5/21/2023 0 Comments Joseph blotnerYou don't hear contemporary writers or poets speaking about his impact on their writings, and neither his poetry nor his fiction (except for All the King's Men) is taught very much. Warren was a first-rate literary critic, and his books Understanding Poetry and Understanding Fiction remain intelligent, concise examinations.īut achievements don't necessarily translate into influence. He received the Pulitzer Prize in 1947 for the novel All the King's Men and in 1979 for the poetry collection Now and Then, and was a leading member of the Agrarians, who had some impact on Southern writing in the 1930s and 1940s. Warren (1905-1989) was a man of great talent: novelist, short-story writer, poet, essayist, biographer. Blotner, the author of a very fine biography of William Faulkner, states his own belief in the preface: "America's preeminent man of letters, master of genres, prodigiously creative, heavy with awards and prizes honoring his genius, Robert Penn Warren was also that rare being, a genuinely good man." So if Blotner can't be accused of being ambivalent about his subject, he does put himself in the position of convincing his readers of Warren's literary standing.
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