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The Key to Everything: May Swenson, A Writer's Life
An intimate portrait of the twentieth-century American poet
May Swenson (1913–1989) was one of the most important and original poets of the twentieth century. The Key to Everything is a biography of this experimental American modernist that draws directly from her unpublished diaries and her letters to friends, family, and colleagues, most notably Elizabeth Bishop. In 1952, Swenson wrote in her diary, “I want to confirm my life in a narrative—my Lesbianism, the hereditary background of my parents, grandparents, origins in the ‘old country.’” Taking up Swenson’s uncompleted autobiographical plan, Margaret Brucia tells Swenson’s story as much as possible through her own words.
While chronicling the whole of Swenson’s life, this book focuses on the period from 1936 to 1959, when she came of age artistically and personally in New York City. Against the backdrop of the Great Depression, the Federal Writers’ Project, Greenwich Village, and the emergence of gay culture, Swenson’s diaries lay bare her aspirations, fears, joys, and disappointments. Readers see the poet and person emerge, inextricably entwined, as Swenson describes her struggles with poverty, anonymity, and predatory men; her romantic relationships; the people she met, the books she read, and the work she produced.
The most detailed and intimate biography of Swenson to date, The Key to Everything is a unique portrait of a poet who resisted labels throughout her life.
May Swenson (1913–1989) was one of the most important and original poets of the twentieth century. The Key to Everything is a biography of this experimental American modernist that draws directly from her unpublished diaries and her letters to friends, family, and colleagues, most notably Elizabeth Bishop. In 1952, Swenson wrote in her diary, “I want to confirm my life in a narrative—my Lesbianism, the hereditary background of my parents, grandparents, origins in the ‘old country.’” Taking up Swenson’s uncompleted autobiographical plan, Margaret Brucia tells Swenson’s story as much as possible through her own words.
While chronicling the whole of Swenson’s life, this book focuses on the period from 1936 to 1959, when she came of age artistically and personally in New York City. Against the backdrop of the Great Depression, the Federal Writers’ Project, Greenwich Village, and the emergence of gay culture, Swenson’s diaries lay bare her aspirations, fears, joys, and disappointments. Readers see the poet and person emerge, inextricably entwined, as Swenson describes her struggles with poverty, anonymity, and predatory men; her romantic relationships; the people she met, the books she read, and the work she produced.
The most detailed and intimate biography of Swenson to date, The Key to Everything is a unique portrait of a poet who resisted labels throughout her life.
- GenresBiography
288 pages, Hardcover
Published July 8, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 20, 2025
This biography—drawing effectively from diaries, interviews, and a fascinating decades-long correspondence with Elizabeth Bishop—pulls the shroud off a major 20th century poet. It restores her, in some ways, to her place in the pantheon of American poets, especially prominent female and lesbian poets, from her time. And boy is she interesting!
From a childhood as a Mormon speaking Swedish in Utah to the struggling creative bubbling up into the Bohemian hubbub of New York’s Greenwich Village as a decidedly queer person, May Swenson’s life comes alive in sometimes eyebrow-raising detail. She brushes shoulders with Alfred Stieglitz, James Baldwin, Joe Gould, Robert Frost, Beauford Delaney and more on her way to fame as a writer. But the intimate correspondence with poet Elizabeth Bishop, and what it reveals about Swenson’s mostly female lovers, really gives this work heft.
The book’s insights into May’s deeper, personal, more primordial thoughts helps give insight in her work. I must confess I did not know much at all about May Swenson going into this book, but on reading it—and understanding how she fit into the constellation of her own literary times (and literally learning how many times her poetry appeared in The New Yorker over her life, for example)—I now see just how important this biography is for raising her back up to her rightful prominence. I’m not certain if this paucity of publicity for Swenson stems from an overly cautious literary executor (I’ve seen that before) or some other factor. But I’m glad this is finally in the world as a portal for all of us.
From a childhood as a Mormon speaking Swedish in Utah to the struggling creative bubbling up into the Bohemian hubbub of New York’s Greenwich Village as a decidedly queer person, May Swenson’s life comes alive in sometimes eyebrow-raising detail. She brushes shoulders with Alfred Stieglitz, James Baldwin, Joe Gould, Robert Frost, Beauford Delaney and more on her way to fame as a writer. But the intimate correspondence with poet Elizabeth Bishop, and what it reveals about Swenson’s mostly female lovers, really gives this work heft.
The book’s insights into May’s deeper, personal, more primordial thoughts helps give insight in her work. I must confess I did not know much at all about May Swenson going into this book, but on reading it—and understanding how she fit into the constellation of her own literary times (and literally learning how many times her poetry appeared in The New Yorker over her life, for example)—I now see just how important this biography is for raising her back up to her rightful prominence. I’m not certain if this paucity of publicity for Swenson stems from an overly cautious literary executor (I’ve seen that before) or some other factor. But I’m glad this is finally in the world as a portal for all of us.
September 22, 2025
I am so glad that I came across this book. Mae Swenson lived the most fascinating life and I can't believe I'd never heard of her before. Brucia really brings her to life through all these personal diaries and letters that nobody had read before, and you get such an intimate look at what it was like to be a lesbian poet trying to make it in 1930s New York. I found myself completely absorbed in Swenson's relationships (especially her long friendship with Elizabeth Bishop) and her honest, sometimes brutal thoughts about the literary world she was navigating. The writing flows really well and never feels academic even though Brucia clearly did tons of research. I immediately wanted to go find some of Swenson's actual poems after finishing this, and I'll definitely be looking for more biographies by this author.
November 10, 2025
A brief well written biography of a once well known American poet, May Swanson. It is a really interesting tale starting in Sweden where the Mormon church converted a number of Swedes who were then mercilessly harassed and eventually emigrated to Utah. May grew up as the dutiful eldest daughter of 10, who scrubbed and ironed and raised her siblings alongside her mother. May eventually carved her own path to NYC, where she wrote and had affairs with men and women before settling into a series of lasting relationships with women. The social scene just seems so alien to today's reader, but it is fascinating to read about. And May never turned her back on the Mormon church, nor was she kicked out despite her very divergent lifestyle. Just a really interesting storuy, with some lovely, accessible poetry mixed in.
July 9, 2025
Intelligent and sympathetic biography of a 20th century American poet based on her diaries, letters, and personal interviews.
September 11, 2025
my dad helped edit this book :)
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews