Overview

"One hundred years ago, Bohemian author and editor of the radical Masses magazine, Floyd Dell, began a passionate affair with a newcomer to Greenwich Village - the yet to be discovered ""girl poet,"" Edna St. Vincent Millay. In the years that followed, both Dell and Millay became symbols of early 20th century feminism, rebellion and literary freedom. A century later, while poring over her grandfather Floyd's papers at Chicago's Newberry Library, Jerri Dell discovered hundreds of handwritten letters and an unpublished memoir about his love affair with Millay. Finding him as outlandish, entertaining and insightful as he was when she knew him fifty years before, she chose to bring him and his poet lover back to life within the pages of this book. Admirers of Edna Millay - as well as literary and political history buffs, Bohemian Village enthusiasts, and readers interested in writers who famously influenced social norms - are sure to enjoy this eye-witness account of a fascinating woman and exceptional poet."

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9780990313946

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Reviews

Floyd Dell's granddaughter has unearthed a trove of his private letters. The result, collected here, is the first in-depth entree into Floyd Dell's brilliant mind as it tries to grasp that of Edna Millay, his enigmatic and still-elusive lover. --Barbara Hurd, author, Listening to the Savage: River Notes and Half-Heard Melodies Artfully brought to vivid life are the lives and loves of two extravagantly romantic rebels who found themselves and each other at the heart of America's truest bohemia, the Greenwich Village of the early 20th century. --Douglas Clayton, author, Floyd Dell: The Life and Times of an American Rebel Jerri Dell's compelling preface, interlaced with memories of her grandfather, the fiery radical and astute man of letters, entices readers into this absorbing exploration of love and literature. --Krystyna Poray Goddu, author, A Girl Called Vincent: The Life of Poet Edna St. Vincent Millay Provides fresh food for thought about the radical feminists of Greenwich Village during the early decades of the 20th century. --Lois Rudnick, author, Mabel Dodge Luhan: New Woman, New Worlds In memoir, letters and prose, Millay and her Village world come alive. Floyd Dell deepens our understanding of her dedication to poetry, commitment to the radical causes of feminism and pacifism, and love affairs with women and men. -- Dana Greene, author, Denise Levertov: A Poet's Life Floyd Dell was one of the fortunate Villagers who lived long enough to reflect on these early heady days of intellectual ferment, progressive politics, free love, and masquerade balls--a time when the serious and frivolous mingled inextricably. Delving into the archives at Newberry Library in Chicago, Jerri Dell rediscovered the young man who, in 1913, threw himself into New York's bohemian neighborhood; an older Floyd who, in 1931, recollects his love affair with poet Edna St. Vincent Millay in an article for the New York Herald Tribune; and an elderly Floyd who corresponded in the 1960s with Millay biographer Miriam Gurko and, in 1967, finally tells all in unpublished essay 'Not Roses, Roses All the Way.' --Mary Jane Treacy, Greenwich Village, 1913: Suffrage, Labor, and the New Woman Ms. Dell deserves our deepest thanks for restoring to us the powerful and eloquent voice of one of the central figures of Greenwich Village on the cusp of becoming the Bohemian center it is known for today, and for giving us a fresh perspective on the girl poet [Floyd Dell] had loved. --Bookreporter An absolute 'must read' for anyone who has ever enjoyed the literary work of Edna Millay, or who has an interest in the original bohemian Village culture and the social norms of the period, Blood Too Bright: Floyd Dell Remembers Edna St. Vincent Millay is a consistently engaging, informative, thoughtful, and entertaining read from beginning to end. While unreservedly and enthusiastically recommended for community and academic library Literary Studies collections, it should be noted for the personal reading lists of students and the general reading public with an interest in the subject. --Helen Dumont for MBR Bookwatch

Provides fresh food for thought about the radical feminists of Greenwich Village during the early decades of the 20th century. --Lois Rudnick, author, <i>Mabel Dodge Luhan: New Woman, New Worlds</i>

Author Information

Jerri Dell. Following a thirty-year career working with illiterate women in poor countries for the World Bank, Jerri Dell moved to rural Pennsylvania, where she writes creative non-fiction and memoir. Blood Too Bright: Remembering Edna St. Vincent Millay, is her vision of the book on which her grandfather, early 20th century author Floyd Dell, was working at the time of his death in 1969. She is currently writing a memoir of her travels for the World Bank, and another of growing up with the ghosts of Bohemian Greenwich Village.

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