The Virgin of Bennington

Shy and sheltered as a young woman Kathleen Norris wasn''t prepared for the sex drugs and bohemianism of Bennington College in the late 1960sand when she moved to New York City after graduation it was a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire. In this chronicle Norris remembers the education she received both formal and fortuitous; the influence of her mentor Betty Kray who shunned the spotlight while serving as a guiding force in the poetry world of the late 20th century; her encounters with such figures as James Merrill Jim Carroll Denise Levertov Stanley Kunitz Patti Smith and Erica Jong; and her eventual decision to leave Manhattan for the less-crowded landscape she described so memorably in Dakota. This account of the making of a young writer will resonate with anyone who has stumbled bravely into a bigger world and found the poetry that lurks on rooftops and in railroad apartmentsand with anyone who has enjoyed the blessings of inspiring teachers and great friends.