M.J.Tambimuttu

["r.-" <senthurann@yahoo.com>]

M.J.Tambimuttu

 
Introduction of Tambimuttu from Northwestern
University Tambimuttu Archive

Tambimuttu Archive
Meary James Thurairajah Tambimuttu (1915-1983), known
to his readers as Tambimuttu, to his friends and
associates as Tambi, was born in [my note: achchuvEli]
Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) on August 15, 1915 into a
family of distinguished, aristocratic scholars. He was
raised a Roman Catholic, educated chiefly in English
and by the age of 21 had already begun his life's work
in poetry and publishing by printing three volumes of
his own poems off a small press typeset by himself.
Tambimuttu moved to England in 1938; within a year he
founded with his friend Anthony Dickins the journal
Poetry, a title quickly modified to Poetry London. It
was as editor of Poetry London and of its monographic
imprint Editions Poetry London during the decade of 
the 1940's that Tambimuttu made his greatest mark on
the literary scene. His eye for talent is evidenced by
just a sampling of the names of the writers and
artists he published: Dylan Thomas, Lawrence Durrell,
Kathleen Raine, Stephen Spender, Edith Sitwell, David 
Gascoyne, Henry Moore, Graham Sutherland, Lucian
Freud; many of whom, like Tambimuttu, lived the
Bohemian life of wartime and post-war Soho. The
quality and importance of Poetry London was vouchsafed

by none other than T.S. Eliot, an admirer of
Tambimuttu's who wrote "It is only in Poetry London
that I can consistently expect to find new poets who
matter.". In 1949, following a disagreement with the
backing partners of Poetry London, Tambimuttu was
terminated as its editor, a move much protested by
many friends and contributors. 

He settled shortly after this in the United States,
where he was to reside, mostly in New York, until his
return to London sometime around 1970. His American
years were ones of varying fortune. He lectured,
published autobiographical short stories, and in 1956 
started a new poetry journal, this one titled Poetry
London/New York. 

Money troubles dogged Tambimuttu all his career, and
Poetry London/New York fell victim to them after a run
of four issues. The 1960's brought Tambimuttu into
contact with much of what was new on the American
scene; he stayed awhile, for example, at Timothy
Leary's Millbrook compound, but London was a magnet
for him and it seems he was glad to return. This
second era in England, which would be his home for the
remainder of his life, saw Tambimuttu involved in a
host of new projects. In 1972 he and his partner
Katherine Falley Bennett launched the Lyrebird Press.
In 1979 Tambimuttu revived once more his poetry
journal, this time called Poetry London/Apple
Magazine, the "Apple" a leftover from a plan for a
magazine Tambimuttu had made with the Beatles some
time previously. Two issues were produced; a third
issue left undone at Tambimuttu's death was to have
been devoted to the work of Indian poets, many of whom
Tambimuttu discovered on an extensive trip to India he
took in 1982 with his daughter Shakuntala. This India
trip also lead Tambimuttu into establishing the Indian
Arts Council, the purpose of which was to foster
greater understanding and cross-influencing between
the art traditions of India and those of the West.
Very shortly after the first inaugural meetings of the
London chapter of the Indian Arts Council, Tambimuttu
suffered a fall and was hospitalized; a few days
later, on June 22, 1983, he died of a heart attack.

Collection Description
The Tambimuttu Archive at Northwestern University
Library is particularly strong in covering
Tambimuttu's later years. There is much regarding the
Lyrebird Press, Poetry London/Apple Magazine, and the
Indian Arts Council. There is also extensive
documentation of the preparation for the festschrift
for Tambimuttu (Bridge Between Two Worlds, London:
Peter Owen, 1989) edited by his friend Jane Williams
after his death. Types of materials held include 
correspondence, manuscript submissions, proofs and
galleys, a large number of photographs, and
Tambimuttu's personal library of books and journals.
Among the correspondents represented are Lawrence
Durrell, David Gascoyne, Conrad Aiken, Francis Scarfe,
Nicholas Moore, Iris Murdoch, Kathleen Raine, Feliks
Topolski, and George Barker. It is unfortunate that
the Archive contains less material documenting the 
1940's, which might be considered Tambimuttu's most
fertile period. 

