New Directions Press, in prose and poetry: John Hawkes and Denise Levertov in an avant-garde community (James Laughlin)

New Directions Publishing Corporation, founded in 1936, is among the most important houses twentieth century literary publishing. This work is an account of New Directions within the context of two theoretical constructs: the avant-garde and genre. By examining the unpublished correspondence between the firm's founder, James Laughlin, and one of its more notable novelists, John Hawkes, the work shows that Laughlin encouraged the avant-garde traits so often associated with Hawkes' fiction, particularly in his early career (1948–1964). The study provides an extensive account of author-publisher letters about The Lime Twig and Second Skin. In discussing the early career of Denise Levertov, the work analyzes this poet's correspondence with fellow New Directions writer William Carlos Williams. It shows that Levertov was part of the New Directions community of writers even before her first New Directions volume appeared in 1959. The theoretical sections of the work, combined with these case studies, offer a unique approach to studying the processes of literary composition and reputation, in which genre is redefined as the textual means (in letters as well as in fiction and poetry) by which writers show their affiliations with and are recognized as members of an avant-garde community. In these writers' works, reviewers observe traits that not only explain their aesthetic concerns but also imprint them as New Directions authors, with positive ramifications in terms of academic reception, but more problematic results in the wider market.