Familiar Spirits: A Memoir of James Merrill and David Jackson

"James Merrill and his longtime partner David Jackson were brilliant, rich, charming, generous, and sophisticated, and Merrill was a world-famous poet, known for the autobiographical element in his work. They were also, for over a quarter-century, deeply involved with ghosts, gods, and spirits, with whom they communicated through a Ouija board. Among the results of this intense preoccupation with the occult were a book-length poem, which some critics have called a masterpiece, and the possible destruction of several lives." "The Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Alison Lurie knew James Merrill and David Jackson for more than forty years. Now, in Familiar Spirits, she reveals both the worldly and otherworldly sources of Merrill's brilliant poem, The Changing Light at Sandover, which he called his "chronicles of love and loss." In her signature mix of comedy and analysis, she recalls Merrill and Jackson's life together in New York, Athens, and Key West, and speculates on the meaning of their adventures in both the real and unreal worlds. Her account of Merrill and Jackson's peculiar relationship with the supernatural and its tragic end will not only surprise many readers, it will also stand as a poignant memorial to her lost friends."--Jacket.… (more)