Much of this material is believed to have been sold by
Tambimuttu during his own lifetime. Even the most
superficial glance at the current register to the
Archive will reveal lapses in logic, consistency, and
clarity. Please consider it a work in progress. One
important thing to note regarding the register is that
the folders (and folder titles) of Boxes 1-22 were
shifted directly from Tambimuttu's own files -- hence
much of the current irregularity of titling and
confusing duplication of subject arrangement.
---

Tambimuttu Archive
Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
A Detail 35 page pdf document on Tambimuttu and the
works & his collection (that makes this archive)
http://www.library.northwestern.edu/spec/pdf/tambimuttu.pdf

~~~~~


[The New York Times on-line]
September 21, 1997
Tambimuttu in New York

BOOKEND / By BEN SONNENBERG
Does the name ring a bell? Certainly in London,
faintly in New York. Thurairajah Tambimuttu. Everyone
called him Tambi. A Ceylonese poet, brown-skinned,
longhaired. A bohemian, verbose and skinny. Very 
British sounding, too. ''Actually. . . . '' ''In point
of fact. . . .'' 
~~~~~
For the full article, link to
http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/09/21/bookend/bookend.html

-----

Letters to Editor following the above write-up in The
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/10/19/letters/letters.html


Tambi in New York 

To the Editor: 

Ben Sonnenberg ("Tambimuttu in New York," Sept. 21)
knew Thurairajah Meary James Tambimuttu almost a
decade before I met him in the mid-1960's, when the
braids were history, two wives were history, nearly 
all the money was history and his magazine Poetry
London-New York was certainly history. Tambi was down
but not out. After Sonnenberg left his company, Tambi
published two of the festschrifts he had lined up, 
one for T. S. Eliot and one for Marianne Moore. I got
my first job in publishing on the strength of having
helped out at Tambi's studio and was happy a couple of
years later to publish him, or at least to sign him
up. I was long gone from the publishing house by the
time the manuscript appeared. 

When I helped out -- I never paid an evening's bill
either, and it is delicious to know that defines me in
Sonnenberg's dictionary as a former ''tart'' -- he
rang old friends and drank and told great stories and
drank and schemed for the future and drank. When it
was really bad, he lived on olives and pimentos from a
jar. We were thankful that his drink of choice was
beer. Beer is full of nutrition. 

When he died, The Times Literary Supplement of London
savaged him with a cover headline that called him
''Tutti-Frutti.'' The obituary inside was worse. It
trivialized his gifts and his work. It is no small
pleasure, 14 years after that piece appeared, to see
in print a notice of Tambi's achievements. 

