From Library Journal
In the tradition of Cleanth Brooks and Robert Penn Warren: A Literary Correspondence (LJ 4/15/98), this collection of more than 250 letters contains all known correspondence between two of the most influential figures in 20th-century American literature, both Southern Agrarians and proponents of the New Criticism. Their correspondence testifies to their mutual respect and admiration as the stature of each writer grew over time. The letters reveal personal events in the lives of the correspondents as well as professional achievements that helped shape literary history. While each man's claim to fame lay in his written output, an ironic recurring theme here is the desire to get together for long talks because, as Brooks noted, "letters...are not an adequate substitute for real conversation." Vinh, a reference librarian for National Public Radio, has written articles for such periodicals as Southern Quarterly Review and New Oxford Review. This well-documented work is recommended for academic libraries.?Denise J. Stankovics, Rockville P.L., Vernon, CTCopyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
An unremarkable correspondence between two remarkable southern men of letters at the forefronts of the New Critics and the Fugitive poets, respectively. Hopes for finding nascent critical insights and personal revelations quickly dim while reading over the shoulders of these two giants during four decades of friendship. As editor of the seminal Fugitive and a poet in the Agrarian movement, Tate had an established reputation when he first solicited an article from fellow Vanderbilt graduate Brooks, whose career had just begun to rise. Their early exchanges are only marginal to their assorted writings, however, and they switch mainly to topics of interest to mutual friends rather than posterity. Thus, one finds the ordinary dynamics of academic careerswho's on top at Louisiana State University, which graduate protg needs a lectureship, what permissions are cleared for which anthologyand the internecine relations of schools of poetry and criticismJohn Crowe Ransom's revisions, I.A. Richards's scientific outlook on literature, the latest Modern Language Association feud. Tate and Brooks prove to be both impassioned partisans and seasoned campaigners. By the time Brooks settles down at Yale, where his and Robert ``Red'' Penn Warren's Understanding Poetry was adopted as a standard text, and Tate begins his collegiate wanderings, they have taken on Van Wyck Brooks, the LSU faculty, the MLA convention, and the whole Ivy League. ``It's my considered opinion,'' Brooks wrote to Tate, ``that in academic matters one ought never use the rapier when the meat-axe will do.'' The juiciest description of a faculty brawl surprisingly turns out to an Albee-esque mele between Penn Warren's fiery first wife and Brooks's spouse. Near their correspondence's end Brooks confesses, ``Letters, I findat least the letter that I have to dash offare not an adequate substitute for real conversation.'' Or, in this case, material for literary eavesdropping, either. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Offering all of the extant letters exchanged by two of the twentieth century's most distinguished literary figures, Cleanth Brooks and Allen Tate: Collected Letters, 1933-1976 vividly depicts the remarkable relationship, both professional and personal, between Brooks and Tate over the course of their lifelong friendship. An accomplished poet, critic, biographer, and teacher, Allen Tate had a powerful influence on the literary world of his era. Editor of the Fugitive and the Sewanee Review, Tate greatly affected the lives and careers of his fellow literati, including Cleanth Brooks. Esteemed coeditor of An Approach to Literature and Understanding Poetry, Brooks was one of the principal creators of the New Criticism. The correspondence between these two gentlemen-scholars, which began in the 1930s, extended over five decades and covered a vast amount of twentieth-century literary history. In the more than 250 letters collected here, the reader will encounter their shared concerns for and responses to the work of their numerous friends and many prominent writers, including T. S. Eliot, William Faulkner, and Robert Lowell. Their letters offer details about their own developing careers and also provide striking insight into the group dynamics of the Agrarians, the noteworthy community of southern writers who played so influential a role in the literature of modernism. Invaluable to both students and teachers of literature, Cleanth Brooks and Allen Tate provides a substantial contribution to the study of twentieth-century American, and particularly southern, literary history.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal

In the tradition of Cleanth Brooks and Robert Penn Warren: A Literary Correspondence (LJ 4/15/98), this collection of more than 250 letters contains all known correspondence between two of the most influential figures in 20th-century American literature, both Southern Agrarians and proponents of the New Criticism. Their correspondence testifies to their mutual respect and admiration as the stature of each writer grew over time. The letters reveal personal events in the lives of the correspondents as well as professional achievements that helped shape literary history. While each man's claim to fame lay in his written output, an ironic recurring theme here is the desire to get together for long talks because, as Brooks noted, "letters...are not an adequate substitute for real conversation." Vinh, a reference librarian for National Public Radio, has written articles for such periodicals as Southern Quarterly Review and New Oxford Review. This well-documented work is recommended for academic libraries.--Denise J. Stankovics, Rockville P.L., Vernon, CT

Booknews

A collection of letters exchanged by two of the 20th century's most distinguished literary figures, depicting their remarkable professional and personal relationship over the years. They respond to the writings and activities of writers including T.S. Eliot, William Faulkner, and Robert Lowell, and offer insight into the group dynamics of the Agrarians, the community of Southern writers who played an influential role in the literature of modernism. Includes b&w photos. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Kirkus Reviews

An unremarkable correspondence between two remarkable southern men of letters at the forefronts of the New Critics and the Fugitive poets, respectively. Hopes for finding nascent critical insights and personal revelations quickly dim while reading over the shoulders of these two giants during four decades of friendship. As editor of the seminal Fugitive and a poet in the Agrarian movement, Tate had an established reputation when he first solicited an article from fellow Vanderbilt graduate Brooks, whose career had just begun to rise. Their early exchanges are only marginal to their assorted writings, however, and they switch mainly to topics of interest to mutual friends rather than posterity. Thus, one finds the ordinary dynamics of academic careersnwho's on top at Louisiana State University, which graduate protégé needs a lectureship, what permissions are cleared for which anthologynand the internecine relations of schools of poetry and criticismnJohn Crowe Ransom's revisions, I.A. Richards's scientific outlook on literature, the latest Modern Language Association feud. Tate and Brooks prove to be both impassioned partisans and seasoned campaigners. By the time Brooks settles down at Yale, where his and Robert "Red" Penn Warren's Understanding Poetry was adopted as a standard text, and Tate begins his collegiate wanderings, they have taken on Van Wyck Brooks, the LSU faculty, the MLA convention, and the whole Ivy League. "It's my considered opinion," Brooks wrote to Tate, "that in academic matters one ought never use the rapier when the meat-axe will do." The juiciest description of a faculty brawl surprisingly turns out to an Albee-esque melée between PennWarren's fiery first wife and Brooks's spouse. Near their correspondence's end Brooks confesses, "Letters, I findnat least the letter that I have to dash offnare not an adequate substitute for real conversation." Or, in this case, material for literary eavesdropping, either.