Marianne Moore: A Literary Life

In the first full-length biography of Moore (1887-1972), Molesworth ( The Fierce Embrace: A Study in Contemporary American Poetry ) conducts a conscientious scrutiny of her life and work, but operates with certain handicaps. Although given access to Moore's private papers, he was not allowed to quote from them--and thus his account is primarily literary and chronological, earnest but inhibited in its psychological insights. This is unfortunate, especially since Moore's persona and her work developed within the confines of an outwardly uneventful, even narrow life. Molesworth charts the growth of a major modernist through careful critical readings of her poetry and prose, her work as an editor of the Dial , and an examination of Moore as an active, social New York literary figure whose colleagues and admirers included T. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound. Molesworth never loses sight of the poet as a member of a close-knit family whose artistic and moral contributions to her art were inestimable and unusual in breadth. Photos. (Aug.)