Susanne English 
Falls Church, Va. 

~~~~~


Reviews on Tambimuttu's works

1.  
 Reviewer:  Anon. 
 Review:  Tambimuttu (ed.). Festschrift for Marianne
Moore's Seventy-seventh Birthday. N.Y.: Tambimuttu and
Mass. pp. 137.  Publication Details:  Harper's (New
York), Aug., p. 108
 
 Publication Year:  1965
 
2.  
 Reviewer:  Anon. 
 Review:  Tambimuttu (ed.). Festschrift for Marianne
Moore's Seventy-seventh Birthday. N.Y.: Tambimuttu and
Mass. pp. 137. Publication Details:  Carleton
Miscellany (Carleton College, Northfield, MN), Fall,
VI, 92.
 
 Publication Year:  1965
 

3.  
 Reviewer:  Simonds, C. H. 
 Review:  Tambimuttu (ed.). Festschrift for Marianne
Moore's Seventy-seventh Birthday. N.Y.: Tambimuttu and
Mass. pp. 137. Publication Details:  National Review:
a journal of fact and opinion (New York), XVII, 785
 
 Publication Year:  1965

4.  Author:  Tambimuttu (ed.). 
 Title:  Festschrift for Marianne Moore's
Seventy-seventh Birthday. Publication Details:  N.Y.:
Tambimuttu and Mass. pp. 137.

 Publication Year:  1965
 
5.  Author:  Tambimuttu and March, Richard (eds.). 
 Title:  T. S. Eliot: A Symposium from Conrad Aiken
and others.  Publication Details:  (First ed.; third
impression; cf. Bibl. 1948:3829.) London: Cass. pp.
259.
 
 Publication Year:  1965
 
6.  
 Reviewer:  Gegenheimer, Albert Frank 
 Review:  March, Richard and Tambimuttu. T. S. Eliot:
A Symposium. (Bibl. 1948:3829.) Publication Details: 
Arizona Quarterly: a journal of American literature,
culture, and theory (Univ. of Arizona, Tucson), VII,
186-92.
 
 Publication Year:  1950-1952
 
7.  
 Reviewer:  Williamson, G. 
 Review:  March, Richard and Tambimuttu. T. S. Eliot:
A Symposium. (Bibl. 1948:3829.) Publication Details: 
American Literature: a journal of literary history,
criticism, and bibliography (Durham, NC), XXII, 363-5.
 
 Publication Year:  1950-1952

8.  
 Reviewer:  Daiches, David 
 Review:  March, Richard and Tambimuttu. T. S. Eliot:
A Symposium. (Bibl. 1948:3829.) Publication Details: 
New York Herald Tribune book review., Jan. 8, 1950, p.
4.
 
 Publication Year:  1950

9.  
 Reviewer:  Weintraub, Wiktor 
 Review:  March, Richard and Tambimuttu (sel.). T. S.
Eliot. A Symposium. Compiled by Richard March and
Tambimuttu. (Bibl. 1948:3829.) Publication Details: 
Kultura (Paris), No. 15, 138-9.
 
 Publication Year:  1949
 
10.  
 Reviewer:  Anon. 
 Review:  March, Richard (comp.) T. S. Eliot. A
Symposium. Compiled by Richard March and Tambimuttu.
London: Editions Poetry. 8½ × 5½. pp. 259 10s. 6d. 
 Publication Details:  Times Literary Supplement
(London), Oct. 9, p. 575.
 
 Publication Year:  1948
 
11.  Author:  March, Richard (comp.) 
 Title:  T. S. Eliot. A Symposium. Compiled by Richard
March and Tambimuttu. Publication Details:  London:
Editions Poetry. 8½ × 5½. pp. 259 10s. 6d.
 
 Publication Year:  1948
 
12.  
 Reviewer:  Russell, John 
 Review:  March, Richard (comp.) T. S. Eliot. A
Symposium. Compiled by Richard March and Tambimuttu.
London: Editions Poetry. 8½ × 5½. pp. 259 10s. 6d. 
 Publication Details:  Sunday Times (London), Sept.
26, p. 3.
 
 Publication Year:  1948

~~~~~

POETRY LONDON/ APPLE MAGAZINE 
Editions Poetry London edited by Tambimuttu 
http://www.synergeticpress.com/fictionpoetry.html
Cover of an earlier/original 'Poetry London'
http://www.synergeticpress.com/pl.jpg

~~~~~

T.S. Elliot's passing comment of Tambimuttu 
http://www.eccentrix.com/misc/losp/news/ns103047.htm

~~~~~


Tambimuttu related Books available through Barns &
Nobles  for purchase
http://shop.barnesandnoble.com/OopBooks/
1. Poetry in Wartime
 Tambimuttu, M.J. (ed.) 
2. Tambimuttu,
 Williams, Jane (ed)
(Alternative tile: Tambimuttu: Bridge between Two
Worlds. 
 Edited by Jane Williams, with Kathleen Raine.
Illustrations.)
3. T.S. ELIOT: A SYMPOSIUM
 March, Richard & Tambimuttu (Editors). 
4. Poetry London X
 TAMBIMUTTU, edited by
5. Poetry London-New York. Vol. 1 No. 2.
 Tambimuttu, Editor.
6. India Love Poems: Selected and with an Essay on
Woman in India 
 Tambimuttu (ed.)
7. Festschrift for Marianne Moore's Seventy Seventh
Birthday By Various Hands
 Tambimuttu - editor

Also (a work in),
1. Selected Prose, 1934-1996
By Gascoyne, David
(pgs 237-239)
2. Yale's 'FURIOSO' Papers 
 TAMBIMUTTU 
 "Preface to 'War Diary'"  
http://webtext.library.yale.edu/sgml2html/beinecke.furioso.sgm.html
3. Univeristy of New Hampshire's 
 SCEPTRE PRESS Papers, 1969-1981 collection
http://www.izaak.unh.edu/specoll/mancoll/sceptre.htm
4. Memoirs of the Forties. 
  Maclaren-Ross, Julian. 
  (London: Alan Ross Ltd., 1965. 8vo., pp. 344) 

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