Overview

"The Enormous Room is a fictionalized autobiographical account of the three months that E. E. Cummings spent in a French prison under suspicion of espionage-a circumstance he could have easily avoided had he professed a hatred of Germans. Instead, when questioned, Cummings answered French authorities in a way that insured that he would accompany his friend ""B."" (William Slater Brown), who was indeed guilty of writing letters critical of the French government. The psychologically tense narrative-shocking and provocative in its day-juxtaposes the barbarity and inhumanity of war against the camaraderie and collective spirit of the oppressed. As a piece of writing, it foreshadows the whimsy, humor, pessimism, and jubilance that would come to characterize Cummings's poetry while, on its own, it stands as a major work of World War I literature. This Warbler Classics edition includes Paul Headrick's essay ""Brilliant Obscurity: The Reception of The Enormous Room, "" as well as a detailed biographical timeline."

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9781954525252

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It's not as an account of a war atrocity or as an attack on France...that The Enormous Room is important, but as a distinct conscious creation separate from anything else under heaven. -John Dos Passos

"""It's not as an account of a war atrocity or as an attack on France...that The Enormous Room is important, but as a distinct conscious creation separate from anything else under heaven."" -John Dos Passos"

Author Information

E. E. Cummings (1894-1962) was an American poet, painter, essayist, author, and playwright. He is widely regarded as one of the most important American poets of the twentieth century. During his lifetime Cummings received numerous awards for his work, including two Guggenheim Fellowships and the Bollingen Prize in Poetry. Paul Headrick is a Canadian writer, editor, and reviewer. He currently teaches a graduate workshop at Simon Fraser University's Writer's Studio. His books include The Doctrine of Affections and That Tune Clutches My Heart, and a textbook, The Wiley Guide to Writing Essays About Literature.

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