The Collected Works of Kathleen Tankersley Young ed. by Erik La Prade and Joshua Rothes (review)

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• The Collected Works of Kathleen Tankersley Young ed. by Erik La Prade and Joshua Rothes
• Julie Mellby (bio)

the collected works of kathleen tankersley young
Edited by Erik La Prade and Joshua Rothes
Sublunary Editions
https://sublunaryeditions.com/products/the-collected-works-kathleen-tankersley-young
248 pages; Print, $22.00

On the last day of 1933, the New York Times poetry critic Eda Lou Walton reviewed a series of pamphlets issued by Modern Editions Press. "These pamphlets represent the poets who are experimenting with new forms and whose eyes are fixed upon the contemporary scene," she began. Several of the eight poets needed introductions and context for the reading public to appreciate her commentary on their work, but of the recently deceased Kathleen Tankersley Young (1902–33) she wrote, "Young is, on the other hand, fairly well known, and her poem of dream imagery is fairly characteristic of her work."

Thanks to The Collected Works of Kathleen Tankersley Young, we now know that Walton's assessment was far from accurate. The enigmatic Young lived and died mysteriously, leaving those who thought they knew her, or knew her work, misguided at best and at times deliberately fooled. In less than seven short years, from the date of her first published poem to her untimely death (officially suicide by Lysol poisoning), Young's writing fluctuated from rhyming couplets to typographically inventive free verse, bravely charting erotic dreamscapes and desolate realities, published in some of the most influential academic and bohemian journals of her day. And then she was gone and the world moved on.

Editors Erik La Prade and Joshua Rothes have succeeded in gathering 154 published and unpublished works (primarily poetry), and while they concede [End Page 133] there may be yet undiscovered material, this collection provides far more than any other available source on Young's life and work. What the Collected Works makes clear is that Young's writing deserves our attention and has earned its way back onto the bookshelves of contemporary scholars in American modernism.

Along with the expected and best-known poems from her three published books—Ten Poems (1930), The Dark Land (1932), and The Pepper Trees (1932)—the Collected Works includes Young's personal contributions to the esteemed Blues: A Magazine of New Rhythms (1929–30), and the aforementioned Modern Editions pamphlets (1932–33). This is worth mentioning, because Young is often better remembered for her administrative contributions to these titles, as cofounder and editor working with Charles Henry Ford at the former and Eric Naul at the latter (although there is now reason to believe Naul was invented). Her rare publications have been relegated to locked shelves in academic special collections, read only by the few scholars who stumble across some peripheral mention of her work. With this essential new volume, Sublunary Editions has not only freed her from the locked vault but unified her work, tempting comparison and provoking further study.

Of particular interest are the nearly forty unpublished works, drawn primarily from two manuscripts, City Without Images and Two Preludes to a Marginal Darkness, the latter submitted unsuccessfully to the Yale Series of Younger Poets. These hint at the potential for a lengthy career had Young chosen a more traditional path. Particularly helpful in understanding these choices is the book's brief preface and biographical timeline, uncovering some much needed factual evidence to clarify her disjunctive life. We learn, for instance, that she was born and raised in rural West Texas in 1902, not Cincinnati in 1903 or New York City in 1905, as she led critics and friends to believe at various times. This is only one small example of the misdirection she encouraged and the secrets she kept, even from those close to her.

Potential cut short, romance curtailed, health broken down: these are the realities of her early existence that shaped and intensified her writing. Young's mother died in 1921, followed by her father in 1924 and her first husband one year later, leaving her with little emotional or practical support. On the positive side, this may have provided a certain freedom, allowing Young to reinvent herself to the world. In the same few early...