Selected Letters of Wilfred Owen

Reviews / Votes

Although Wilfred Owen wrote most of his surviving letters to one person - his mother - they show all facets of his personality as well as its remarkable focus. Reading this well-judged selection, which restores some previously redacted material, we see an impressionable literary adolescent turning into a clear-eyed war poet, while at the same time being reminded that his mental development was driven by intense personal feeling. This is what makes Owen a major letter-writer as well as a major poet. His heart and his head always marched in step with one another. * Andrew Motion * This Selected Letters, some 345 letters in total, is the most insightful and accurate edition of the letters that we have had yet. Building on the earlier editorial work of John Bell, Jane Potter has served Owen with care and affection, and with much expertise and wisdom. Anyone who loves Owen's poetry will want to own his Selected Letters. * Guy Cuthbertson, Professor of British Literature and Culture, and Head of the School of Humanities Liverpool Hope University * With this remarkable new edition, Owen has grown even younger in years. What this authoritative and loving selection, coupled with Potter's astute Introduction and notes, reveals is not just the iconic 'war poet' or the 'voice of pity' but a man incorrigibly plural - funny, fun-loving, wry, mischievous, tender, sharply observant, occasionally insecure, vulnerable, sensuous, conflicted, wonderfully warm, and endlessly creatives with language. Blurring the boundaries between life-writing, testament and epitaph, this selection not only places him among the finest letter-writers in British literary history but serves, along with the poems, as the perfect introduction to Owen for the twenty-first century reader. * Santanu Das, Professor of English and Senior Research Fellow, All Saints College Oxford University * Owen's letters ...are a deeply moving supplement to his poems. * Daniel Swift, The Spectator * [T]hese letters reveal an affectionate, humorous, even mischievous character, eager for learning and experiences who, let's face it, lived and achieved more in his 25 years than most of us, now, could manage in 100. * Jacqueline Riding, Country Life * Potter's Selected Letters tells, in extraordinary detail, the combined story of an artist's growth and a world-changing historical moment. * Ben Philipps, The Tablet * [A]n excellent introduction to the man who fully deserves a place at the forefront of the war poets' pantheon. * Caroline Barrett, Stand To! * Nevertheless Potter's new edition can be justified in a number of ways,...with their brilliant, first-hand insights into the Great War. Potter's revised notes and new introduction alone would make it worthwhile. * Jean Moorcroft Wilson, TLS * This is a stunning achievement - and a surprising one, too, given the massive number of works that have explored Owen's life and work previously. Potter's introduction and notes, filled with astute observations, enrich the reading experience, making it accessible to scholars and general readers alike. * Choice *