the 1950s, the resentments that colored some of Sarton's journals begin to surface. Also included in this volume is an appendix of unpublished poems, and some letters in the original French.

Certainly a must for Sarton scholars, but also a pleasure for Sarton's loyal readers.