Writer in Residence Wyatt Mason Writes about Guy Davenport’s Letters for the New York Review of Books
Wyatt Mason.
Bard Writer in Residence Wyatt Mason wrote about the legacy of writer Guy Davenport in the New York Review of Books. An American writer, illustrator, and teacher, Davenport sent tens of thousands of letters over the course of his life, many of which have been rereleased. Mason was a lifelong correspondent of Davenport’s and the two began exchanging letters when Mason sent Davenport a query in his twenties. They developed a working relationship over the course of Davenport’s life and exchanged over 100 letters.
Mason, a critic and translator who has taught at Bard since 2010, writes about Davenport’s letters as well as the reissue of his book about inspiration in art, The Geography of the Imagination. Davenport’s texts are “a set of paths that lead us to places we haven’t been,” Mason writes. “A text is revealed to be a cave into which an intelligence has descended, by torchlight, to make marks that, once discovered, will require some work to see.”
Post Date: 10-28-2025
Mason, a critic and translator who has taught at Bard since 2010, writes about Davenport’s letters as well as the reissue of his book about inspiration in art, The Geography of the Imagination. Davenport’s texts are “a set of paths that lead us to places we haven’t been,” Mason writes. “A text is revealed to be a cave into which an intelligence has descended, by torchlight, to make marks that, once discovered, will require some work to see.”
Post Date: 10-28-2025