Literary Critics Revisit the Works of James Penner and Poet James Merrill
The Yale Review—New critical writing explores the literary legacies of two distinct American writers: James Penner, subject of a recent critical retrospective, and James Merrill, whose 'Last Letters' are examined for what they reveal about the poet's final years. The parallel treatments reflect renewed academic interest in postwar American literary figures whose work straddles personal memoir and formal verse. Both pieces appear in prominent literary journals known for archival and canonical reassessment.