Letters vs. historians
The New York Times had an article today on the planned publication of Robert Frost's letters, arguing that the forthcoming volumes "could soften a battered image" and re-humanize Frost. The article sets up a familiar dynamic, pitting the biographers offering "their" versions of Frost's life against the letters, which, the article assumes, will show the "real" Frost. The collected correspondence, the author writes, will "offer the most rounded, complete...