Dear Grieve: Letters to Hugh MacDiarmid (C.M.Grieve) - Tapa blanda

'[A] magisterial selection by John Manson - one of the most assiduous and effective labourers in the MacDiarmid vineyard for no less than seven decades. The printed letters are accompanied by detailed and informative annotations, and the book is further enlivened by more than thirty period photographs and other reproductions. [It] offers testimony to the extraordinary breadth of MacDiarmid's intellectual circle.' Professor Patrick Crotty, University of Aberdeen 'Manson's industry, and his enthusiasm for MacDiarmid, are overwhelming. Not for the first time, [he] has unearthed material that alters our view of his hero.' Brian Smith, The New Shetlander, Voar Issue 2012. 'This is a fascinating book, one to keep within reach for stimulation or escape from the troubles of the day.' Paul Henderson Scott, Scots Independent newspaper, March 2012. 'Reading this meticulously researched collection of hundreds of letters .. opens a window on a whole period of ideological struggle for national recognition, socialism and opposition to imperialism and war.' Jean Turner, Morning Star, January 2012

John Manson's collection of letters to MacDiarmid, or to Christopher Grieve, or to Hugh or Chris or Christie or Hughie, is a major work. It is the fruit of a lifetime of dedicated scholarly research, meticulous, self-effacing study in libraries, most deeply in the National Library of Scotland and Edinburgh University Library, and follows his initial co-editorship with David Craig of the first Penguin paperback edition of MacDiarmid's Selected Poems (1970), and his later co-editorship of The Revolutionary Art of the Future: Rediscovered Poems, with Dorian Grieve and Alan Riach (2003). 'He is a fine poet and translator himself, and his small-press publications are to be sought out and read closely. However, this is a monumental achievement: a collection so rich in diversity, covering historical epochs, strata of human character, social engagement, political motivation and accomplishment, that it will take some time before its impact and value really sinks in and embeds itself in modern literary and political culture - especially in Scotland!' - from the Introduction by Alan Riach, Professor of Scottish Literature, University of Glasgow.