Typed Letter Signed

ENGLE, Paul (1908-91)

About this Item

The quarter-century director of the University of Iowa's world-renowned Iowa Writers' Workshop was that state's best-known poet, debuting with "Worn Earth" in 1932 and concluding a dozen volumes later with "Images of China" in 1980. TLS, 1p, 5½" X 8", Iowa City, IA, 4 December 1956. Addressed to Ralph G. Newman (1912-98), founder of Chicago's noted Abraham Lincoln Book Shop. Near fine. Friendly, meaty single-space letter filled with memorable phrases. Of his schedule, he remarks: "I have been off lecturing in St. Louis to 1500 teachers of English, with the girls up to their accents in orchids, the University of Minnesota, with the blonde girls looking as if they wore sunlight on their heads instead of hair, and a Catholic girl's school, with the girls showing the exhilarating effects of a steady diet of prayer and prunes." On the possibility of visiting Newman in Chicago, he mentions "taking a train to Houghton, Michigan, to lecture to the College of Mining there, to rub the noses of the students of engineering in poetry, while they rub my nose in the snow." He even works in creative writing, as when he notes, "It was fine to have you all in Iowa City, and especially pleasant to feel that all of you were interested in this university's devotion to the creative act, which is of course the beginning of all books." Signed simply "Paul" in blue ballpoint. A rambling, delightful, fascinating letter.

Seller Inventory # 41560

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