Early Larkin

James Underwood

"Beginning in the late 1930s, this book tells the story of Philip Larkin's early literary development. It is the first book-length critical study of Larkin's early work: his poetry, novels, short fictions, essays, and letters. Starting with Larkin's earliest literary efforts and his remarkable correspondence with Jim Sutton, the study ends at the point Larkin's maturity begins, with the writing of his first great poems. In providing a comprehensive and systematic study of this part of Larkin's life, this book also presents a new and surprising narrative of Larkin's development; that he suffered a 'false start' under the influence of Yeats, and discovered his unique voice by re-discovering Hardy."--