The Broken Tower: A Life of Hart Crane Book

I didn't finish this one. I quit in the middle but not for lack of interest in Hart Crane. The thing is, I can't spend too much time on these really long and detailed biographies unless the facts are woven into an emotional narrative. I felt this was dry and that Hart Crane's life seemed to be nothing but dry. He was a man who suffered deeply and who, in his poetry, tried to escape those wounds and feelings by writing about structures, buildings, islands, always using these subjects as (I believe) a great metaphore to his own place and space in his complicated emotional lanscape.

When your mother and father use you as a shield or toy with you or ignore and abandon you because they are both emotionally stunted teenagers disguised as an adults, it leaves tremendous scars on your psyche and causes depression, anxiety and feelings of guilt and shame. Add to that the fact that you are a sensitive poet with an above average intelligence and an urgent need to make up for all the lost time your parents stole from you by being selfish and immature and the fact that you are not straight.... well.

Hart Crane was destructive in his drinking sometimes and in his love life too but he was probably trying to silence the demons and relax so he could hear the music and see the beauty of the world.

This biography was good but it was lacking something...