From Library Journal
Hadas, a native New Yorker who lived for many years in Greece, is highly regarded as a poet (see, most recently, Halfway Down the Hall: New and Selected Poems), translator, and classical scholar. In this new compilation of her critical writings, she shows how Greek cultural influences and themes infuse vitality into contemporary American poetry, notably works by James Merrill. Hadas also discusses favorite poems by Mona Van Duyn and Alan Ansen, arguing that "Greek literature leaves tracks everywhere." The book contains fascinating essays on several 20th-century Greek poets, among them the popular C.P. Cavafy, whose work is steeped in history and myth; Nobel Prize winner George Seferis, whom Hadas compares to T.S. Eliot; and the gloomy, tubercular Konstantine Karyotakis, who died young by his own hand. Recommended for comprehensive literary criticism collections.DEllen Sullivan, Ferguson Lib., Stamford, CT Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Book Description
Merrill, Cavafy, Poems and Dreams is a collection that--as the title indicates--looks both outward and inward. It begins with essays on Greek poets from Homer to Ritsos, in which Rachel Hadas's knowledge of classical literature and her years in Greece richly inform the writing. The collection also includes a loving exploration of the work of poet James Merrill, who was a close personal friend of the author's.
The second half of the book combines explorations of various corners and horizons of the poetry scene, including neglected American poets and Hadas's thoughts on her own poetics and career. "Two Letters from New York" and "Tangled Web Sites" take bemused looks at literary or cultural landscapes. Hadas also looks inward: to dreams and dreamwork, to her dead mother's address book, to the emblematic drilling of a well in a country house. The range of selections includes essays, interviews, memoir, criticism, and a few of Hadas's own poems.
Rachel Hadas is the author of eleven books of poetry, essays, and translations. Her most recent book is Halfway Down the Hall: New and Selected Poems. She has received a Guggenheim Fellowship in Poetry and an American Academy-Institute of Arts and Letters Award in Literature, and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is Professor of English at the Newark campus of Rutgers University.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Merrill, Cavafy, Poems and Dreams is a collection that—as the title indicates—looks both outward and inward. It begins with essays on Greek poets from Homer to Ritsos, in which Rachel Hadas's knowledge of classical literature and her years in Greece richly inform the writing. The collection also includes a loving exploration of the work of poet James Merrill, who was a close personal friend of the author's.

The second half of the book combines explorations of various corners and horizons of the poetry scene, including neglected American poets and Hadas's thoughts on her own poetics and career. "Two Letters from New York" and "Tangled Web Sites" take bemused looks at literary or cultural landscapes. Hadas also looks inward: to dreams and dreamwork, to her dead mother's address book, to the emblematic drilling of a well in a country house. The range of selections includes essays, interviews, memoir, criticism, and a few of Hadas's own poems.

About the Author: Rachel Hadas is the author of eleven books of poetry, essays, and translations. Her most recent book is Halfway Down the Hall: New and Selected Poems. She has received a Guggenheim Fellowship in Poetry and an American Academy-Institute of Arts and Letters Award in Literature, and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is Professor of English at the Newark campus of Rutgers University.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal