Background
He was born in New London, Connecticut, and educated at Harvard University.
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Dunstan Thompson
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Harvard University.
Career
He was a Catholic poet who wrote openly about gay and wartime experiences. He edited a literary magazine Vice Versa in New York in 1940-1942, with Harry Brown. He joined the United States Army in 1942.
His Poems (Simon & Schuster) was published in 1943.
Some of his poems were translated by Borges shortly after. Also in 1942 a novel The Dove with the Bough of Olive appeared.
After the war he travelled in the Middle East and settled in the United Kingdom. In 1947 Lament for the Sleepwalker, another book of poetry, was published.
A travel book The Phoenix in the Desert was published in London in 1951.
Subsequently he published little, and virtually disappeared from literary circles. A few poems were taken by magazines. Poems 1950-1974 (1984, Paradigm Press) was a posthumous collection.
He was homosexual and raised Catholic.
After this the couple were given permission, by the priest, to continue living together but as celibates. This arrangement, celibacy and living with each others male partner in the 1950s, has been noted upon by both gay and Catholic critics of his work.
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Born
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Died
1975 (aged 57) -
Nationality
United States