Towards a Critical Edition of the Poems of Thom Gunn

Gunn is a pre-eminent poet and probably the most important gay poet of the later twentieth century. I propose to undertake a critical edition, with commentary, including both manuscript and uncollected poems, to provide a full chronological conspectus of his work, facilitating more informed critical exploration. Gunn describes how he did not 'come out...[in 1973] until what was quaintly called Gay Liberation was already going', by which time he was 43. This edition will make clear how his work was shaped by lifelong negotiations with a hostile culture. In this context Gunn emerges as a seminal figure in British and American literary history.