I mentioned this book a couple weeks back and just now saw this interview with Berrigan's close friend Ron Padgett on Harriet , originally published in PW . Poet Ted Berrigan's close friend Ron Padgett co-edited Dear Sandy , a collection of letters the young Ted wrote his wife when she was institutionalized by her parents for marrying him. What was your relationship with Ted while he was writing these letters? We were both living in New York on the Upper West Side, but I was keeping my distance from him. Although we saw each other and there was no overt hostility, I was feeling a bit cool toward him during that period. How do you think all Ted's interests in writers and artists come together in these letters? They combined in several ways. First, in a general way, that is, as an affirmation that art and literature really do matter in one's life. Ted was encouraged by all the great art he was seeing in New York and all the books he was reading. In a more literary se...
Like the title says.