Chris Jones : part four

When you require renewal, is there a particular poem or book that you return to? A particular author?

One of the reasons why I am sitting here writing this is that I was persuaded to write a literary PhD after completing my degree, a venture that occupied me through my early twenties.  I chose to write about the Anglo-American poet Thom Gunn.  Gunn occupied a strange position in contemporary poetry (perhaps he still does): he was lionised by some key critics and supporters but still felt/feels like a marginalised figure.  I think Gunn appealed to me because he was an outlier, a formalist, influenced by modern fashions/culture it seemed to me much more than his (British) peers.  I was also interested in the trajectory of his career from stuffy post-war 50s England to find a more liberal, experimental version of himself in San Francisco.  I didn’t find the process of writing about Gunn an easy one (I nearly quit) but I’m pleased I carried the project through.  I am also pleased I went to visit Gunn in Haight Ashbury in the mid-90s. I interviewed him (badly) but he was gracious, kind - an attentive host. Books of Gunn’s I return to?  Perhaps controversially, I think Gunn only really hit his straps as a poet in his late thirties (he published his first collection in 1954 - aged twenty-five).  So I would look to Moly (1971) which melds together rhyme, metre and Gunn’s experiences of taking LSD. Anything released after this date is worth returning to - but The Man with Night Sweats (1992) stands out as a work of exceptional quality and emotional depth.  I have just bought The Letters of Thom Gunn which I am going to read over the summer. I’m sure I’ll find new things out about him while going through his correspondences - he had this public persona that he liked to tout around but he was very much a private figure.