Stronger than Death

Part-biography, part-memoir, Stronger than Death is the story of modernist poet Hart Crane's final year in Mexico; the story of his mother's grief after his death; and an exploration of the author's struggles with mental illness in the years she first discovered the power of Hart's poetry.

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'Poignant and fiercely intelligent, this is the best work of creative non-fiction I have read in years' FIONA MOZLEY

'Profound, moving and courageous' IRISH TIMES

'Stimulating and often engaging . . . Bratton has developed a real technique of her own here' TLS

In April 1931, modernist poet Hart Crane arrived in Mexico City. Between mood swings, dire financial difficulties, and a rotating series of personal estrangements, Hart was struggling to make the parts of a fragmentary world cohere. This move to Mexico was one in a long list of attempts to find security. In just over a year he would be dead.

In July 1932, Grace Crane picks up the morning paper. Scanning the headlines, she is halted on page five. Her son's eyes stare back at her, tinted pink by the thin paper: 'POET LOST AT SEA FROM SHIP'.

Hart Crane's death has accrued a morbid mythology, often overshadowing discussions of his work. In Stronger than Death Francesca Bratton focuses instead on Hart's vivid life and his turbulent final year among the vibrant artistic and political communities of Mexico City. Interwoven with Hart's story is that of his mother, exploring Grace's lifelong frustrated creativity and, after his death, her attempts to reach him through seance. Finally, the book explores Hart's legacy as a queer man and as a poet, informed by Francesca's responses to his work during her own periods of mental illness.

Part-memoir, part-biography, Stronger than Death is a profound and lyrical meditation on grief, mental health, enduring love and the power of poetry.