Continual Lessons: The Journals of Glenway Wescott, 1937-1955 [first edition]

Written in the tell-all spirit of Rousseau, and with considerable literary flair, these journals by one of America's most notable modern writers offer a sprightly melange of daily events; sophisticated judgments of literature, painting and classical music; telling portraits of a wealth of fellow writers including Maugham, Katherine Anne Porter, Forster, Auden and Janet Flanner ("dear little old cold volcano"); and a goodly sprinkling of bons mots, e.g., "The thought of an artist has to be running water." Wescott (1901-1987) found fame early, with such works as his novella The Pilgrim Hawk (1940) and the bestselling Apartment in Athens (1945); thereafter, as though he enjoyed life too much, most of his major novel projects remained at the starting stage. A man of intense homoerotic sensibility, his hallmarks as a writer were incisiveness and honesty. Rosco completed this book after the death of Phelps. Both had been friends of Wescott. Photos. Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.