{"product_id":"a-dirty-hand-winfield-townley-scott-9780292741652","title":"A dirty hand: The Literary Notebooks of Winfield Townley Scott","description":"\u003cp\u003eFrom \"a dirty hand\" \u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWords are very powerful. You aren't sure of that? Think of all the things you won't say.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cul\u003e \u003cli\u003eWonderful remark in a note I had this week from William Carlos Williams. He spoke of the \"disease\" of wanting to write poetry; said he had been \"off\" poetry for many months and-he said-\"I feel clean and unhappy.\"\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003eOne reason for keeping this kind of notebook: you can put on record the retort you couldn't think of at last night's party.\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003ePhotographs of Henry James in his middle years should be commented upon. Gone is the shy aesthete of the youthful portrait (by LaFarge?) . This bearded man has a fierce look, even a bestial one. Here is perhaps-I don't know-James at his most generative. Again this man disappears in the shaven, bald, final James, the famous James-the Grand Lama.\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003eI noticed when Lindsay (thirteen) read aloud a passage from a hunting book the other day he pronounced \"genital\" as \"genteel.\" I'd love to see a literary history titled \"The Genital Tradition.\"\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003eContrast \"business ethics\" and the ethics of art. Nobody writes a poem hoping it will wear out in four or five years.\u003c\/li\u003e \u003c\/ul\u003e \u003cp\u003eBetween 1951 and 1966 the distinguished American poet Winfield Townley Scott kept a series of notebooks in which he set down his thoughts on poetry, literature, the literary scene, and life in general. Shortly before his untimely death in 1968 he made a selection of the entries he thought were best and gave it the title \"a dirty hand.\" These perceptive notes, some tart, some gentle, some boisterous, some wistful, give us a remarkable insight into the workings of his creative mind. George P. Elliott has said of Scott: \"In a very solid way, I think he was as rock-bottom American a poet as we have had since Frost.\" The introduction is by Scott's good friend Merle Armitage, who also designed the original edition of this book.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Winfield Townley Scott\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0292741650\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780292741652\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Texas Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 01\/01\/1969\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 176\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.59lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.41d","brand":"Winfield Townley Scott","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48013717307647,"sku":"9780292741652","price":19.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_ba9bf323-68eb-4b08-89a5-32bdc35d41ff.jpg?v=1767744328","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/a-dirty-hand-winfield-townley-scott-9780292741652","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}