In the days after World War II, war veteran Edward Field was becoming a poet. In the process, he was witness to the modern history of Greenwich Village and its role as a birthplace of vivid literature and gay culture.
His memoir, The Man Who Would Marry Susan Sontag and Other Intimate Literary Portraits of the Bohemian Era, gives a glimpse into the lives of many personalities of the day. Frank O'Hara, James Baldwin and Susan Sontag all participated in a literary boom, attracting lasting acclaim. Others, such as the eccentric writer Alfred Chester -- whose obsession with Sontag is noted in the book's title -- fell into obscurity.
Field lends Liane Hansen his insights into an era.
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