Life Studies was first published in 1959.

'In Life Studies the pathos of the local colour of the past - of the lives and deaths of his father and mother and grandfather and uncle, crammed full of their own varied and placid absurdity - is the background that sets off the desperate knife-edged absurdity of the jailed conscientious objector among gangsters and Jehovah's witnesses, the private citizen returning to his baby, older now, from the mental hospital. He sees things as being part of history; if you say about his poor detailedly eccentric, trust-fund Lowells: 'but they weren't,' he can answer: 'They are now.'' Randall Jarrell

Life Studies by Robert Lowell, originally published in 1959, is now recognised to be one of the most important and influential collections of American poetry from the twentieth century.

About the Author
Robert Lowell (1917-1977) was born in Boston. He was recognised as an accomplished poet in his own lifetime, and along with Elizabeth Bishop, John Berryman and Sylvia Plath he created the fashion and generated the force of American poetry over the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. Life Studies, published in 1959, marked a watershed. It initiated an autobiographical project which would dominate his oeuvre thereafter, and is now regarded as one of the most influential books of the century. He received a Pulitzer Prize for Lord Weary's Castle (1946) and another for The Dolphin (1973).


Book Information
ISBN 9780571207749
Author Robert Lowell
Format Paperback
Page Count 112
Imprint Faber & Faber
Publisher Faber & Faber
Weight(grams) 140g
Dimensions(mm) 197mm * 132mm * 9mm