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The Notebooks and Diaries of Edmund Wilson
The Forties: From Notebooks and Diaries of the Period
From one of the greatest literary critics of the twentieth century, this installment of Edmund Wilson’s private notebooks covers the years of the 1940s, providing a rich lens into the writer’s life and the world at large.
Wilson turned forty-five in 1940, and this volume The From Notebooks & Diaries of the Period shows the extent to which he was reappraising his life in the decade to follow - saying goodbye to the drifting of the 1920s and the Marxism of the 1930s.
Published posthumously and edited by Leon Edel, The Forties includes observations on his increasingly complicated family matters and covers appreciatively writers like Andre Malraux, W. H. Auden, and Max Beerbohm, as well as entries from his research and travels.
"We can see the beginnings of the masterly work of Wilson's later years, the studies of the American literary and mythic past on which his reputation will surely rest." Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post on The Forties
Wilson turned forty-five in 1940, and this volume The From Notebooks & Diaries of the Period shows the extent to which he was reappraising his life in the decade to follow - saying goodbye to the drifting of the 1920s and the Marxism of the 1930s.
Published posthumously and edited by Leon Edel, The Forties includes observations on his increasingly complicated family matters and covers appreciatively writers like Andre Malraux, W. H. Auden, and Max Beerbohm, as well as entries from his research and travels.
"We can see the beginnings of the masterly work of Wilson's later years, the studies of the American literary and mythic past on which his reputation will surely rest." Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post on The Forties
369 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1983
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About the author
Edmund Wilson
291 books152 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database. See also physicist Edmund Wilson.
Edmund Wilson Jr. was a towering figure in 20th-century American literary criticism, known for his expansive intellect, stylistic clarity, and commitment to serious literary and political engagement. Over a prolific career, Wilson wrote for Vanity Fair, The New Republic, The New Yorker, and The New York Review of Books, shaping the critical conversation on literature, politics, and culture. His major critical works—such as Axel's Castle and Patriotic Gore—combined literary analysis with historical insight, and he ventured boldly into subjects typically reserved for academic specialists, including the Dead Sea Scrolls, Native American cultures, and the American Civil War.
Wilson was also the author of fiction, memoirs, and plays, though his influence rested most strongly on his literary essays and political writing. He was instrumental in promoting the reputations of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, Vladimir Nabokov, and many others. Despite his friendships with several of these authors, his criticism could be unflinching, even scathing—as seen in his public dismissal of H. P. Lovecraft and J. R. R. Tolkien. His combative literary style often drew attention, and his exacting standards for writing, along with his distaste for popular or commercial literature, placed him in a tradition of high-minded literary seriousness.
Beyond the realm of letters, Wilson was politically active, aligning himself at times with socialist ideals and vocally opposing Cold War policies and the Vietnam War. His principled refusal to pay income tax in protest of U.S. militarization led to a legal battle and a widely read protest book.
Wilson was married four times and had several significant personal and intellectual relationships, including with Fitzgerald and Nabokov. He also advocated for the preservation and celebration of American literary heritage, a vision realized in the creation of the Library of America after his death. For his contributions to American letters, Wilson received multiple honors, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom. His legacy endures through his extensive body of work, which remains a touchstone for literary scholars and general readers alike.
Edmund Wilson Jr. was a towering figure in 20th-century American literary criticism, known for his expansive intellect, stylistic clarity, and commitment to serious literary and political engagement. Over a prolific career, Wilson wrote for Vanity Fair, The New Republic, The New Yorker, and The New York Review of Books, shaping the critical conversation on literature, politics, and culture. His major critical works—such as Axel's Castle and Patriotic Gore—combined literary analysis with historical insight, and he ventured boldly into subjects typically reserved for academic specialists, including the Dead Sea Scrolls, Native American cultures, and the American Civil War.
Wilson was also the author of fiction, memoirs, and plays, though his influence rested most strongly on his literary essays and political writing. He was instrumental in promoting the reputations of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, Vladimir Nabokov, and many others. Despite his friendships with several of these authors, his criticism could be unflinching, even scathing—as seen in his public dismissal of H. P. Lovecraft and J. R. R. Tolkien. His combative literary style often drew attention, and his exacting standards for writing, along with his distaste for popular or commercial literature, placed him in a tradition of high-minded literary seriousness.
Beyond the realm of letters, Wilson was politically active, aligning himself at times with socialist ideals and vocally opposing Cold War policies and the Vietnam War. His principled refusal to pay income tax in protest of U.S. militarization led to a legal battle and a widely read protest book.
Wilson was married four times and had several significant personal and intellectual relationships, including with Fitzgerald and Nabokov. He also advocated for the preservation and celebration of American literary heritage, a vision realized in the creation of the Library of America after his death. For his contributions to American letters, Wilson received multiple honors, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom. His legacy endures through his extensive body of work, which remains a touchstone for literary scholars and general readers alike.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 11, 2025
Briefer collection than the Thirties, including notes for books he wrote. Most memorable were trips to Italy immediately after the War, and to Haiti in 1949, as well as a poignant visit to former lover Edna St. Vincent Millay before her death. Fewer descriptions of sex than in the Thirties, but more clinically described.
November 29, 2021
In reading Wilson's diaries, published by the decade in which they were written, I found somewhat unexpectedly that I liked the genre. Probably due to the fact I started many and continued with none.
May 23, 2013
Discombobulated in form, the author nevertheless knows everyone and everything. An occasionally thrilling and intimate posthumous swim through a diarist's routine.
The section on Katy Dos Passos, after her own sudden death, is a masterclass on (semi-privately) eulogizing a lost friend.
The section on Katy Dos Passos, after her own sudden death, is a masterclass on (semi-privately) eulogizing a lost friend.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews