Jon Silkin

  • This material is held at
  • Reference
      GB 133 CPA/2/3/137
  • Former Reference
      GB 133 Sequence 2, Box 38 [90]
  • Dates of Creation
      23 Feb 1975-25 Jun 1980
  • Physical Description
      20 pieces; 23 sheets

Scope and Content

Correspondence with English poet and editor Jon Silkin, most of which dates from 1979. Topics include: royalties for and reviews of Silkin's [1974] Carcanet collection [The] p[rinciple] o[f] w[ater]; the rise in price of remaining copies of this collection in 1979; orders from Silkin for various Carcanet books, including C.H. Sisson's In the Trojan ditch and [Michael Hamburger's]Real estate; his response to Schmidt's comments on some of his poems in 1978; the possibility of Silkin putting together a new poetry collection, discussed in 1978; Schmidt's request for a contributor's copy of Stand [probably the special issue containing a symposium on 'commitment' in early 1979, which continued the debate between Schmidt and Silkin about poetry and politics]; Silkin's disagreements with Donald Davie on the same issue; Schmidt's defence of C.H. Sisson against Silkin's attacks on him and his work; and Schmidt's piece on Silkin in his book [An introduction to] fifty modern British poets [1979]. In /5 Silkin encloses a carbon typescript of the revised second section of his poem 'Resting Place', and in /9 he encloses a later version of the whole poem [which was published in PN Review 11].

Dated at: Newcastle upon Tyne [Tyne and Wear]; and Bolton [Lancashire].

Holograph and typescript.