Anika Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 Does anyone else enjoy reading published letter collections? I'm always looking for new ones since I am a firm adherent to the 'lost art of letter writing'. Some that I really like are: * Letters of E.B White~edited by Dorothy Lobrano Guth * For Your Eyes Alone: Robertson Davies~edited by Judith Skelton Grant * Love Letters; An Anthology~chosen by Antonia Fraser * How They Said It; wise & witty letters from the famous and infamous~Rosalie Maggio * Letters of Virginia Woolf~edited by Nicholson/Trautman Can you tell me about the ones you've read-- or would maybe like to read? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dimitra Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 I was thinking of John Keats' letters to Fanny Brawne, But I'll wait to watch the film first as to be sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 I would some day like to read any letters Jane Austen has written. Apparently there's a book on her letters to her sister Cassandra and others, and as a matter of fact you can read them here . Wow, didn't expect to find them so quickly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Echo Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 I read The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien and loved it, and I have The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath waiting for my on my TBR shelf! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ii Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 (edited) I've enjoyed reading Love Letters of Great Men and Women: From The Eighteenth Century To The Present Day by C. H. Charles. Edited November 11, 2009 by ii Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlette Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 I've read some of the letters written by Emily Dickinson. They're quite interesting, especially the "controversial" ones - no one knows who they were intended for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay Landsman Posted November 22, 2009 Share Posted November 22, 2009 I plan on purchasing the collected letters of Oscar Wilde at some point. He seems like an interesting enough guy for me to part with my money for Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anika Posted November 23, 2009 Author Share Posted November 23, 2009 I plan on purchasing the collected letters of Oscar Wilde at some point. He seems like an interesting enough guy for me to part with my money for Yes! He's very interesting. Look for the BIO by Richard Ellmann. I read it a few years ago, and it's really good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BookJumper Posted November 23, 2009 Share Posted November 23, 2009 Yes! He's very interesting. Look for the BIO by Richard Ellmann. I read it a few years ago, and it's really good![Please forgive the obnoxious, spoil-sporting English Lit graduate she can't help it]: It is also full of errors, apparently; while writing my dissertation I even came across a (fairly chunky) book which listed and set straight each of Ellmann's errors in page order...! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anika Posted November 23, 2009 Author Share Posted November 23, 2009 [Please forgive the obnoxious, spoil-sporting English Lit graduate she can't help it]: It is also full of errors, apparently; while writing my dissertation I even came across a (fairly chunky) book which listed and set straight each of Ellmann's errors in page order...! No problem! I'm glad for the clarification! Do you remember the name of the 'chunky' book? I'd really like to read it! Like I said, it was years ago when I read this BIO, so I'm wondering if it has been up-dated/corrected--? (Or yanked off the shelves, as it should be, if it's not accurate.) Did many people in the academic world complain about it? Gosh, you'd think the editors would have verified the text before printing it. I'm ignorant about publishing, but do they usually just take someone's word for the facts? I know they have to cite references and such, but does anyone follow up on these? Thanks for drawing this to my attention! That'll teach me not to assume someone is 100% right just because they've managed to publish something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BookJumper Posted November 23, 2009 Share Posted November 23, 2009 I did not remember the name of the chunky (not to mention neon pink) book; however, that's what dissertation bibliographies are for . It is: Horst Schroeder, Additions and Corrections to Richard Ellmann Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anika Posted November 24, 2009 Author Share Posted November 24, 2009 (my dissertation was on Shakespeare, so the chapter on Wilde was me going off a slight tangent... !). Glad to have helped, I was rather worried I'd get shooed off the thread for nitpicking ! Not at all! I'm always grateful to be informed, if someone has information I don't know about. Education comes in many forms. Thanks for such a thorough reply, too! I'm going to try to locate that book. Just out of curiosity--how was your dissertation received? I mean, how did you relate Wilde to Shakespeare, because I could sit down and think my head off all day and not come up with a correlation. (Ha ha.) Was it to do with the errors in the biography? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BookJumper Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 Just out of curiosity--how was your dissertation received? I mean, how did you relate Wilde to Shakespeare, because I could sit down and think my head off all day and not come up with a correlation. The first (how my dissertation was received) is a question I don't have an answer for, it hasn't come back to me marked yet - for all I know I might not even have passed:lurker:! As for the correlation: My dissertation was on translating the Sonnets, and obviously as a translator I had to look at Shakespeare criticism; I argued in my tangent that a creative individual such as a translator would best be served by fictional but passionate accounts of the truth behind the Sonnets rather than plausible but sterile criticism. One such account is Wilde's short story The Portrait of Mr W.H., which casts the fair youth of the Sonnets not as the traditional wealthy patron but as a beautiful boy actor from Shakespeare's theatre company, i.e. the one he rendered immortal in parts such as Viola and Cleopatra. