{"product_id":"9781885983817","title":"Just the Thing","description":"\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eThis updated edition of James Schuyler’s letters to three\ndozen intimates, published on the 100th anniversary of the writer’s birth, offers delicious insights into the vital lives, friendships, and sensibilities that\nsprang from the influential New York School.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eOn New York in the summertime:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e “Makes me think Thoreau was\nright and Whitman was wrong.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eOn conducting himself post-breakup:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e “I would like to do it\nwith as much silence and grace as a loose tongue and a trick knee permit.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eOn his sister-in-law’s antipathy toward the town beatnik:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\n“His crimes against society seem to consist of long hair, tight pants and a\nHonda—I’m not sure which she minds most.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eSuch effervescent and scathing takes on life, nature, love,\nand art are on joyous display in James Schuyler’s letters to John Ashbery, Ron\nPadgett, Barbara Guest, Alex Katz, Joe Brainard, Kenneth Koch, and many more.\nThey paint an indelible picture of a charmingly self-deprecating gentleman with\na deliciously wicked tongue. “Jimmy wrote letters for the most civilized of\nreasons,” a friend of his once said: “to inform and to entertain.” And that\nthey do, in inimitable style. Peppering his aperçus with the occasional “tout\nde sweetie” and “pet noire,” the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of \u003ci\u003eThe Morning of the Poem\u003c\/i\u003e holds forth on everything from Dante and\nDelacroix to travel and gardening to the delicate workings of his own poems and those of others. While his tone ranges from the lightly\ngraceful to the racily profane, each letter is exquisitely tuned to its\nrecipient. And they have only grown more savory and valuable with time.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"James Schuyler","offers":[{"title":"Turtle Point Press |  Paperback \/ softback | Trade paperback (US) |  2023-11-17","offer_id":44230085542143,"sku":"9781885983817","price":41.95,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0329\/9075\/7001\/files\/BNCImageAPI_6a581ec8-940f-41ec-a075-d9ccd5441f20.jpg?v=1700682080","url":"https:\/\/riverbookshop.com\/products\/9781885983817","provider":"River Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}