- Title: Herself Defined H.D. and Her World
- Author: Barbara Guest
- Year Published: 1984/This Edition: 2003 (Schaffner Press, Inc.)
- Year Purchased: 2008
- Source: Daedalus Books
- About: ‘Herself Defined’ follows Hilda Doolittle from Pennsylvania to Europe, where she became the eccentric, world-famous Imagist poet H.D. She was engaged to Ezra Pound before her transformation; they remained close for the rest of their lives. The life story of H.D. reads like particularly imaginative fiction, with the woman poised at the center of it all a robust and singularly odd specimen. In some ways she reminds me of Ottoline Morrell: striking, commanding, polarizing but always interesting. This book is also a damn fine reminder of how thoroughly distasteful I have always found Pound (and his poetry).
- Motivation: I’m always excited to expand the Eccentric Literary Ladies section of my personal library (yes, that’s a real thing).
- Times Read: 1
- Random Excerpt/Page 25: “Although Hilda was only at Patchin Place a short time, she detested it and this was an unhappy period. The bitterly cold city was unfamiliar. How could she anticipate that Patchin Place would become a famous address because of its occupants, Djuna Barnes and E.E. Cummings, writers with whom H.D. later would be associated. What mainly preoccupied her in 1910 was Pound’s neglect.
- Happiness Scale: 8
A Small Press Life: Books. Art. Writing. Life. Tea.
Not just a blog, a philosophy
A Small Press Life: Books. Art. Writing. Life. Tea. 