Summer Doorways: A Memoir

by W.S. Merwin

America today is a mobile society. Many of us travel abroad, and few of us live in the towns or cities where we were born. It wasn't always so. “Travel from America to Europe became a commonplace, an ordinary commodity, some time ago, but when I first went such departure was still surrounded with an atmosphere of adventure and improvisation, and my youth and inexperience and my all but complete lack of money heightened that vertiginous sensation,” writes W. S. Merwin. Twenty-one, married and graduated from Princeton, the poet embarked on his first visit to Europe in 1948 when life and traditions on the continent were still adjusting to the postwar landscape. Summer Doorways captures Merwin at a similarly pivotal time before he won the Yale Younger Poets Award in 1952 for his first book, A Mask for Janus—the moment was, as the author writes, “an entire age just before it was gone, like a summer.”

Genres: Memoir, Poetry, Travel, Nonfiction, Biography

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

William Stanley Merwin was an American poet, credited with over fifty books of poetry, translation and prose.

William Stanley Merwin (September 30, 1927 – March 15, 2019) was an American poet who wrote more than fifty books of poetry and prose, and produced many works in translation. During the 1960s anti-war movement, Merwin's unique craft was thematically characterized by indirect, unpunctuated narration. In the 1980s and 1990s, his writing influence derived from an interest in Buddhist philosophy and deep ecology. Residing in a rural part of Maui, Hawaii, he wrote prolifically and was dedicated to the restoration of the island's rainforests.

Merwin received many honors, including the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1971 and 2009; the National Book Award for Poetry in 2005, and the Tanning Prize—one of the highest honors bestowed by the Academy of American Poets—as well as the Golden Wreath of the Struga Poetry Evenings. In 2010, the Library of Congress named him the 17th United States Poet Laureate.

Reviews

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

W.S. Merwin, memoirist? Until I read a review of his new collected poems in the New York Times a few weeks back, it was news to me. The reviewer pointed Summer Doorways out in particular as a good one, so I interlibrary-borrowed the doorways and walked through them.

As I was reading, my chief observation was how narrative it is. Very little in the way of dialogue here, just Merwin telling us stories of his foray into Europe as a 21-year-old just after the war in 1948. As for poetic writing... well, now and again, but it certainly isn't prevalent. It's more like Merwin used his notebooks and made them over as a memoir.

The book does pick up momentum and interest as it goes, however. As young Merwin attaches himself to some wealthy Europeans as a "tutor" for their young charges, his experiences on the south coast of France and, later, in Portugal, take on the feel of an F. Scott Fitzgerald book (Merwin in the role of Nick Carraway, the observer).

If you're looking for extensive asides about the writing life, this is not the book to pick up. While Merwin alludes occasionally to wanting to be a writer, they are few and far between. More plentiful are his allusions to writers he admires. He reads Milton, Blake, Shakespeare, Swift, Yeats, Joyce, Mann, Lorca, Stevens, and Spinoza. Throw in a few writers whom Fame has not granted an audience, and you'll see that young Merwin, whose poetry is surprisingly accessible, was quite erudite in his readings at a young age.

After the riotous South France section, featuring a troubled and fabulously wealthy man named Alan, the book ends with a rather pastoral trip to Portugal, where the old life of Europe seems to be hanging on. Here Merwin's writing waxes more poetic and lovely:

"Summer lasted late along the small valley. It was summer light that lingered in honeyed beams through the afternoons, over the small fields, and lit up the cart track across the river, the bronze hides of the oxen, the mud-caked cart wheels turning slowly and wailing, the wisps of mauve smoke climbing. But the nights were growing colder in the shadowed courtyard, and the house was cold in the mornings. The water in the hens' drinking basin had ice on it at daybreak."

If you are a fan of Merwin's poetry, it makes a nice companion piece to gain insight and background into his formative years as a writer. And if you wish to write yourself, you probably will wonder why you couldn't be so blessed as to "do the Europe thing" with such illustrious (and wealthy) company as a young, penniless son of an America preacher.

Wonder away. And enjoy the vicarious ride. It may be the best you can do.

[Marsinay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not sure why I responded so strongly to this quiet, thoughtful memoir. It filled me with melancholy and longing for a world I never knew, and made me nostalgic for those timeless summer pleasures we all experience in our youth. His prose is lovely but much of the beauty lies in what Merwin leaves unwritten. *4.5 stars

[Lydia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Merwin is new to me. He is known for his poetry, but this is a memoir, taking us back to to his early years when he was serving as a tutor to the Stuyvesants of New York, after graduating from seminary and Princeton in the late 1940s when he was eighteen. He didn't really mean to go to Princeton, but he got a full scholarship to all schools he listed, and was too young to serve in the war. His father was a minister, so Merwin had no idea of overseas travel or living in villas and meeting old European families, their servants and retinue. He traveled to Nice, France with his charges on a freighter and was soon staying on the Mediterranean Sea next to the Vanderbuilt's villa. This is followed by a trip through Spain with deposed Portugese royalty. He and his wife were given a house, and he could write for the summer when he wasn't teaching. I loved seeing this side of travel in Europe in the 1950s. We've seen this period of time from many other viewpoints, but for me Merwin describes the beauty, the mores, the slowness of life with wonderful detail. He never went back to Nice, or Portugal, or saw any of these people again--they died before he found their tracks later. As he said, "I had the luck to discover, to glimpse, to touch for a moment some ancient, measureless way of living, of being in the world, some fabric long taken for granted, never finished yet complete...evanescent as a work of art, an entire age just before it was gone, like a summer."

