Some ‘readings out’ or should that be ‘reading outs’. Review of Stevens’ Selected Poems, by Dan Chiasson in NYRB Nov 19th is threatening to send me off to Stevens’ stuff, none of which I have read or if I have I can’t remember (not unusual for me, don’t think it’s because the poetry is forgettable, at least not according to Chiasson). Here’s one bit of the review I would read out: “Most people are baffled their entire lives by the problem of what to think about, so they think about whatever the moment requires.” How similar is that to the well-known “Most men live lives of quiet desperation”? And a bit of biography – Stevens worked “his entire life as a security claims expert for the Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company, a fact that seemed to bisect his life into two distinct regions. Poetry prospered in one by never visiting the other…”. What’s a security claims expert?
I think it’s someone working in insurance, no?