With its proximity to the cultural hub of New York City and its quieter suburban and rural landscapes, Connecticut was fertile ground for artists and writers in the period of Modernist movements between 1913 and 1979. Many of these cultural figures are well known through biographical and critical studies. Creative Places seeks to show how place played a significant role in creative work, and how in turn the artists and writers influenced communities in Connecticut.
1914 – 1997
- Biography/Description of Work
Born into a wealthy family, Laughlin was a Harvard educated poet who used his fortune to establish New Directions Publishing in 1936 in the Norfolk guest cottage of his aunt (Leila Laughlin Carlisle). He sought to provide a forum for modernist authors who were otherwise finding it difficult to publish. Among them were Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Gertrude Stein, Dylan Thomas, Wallace Stevens and Ezra Pound. Kaye Boyle and F. Scot Fitzgerald, both one-time Connecticut residents, also found a voice with New Directions. In 1945, Laughlin took a risk and published Fitzgerald’s “The Crack Up” posthumously.
- Sources view
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Laughlin, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Directions_Publishing, http://www.connectotel.com/marcus/laughlin.html, http://archives.newyorker.com/?iid=15749&startpage=page0000043#folio=040 James Laughlin Article - New York Times - 1973-2-25, James Laughlin Article - New York Times - 1981-8-23, James Laughlin Article - New York Times - 1986-11-30, James Laughlin Article - New York Times - 1992-10-29, James Laughlin Letters - New York Times - 1994-3-20, James Laughlin Obituary - New York Times - 1997-11-14
- Associated Resource(s)