[Logan · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a fan of Merwin's work, I was excited to read his memoir detailing his youth. It's often compelling, and their are moments that stick with me throughout the reading. But my criticism of this really comes down to the lack of interiority Merwin shows throughout the memoir. While his vivid descriptions often place the reader in the middle of the events, it often feels like he is keeping us at arms length when discussing the personal dynamics that made this time mean so much to him. And maybe that is intentional it seems like he doesn't want to center himself, but my favorite parts are when he does. However, this isn't bad by any means. It acts almost as a preservation of a time post-WWII where the heirs to the wealth of the feudal system are having their last gasps, and Merwin is an empathetic naive broke "intellectual" who by chance is along for the ride as an English tutor. Interesting sure, but not as captivating as I was hoping.

Note: A scene from the book (one of my favorites) is also the subject of Merwin's poem "Europe" from The Shadow of Sirius, and I highly recommend that poem for readers of this memoir.

[Jim Coughenour · Rating 5 out of 5]

A couple months ago I read The Green Knight in W. S. Merwin's translation, which for me was a minor miracle of pure pleasure, of "charm" in its ancient etymological sense. But I was also charmed by the introduction, by Merwin's unpretentious graceful literate sensibility. I wanted more, which led me to this memoir, published in 2005, about the summer of 1948 when he was 21, a tutor to the son of a rich man, experiencing Europe for the first time. But of course that doesn't tell you anything, really.

What can I say? For the few short hours it took to read this memoir, I was somewhere else, in the lost world of post-war America and Europe, in the company of a poet who has yet to discover his talent, a gentle young man in the company of wealth and minor royalty ... Merwin has a light touch, but the book is haunted by a delicate melancholy, as "evanescent as a work of art, an entire age just before it was gone, like a summer." It's perfect.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

W.S.Merwin has written an elegant memoir of the passing of an age of manners and aristocracy that makes the near past seem far distant. Mr. Merwin states his intention early in the book, and delivers with consumate skill, and unfailing grace. There's nothing shocking here except that such a genteel time existed in the rubble of post-WW II Europe. The milieu and the prose are almost other-worldly, and I think the best way to define it is as a "civilized read."

[Nina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Merwin's prose is as rich with imagery as his poetry. His delightful memoir is layered with details of growing up, attaining a college education, and travel to Europe shortly after WWII. Merwin deftly draws his reader into his life. His writing flows with beauty and symmetry. His descriptions of Europe are so vivid that I could hear the mandolin playing and taste the wine.

[Shawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summer Doorways is indeed a memoir of a different, seemingly forgotten time. But it's also a travelogue. Throughout Merwin's story I was looking up locations and names--he drops some big ones--in hopes of acquiring a deeper understanding of what he experienced.
There is a steady stream of places and people, most of whom receive detailed descriptions that reflect Merwin's own thoughts as well as his literary gifts. He is unsparing in his honesty toward people he met and toward his own shortcomings. He'd been newly married when he traveled to Europe and his assessment of his marriage is aloof at times, heartbreaking at one time in particular when he recounts a discussion with Gilles.
Merwin's language is spare yet evocative. Not a minor accomplishment. I imagine him sitting at his desk writing this book and thinking, "I could go on a bit more about this, but that's enough."
Ultimately, I found the book to be a revealing portrait of the writer's mind and how one especially gifted writer views his own life.

[Daisy Hickman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this memoir. The writing is superb. His insights are breathtaking.

[Shelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written memoir of the author's early days, focusing on how he got to work in Europe and some of his time there.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Re-read this recently and gave a copy to my father, who, like Merwin, grew up in central Pennsylvania. Some of the best character portraits I've ever read, and it captures a landscape and time in Europe, just after WWII, that has stayed with me.

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This memoir takes the poet from adolescence in rural Pennsylvania to study (and marriage) at Princeton University, and from there to summers with aristocrats in New Jersey, France and Portugal. I liked it well enough to read his poetry, which I like even better.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Understated and beautifully written. Not for anyone who's looking for gossip. Merwin manages to give a snapshot of a particular time in his life without revealing ugly private details and still make this a great read. Highly recommended

[Cooper Renner · Rating 4 out of 5]

A deliberative and meditative memoir of Merwin's young manhood, which occasional looks back at his childhood as well. The roots of his life as a translator are here, though the links to his own poetry are less obvious.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been enchanted by Merwin's poetry for many years. This memoir of his younger days as new/old different ways of living opened up to him were therefore interesting to me.

[Sydney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting Memoir of one of my new favorite poets...as interviewed by Bill Moyers October, 2009.

[Annie Sterken · Rating 4 out of 5]

An unbelievably idyllic youth.

[Deonne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quiet, elegant memoir of Merwin's early years, before the Yale prize launched his career. Recommended.

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. His poetry is gorgeous. But I couldn't get interested in this.

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dragged a bit at the very end but otherwise this was a charming and inviting read with substance but few pronouncements.

[Todd Rongstad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet, and beautifully done.