'The Whole Harmonium': Paul Mariani Visits WBUR Boston

Paul Mariani visits the studios of WBUR Boston program Here and Now to discuss his new Wallace Stevens biography The Whole Harmonium. Tune in to hear Mariani discuss Stevens's writing and to hear archival audio of Stevens reading his poetry at WBUR.

A new biography of poet Wallace Stevens examines the roiling internal life that led to some of the author’s best known works, including “The Snow Man” and “13 Ways Of Looking At A Blackbird.”

Here & Now’s Meghna Chakrabarti talks with Paul Mariani, the author of “The Whole Harmonium: The Life Of Wallace Stevens.” She asked Mariana about a quote from the book, ‘there was about the earth, a terrifying and awesome sublimity, capable of crushing us in an instant.’”

“There is a sense in which you can look at the world and it can simply overwhelm you,” Mariani said. “It’s that sense of the sublime that Kant talked about. The sense in which the waves are coming toward you. Or you might have a video that someone took of snow crashing towards you and then it hits the camera and it’s over.”