I'm glad I was (to some extent) wrong about the lack of interest. The
problem with Tonks is simple: you can't get at the poems because she
refused to let the books be reprinted. There are a few on-line,
presumably without permission, and a site called PoemHunter claims to
have a lot, though you can't actually read any of them, at the moment
anyway. We shall see what the family or heirs will allow, no doubt.
It occurs to me to think at this point: Don't you sometimes worry
about the apparent correlation between verbally adventurous poetry and
"severely disturbed personalities"?
pr
On 8 May 2014, at 10:59, Tony Frazer wrote:
I saw this too. I hadn’t realised, until I saw it, how far Neil had
got in tracking her down. I tried myself a few years ago through the
usual channels of ex-publishers and agents but drew a blank. I still
have her 2 volumes from the 60s and think very highly of them; I’ve
not read her novels, of which there were 6 or 7, and they seem to have
dropped out of existence as well. It would be good at least to have a
new compilation of her poems, including perhaps uncollected work from
magazines. Perhaps Bloodaxe will come to the rescue.
Tony
On 8 May 2014, at 09:48, Peter Riley <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Rosemary Tonks has died, obituary by Neil Astley in yesterday's
> Guardian. No new revelations or hopes of public redress, but some
> interesting biography and family connections. There could be a
> thesis on C20 women who abandoned poetry in something like horror of
> its irresponsibility.
>
> I also get the feeling, perhaps wrongly, that nobody's much
> bothered. There was a flurry of excitement about RT in these
> circles some twenty years ago, but it took Neil Astley to follow up
> and attempt to do something.
>
> pr
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