After publishing William Carlos Williams' novel White Mule in 1937, Laughlin left for an extended ski trip. At times Laughlin's skiing got in the way of his business. Laughlin also spearheaded the surveying of the Albion-Sugarloaf ski area, along with Alta notables Chic Morton, Alf Engen, and fellow Ski Enthusiast and Painter Ruth Rogers-Altmann. With money from his graduation gift, he founded the Alta Ski Area in Utah and was part-owner of the resort there for many years. Despite the horrific mess left as a result, Laughlin reasons that he cannot ask anyone else to clean it up, 'because after all, it was my blood too.' Ī natural athlete and an avid skier, Laughlin traveled the world skiing and hiking. Laughlin later wrote a poem about this, called Experience of Blood, in which he expresses his shock at the amount of blood in the human body. Robert committed suicide in 1986 by stabbing himself multiple times in the bathtub. Laughlin, like several of his male ancestors and like his son Robert, suffered from depression.

Laughlin often remarked that the popularity of Siddhartha subsidized the publication of many other money-losing books of greater importance.Īlthough of draft age, Laughlin avoided service in World War II due to a 4-F classification. One important example of this was Hermann Hesse's novel Siddhartha, which New Directions initially published in 1951. A born cosmopolitan, though, Laughlin also sought out cutting-edge European and Latin American authors and introduced their work to the American market. Initially, it emphasized contemporary American writers with whom Laughlin had personal connections, such as William Carlos Williams and Pound. Within just a few years New Directions had become an important publisher of modernist literature. New Directions in Prose and Poetry became an annual publication, issuing its final number in 1991. The volume also included a poem by 'Tasilo Ribischka,' a pseudonym for Laughlin himself. Cummings, a roster that heralded the fledgling company's future as a preeminent publisher of modernist literature. The first publication of the new press, in 1936, was New Directions in Prose & Poetry, an anthology of poetry and writings by authors such as William Carlos Williams, Ezra Pound, Elizabeth Bishop, Henry Miller, Marianne Moore, Wallace Stevens, and E.

(The firm opened offices in New York soon after, first at 333 Sixth Avenue and later at 80 Eighth Avenue, where it remains today.) With funds from his graduation gift, Laughlin endowed New Directions with more money, ensuring that the company could stay afloat even though it did not turn a profit until 1946. When Laughlin returned to Harvard, he used money from his father to found New Directions, which he ran first from his dorm room and later from a barn on his Aunt Leila Laughlin Carlisle's estate in Norfolk, Connecticut.

Later, Laughlin took a leave of absence from Harvard and stayed with Pound in Rapallo for several months. Why don't you take up something useful?' Pound suggested publishing. He proceeded to Italy to meet and study with Ezra Pound, who famously told him, 'You're never going to be any good as a poet. Laughlin accompanied the two on a motoring tour of southern France and wrote press releases for Stein's upcoming visit to the U.S. In 1934, Laughlin traveled to France, where he met Gertrude Stein and Alice B.

According to Laughlin, Hillyer would leave the room when either Pound or Eliot was mentioned. Harvard University, where Laughlin matriculated in 1933, had a more conservative literary bent, embodied in the poet and professor Robert Hillyer, who directed the writing program. An important influence on Laughlin at the time was the Choate teacher and translator Dudley Fitts, who later provided Laughlin with introductions to prominent writers such as Gertrude Stein and Ezra Pound. I bless them with every breath.' Laughlin's boyhood home is now part of the campus of Chatham University.Īt The Choate School (now Choate Rosemary Hall) in Wallingford, Connecticut, Laughlin showed an early interest in literature. As Laughlin once wrote, 'none of this would have been possible without the industry of my ancestors, the canny Irishmen who immigrated in 1824 from County Down to Pittsburgh, where they built up what became the fourth largest steel company in the country. Laughlin, and this wealth would partially fund Laughlin's future endeavors in publishing. Laughlin's family had made its fortune with the Jones and Laughlin Steel Company, founded three generations earlier by his great grandfather, James H. He was born in Pittsburgh, the son of Henry Hughart and Marjory Rea Laughlin. James Laughlin (Octo– November 12, 1997) was an American poet and literary book publisher who founded New Directions Publishing.

Bird of a death dream laughlin