Linda Hamalian – författare

A poet and activist, Kenneth Rexroth is a central figure in the San Francisco literary renaissance. But his nature and love poetry have left their mark on several generations of modern poets, from Beats to Denise Levertov, Carolyn Forché, and Jessica Hagedorn. A complex person, Rexroth was a self-taught man of great knowledge, a consummate storyteller, a man who could be thoroughly charming one day and who could take your head off the next. In the definitive and only biography, Linda Hamalian explores Rexroth’s life and work in all their depth.

This book deals with an American debutante turned expatriate writer and literary benefactor. Caresse Crosby rejected the culturally prescribed roles for women of her era and background in search of an independent, creative, and socially responsible life. Poet, memoirist, advocate of women's rights and the peace movement, Crosby published and promoted modern writers and artists such as Hart Crane, Dorothy Parker, Salvador Dali, and Romare Bearden. She also earned a place in the world of fashion by patenting one of the earliest versions of the brassiere. Behind her public success was a chaotic life: three marriages, two divorces, the suicide of her husband Harry Crosby, strained relationships with her children, and legal confrontations over efforts to establish a center for world peace. As the first biographer to consider both the literary and social contexts of Crosby's life, Linda Hamalian details Crosby's professional accomplishments and her personal struggles. ""The Cramoisy Queen: A Life of Caresse Crosby"" also measures the impact of small presses on modernist literature and draws connections between key writers and artists of the era. In addition to securing a place for Crosby in modern literary and cultural history, ""The Cramoisy Queen: A Life of Caresse Crosby"" contributes to the field of textual studies, specifically the complexities of integrating autobiography and correspondence into biography. Enhanced by thirty-two illustrations, the volume appeals to a wide range of readers, including literary critics, cultural historians, biographers, and gender studies specialists.