Letters on Literature and Politics, 1912-1972

xxxvii, 767 pp. Selected and edited by Elena Wilson with an introduction by Daniel Aaron and a foreword by Leon Edel. "Edmund Wilson, author of 'To the Finland Station' and considered by many to be this era's greatest man of letters, made no attempt to preserve his own correspondence-- only two copies of his letters were found among a vast collection of papers and notebooks. fortunately, Elena Wilson has recovered a major portion of her late husband's wide-ranging correspondence for his collection. "at the very beginning," she explains, "it was decided that no love letters or letters on private family matters should be included. This did not totally exclude personal letters, since correspondence with close friends cannot help but be personal." --from the inside flap