Following the widely celebrated Collected Poems, this second volume in the series of James Merrill s works brings us Merrill as novelist and playwright. Just as in his poems we come upon prose pieces, dramatic dialogue, and even a short play in verse, in his novels and plays we find the rhythms of his poetry reflected and given new form.
Merrill s first novel, The Seraglio, is a daring roman a clef derived in large part from his early life as the cosmopolitan son of Charles Merrill, one of America s most famous twentieth-century financiers. Written in a highly refined...