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anika Posted November 25, 2009 Author Share Posted November 25, 2009 My dissertation was on translating the Sonnets, and obviously as a translator I had to look at Shakespeare criticism; I argued in my tangent that a creative individual such as a translator would best be served by fictional but passionate accounts of the truth behind the Sonnets rather than plausible but sterile criticism. That's a really good idea! Hope it comes back with a good mark on it!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanwa Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 I only have two collections of letters in my possession, but considering my love of both authors it will hardly come as a shock. Tolkien's and Austen's. Both collections make for extremely interesting reading. Unfortunately, so many letters of Tolkien's were uncovered in the making of The Letters of JRR Tolkien that they intentionally omitted any which did not have some reference to his writing, and many of these were cut to include only the passages referring to writing. It would have been nice to further read his letters to Edith, his wife, during their courtship. Mainly because I am a very nosy parker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 I bought a collection of Oscar Wilde's the other day - not the complete collection, which I will buy when I have the money, but it's a selection picked by his grandson which he thinks best represents him in short. I've never read a letter collection before but it's a real insight to the character of the person out of the spotlight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 I would some day like to read any letters Jane Austen has written. Apparently there's a book on her letters to her sister Cassandra and others, and as a matter of fact you can read them here . Wow, didn't expect to find them so quickly I've read them and enjoyed them .. but as Cassandra destroyed all that were too personal or revealing (and rightly so), you end up not knowing much more than you did before especially if you've read her biogs. However it is still lovely to read her actual words and get a better insight into what life was like for her. The Mitford letters 'Letters between Six Sisters' are fascinating too .. full of wit, humour, outrage, tragedy and deception. The relationship between Unity and Decca being particularly intriguing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FaustoMerckx Posted January 4, 2010 Share Posted January 4, 2010 Anyone read any collections of Thomas Wolfe's letters? He didn't leave us much and I've read everything else so I've been thinking about getting them for a while Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lyn Posted January 5, 2010 Share Posted January 5, 2010 I've never been interested in reading letter collections. but I sometimes listen to BBC7 online because they have book readings and dramas etc. last year they had readings of letters from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to his mother. I listened because it was a novelty and it does give you a bit of an insight into their lives outside the books they write. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicola Posted January 5, 2010 Share Posted January 5, 2010 I've enjoyed reading Love Letters of Great Men and Women: From The Eighteenth Century To The Present Day by C. H. Charles. I was going to recommend this. It's been on my TBR list for quite some time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yairdoza Posted January 11, 2010 Share Posted January 11, 2010 (edited) I think that i saw a publication of the letters of Charles Darwin - but I can not find them now (loost in my ebook - or were only in my imagination). Now that I started to think about letters, Vincent Van Gogh has a publications of his letters, most of them to his brother Theo Edited January 11, 2010 by BookJumper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 I thought I'd bump this thread up. I've become very interested lately in collections of letters and have already accumulated a small pile of books. I'll post them later, but in the meantime, what other collections has everyone been reading? Or whose letters would you like to read? (I reckon we could also include diaries here...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Easy Reader Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 I haven't read anyones letters the nearest I can think of is Anne Frank's diary but I did watch the Kings Speach the other day and on the dvd there is an interview with Louge's grandson and he was talking about the book so I am now interested in reading that not sure if its letters or diary entries or both I must look into it. Also reading the above I am now interested in reading Vincent Van Gogh's letters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roland Butter Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 Kenneth Williams' letters and diaries are well worth a read, although at times they do make very uncomfortable reading indeed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted June 12, 2011 Share Posted June 12, 2011 (edited) There are so many, I have to consult my reading blog On TBR: - Ahlqvist, August: Kirjeet - kielimiehen ja kaukomatkailijan viestejä 1845-1889 - Doyle, Ursula (ed.): Love Letters by Great Men and Women - Plath, Sylvia: Letters Home - Plath, Sylvia: The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath (RG-B) On my wishlist: Letters by Ayn Rand My Dear Boy: Gay Love Letters through the Centuries by Rictor Norton Neal Cassady: Collected Letters The Diaries of Sofia Tolstoy by Sofia Tolstoy The Andy Warhol Diaries by Andy Warhol, Pat Hackett The Letters of Sylvia Beach by Sylvia Beach Letters of Ted Hughes by Ted Hughes There must be loads more though! Kylie, give us your list and stop keeping us in suspense! Edited June 12, 2011 by frankie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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