On Poetry, Painting, and Politics: The Letters of May Morris and John Quinn

May Morris · John Quinn

Jan 1997 · Susquehanna University Press

About this ebook

In her introduction, which places the correspondence in its literary and historical context, author Janis Londraville explains that the Morris-Quinn affair was doomed from the start. After May set sail for England in 1910, Quinn quickly lost romantic interest in her. He continued the correspondence as long as he did because he was sincerely interested in May's work and wanted to support her efforts. But there was no chance of a marriage. Although he had several mistresses during his life, Quinn avoided commitment and remained a confirmed bachelor. The center of his life was his law practice, and his free time was spent on his art and manuscript collection. Over the years, Quinn owned artwork by Brancusi, Braque, Manet, Matisse, Picasso, Rousseau, Seurat, and Van Gogh, to mention a very few. He owned most of Joseph Conrad's original manuscripts as well as Eliot's Wasteland and Joyce's Ulysses.