Dylan Thomas was lying in a coma under an oxygen tent in St. Vincent‘s Hospital. He had been lying there, unshaven, for three days. The precise cause of the coma was obscure, though he had been heard making the extravagant claim that he had eighteen whiskeys at the White Horse Tavern the night before he collapsed.
One of my favorite books, the letters of two friends, both writers, who deeply admire and support each other. "We must catch the train, Robert, we must move, otherwise life takes you, makes you soggy. We're wearing cheap shoes, we must stay ahead of it." #BestBuds #JubilantJuly @RealLifeReading
pickI wanted to like this more than I did. I began to feel like a voyeur, peeking into these writers final days. The author jumps from past to present and back again which broke up the rhythm for me. The sections on Susan Sontag and Maurice Sendak broke my heart. Sontag for her belief that she was immortal. Sendak for his miserable upbringing and deep sadness.
"Maybe the most startling of these objects is Keat‘s original death mask. Maurice [Sendak] did not keep the wooden box containing it in his bedroom but in the blue guest room. He liked to open it and stroke the smooth white forehead. He said it did not make him feel sad, it made him feel maternal." (I was going to post a photo of the death mask but just didn't have it in me. So here's something pretty to look at.)
Moving from a book about the death of a sister on to a book about the deaths of five great writers. Hopefully it's just a coincidence and not a message of some kind. 😂
I want to read these two just because of their gorgeous covers. Has anyone read these? #asportandapastime #jamessalter #thehidinglace #trezzaazzopardi
