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Brad Leithauser Biography

(1953– ), Hundreds of Fireflies, The Cats of the Temple, Between Leaps: Poems, 1972–1985



American poet, born in Detroit, Michigan, educated at Harvard, obtaining a doctorate in jurisprudence in 1980. From 1980 to 1983 he was a research fellow at Kyoto Comparative Law Centre, Japan. Hundreds of Fireflies (1982) and The Cats of the Temple (1986), the latter strongly informed by his impressions of Japan, gained him wide notice for their fusions of great descriptive precision with personal and contemplative elements. His first two books were reprinted as Between Leaps: Poems, 1972–1985 (1987), the first British edition of his work. A further collection entitled The Mail from Anywhere (1990) draws on his experiences of Britain and Iceland. Leithauser's poetry is refreshing for its meticulous but supple sense of form and the skill with which his rich elaborations of imagery are sustained. His works of fiction include The Line of Ladies (1975; short stories) and novels, including Equal Distance (1985) and Hence (1989), richly particularized adaptations of autobiographical material which constitute statements on the attitudes of his generation. Penchants and Places (1995) includes essays and criticism.



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Literature Reference: American Literature, English Literature, Classics & Modern FictionEncyclopedia of Literature: Mary Lavin Biography to Light Shining in Buckinghamshire