JOHN ROBINSON JEFFERS - AUTOGRAPH NOTE SIGNED 04/1932 - HFSID 173973

ROBINSON JEFFERS
Small card signed "Sincerely" by poet Robsinon Jeffers at Tor House, his home in Carmel, California, in 1932. Signatures by Jeffers are extremely rare!
Autograph note signed "Inscribed for Hazel McNiff./Sincerely,/Robinson Jeffers/Tor House, Carmel - April, 1932.". 3¼x2 fabric-textured card. Jeffers built his home Tor House in Carmel, California from 1918 to 1919. He constructed another building, Hawk Tower, in Carmel between 1920 and 1924. Once shunned for his criticism of capitalism and U. S. foreign policy, poet and outdoorsman Jeffers (1887-1962) has enjoyed a renaissance in popularity as an environmental advocate. Central to Jeffers' work is the concept of Inhumanism - that man is too self-centered to appreciate the beauty and divinity of the natural world - and his poetry often contrasts the pettiness and impermanence of humans with the savagery, freedom and tragedy of the natural world. He courted both fame and controversy with Tamar and Other Poems (1924), with free verse that has been compared to Walt Whitman; he was even featured on the cover of Time magazine in 1932. Jeffers was controversial because of the violence in his poetry, which included taboo subjects like incest. He began to lose his popularity when he criticized of the United States' entry into World War II, and he hurt his reputation further with the publication of his collection The Double Axe in 1948, which included a formulation of his brand of Inhumanism and predicted the extinction of humanity. Jeffers was also fascinated by Greek tragedy; his adaptation of Euripides' Medea has appeared on Broadway four times between 1947 and 1982. Lightly toned and soiled. Discoloration near right edge, which touches signature. Mounting residue on verso (no show-through). Otherwise in fine condition.