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Turner Publishing proudly presents the first of three new literary works by Sandra Hochman, author of Walking Papers.
When asked in 1976 by a reporter from People Magazine if her first two novels were autobiographical, Sandra Hochman replied, "My real life is much more fabulous than the books. One day I plan to write about it—men, Paris and women's liberation. It will probably be called Unreal Life."
Hochman first met Pulitzer Prize-winning American poet Robert Lowell in 1961 at the Russian Tea Room in New York. She was to interview him for Encounter magazine. Hochman was twenty-five and had recently returned from Paris where she had lived with her husband for four years. They were now separated. Lowell was forty-three with plans to leave his wife. Hochman remembers it as the day that changed her life. The two poets fell in love instantly, and before the night was over, they had vowed to stay together forever. In Hochman's first literary work in almost forty years, she writes in startling detail about the torrid and ultimately doomed affair that would follow.
"Poet, documentarian, and novelist (Playing Tahoe) Hochman shares the riveting details of her affair with Pulitzer-winning poet Robert Lowell in this intoxicating slice of memoir. In 1961, both poets were leaving failing marriages when they met at the Russian Tea Room in New York City. In Hochman’s own words, “It was as if a bolt of lightning had hit him and me at the same time.” The two fell madly in love and embarked on a passionate relationship that included impromptu poetry readings on the Brooklyn Bridge and elbow rubbing with the literati. Before long, the pair were talking about marriage. Life seemed idyllic until a disastrous dinner with Lowell’s friends, literary power couple Barbara and Jason Epstein, followed by an accusation-filled exchange with a friend of Hochman’s. A joyous engagement party turned violent unearthed a secret that ended Hochman and Lowell’s romance. Hochman’s narrative is punctuated with moving poems written by her at the time and a transcript of an insightful letter Lowell wrote on being a conscientious objector. She superbly captures Lowell’s effusive personality, which is palpable throughout this engaging glimpse into the private life of a famed poet."—Publisher's Weekly
“In 1972 Sandra Hochman shocked the literary world with her novel Walking Papers. I was dizzy with excitement about her talent. I not only helped her publish the book but wrote for her a blurb on the cover, the only one I’ve ever written, comparing her to Kafka and Saul Bellow on the book jacket. Her originality is repeated again in this memoir on her love affair of Robert Lowell where each scene spins off on its sometime comic course. She’s one of the greatest American writers and has fulfilled the promise I saw in Walking Papers.”—Phillip Roth