OPINIONSrnThe Habit of Makingrnby Loxley F. Nicholsrn”Nature I loved, and next to nature, art.”rn—^W.S. LandorrnRobert Penn Warren: A Biographyrnby Joseph BlotnerrnNew York: Random House;rnS44 pp., $35.00rnIn October 1986, I heard Robert PennrnWarren read a selection of his poemsrnat an LSU conference marking the 50thrnanniversary of the Southern Review.rnl ie was 81 years old, exceeding frail, andrnsuffering from cancer. About halfwayrnthrough the reading, his wispy bark of arnvoice failed and James Olnev had to finislrrnfor him. Despite his fragile state, onerncould not help but feel the power ofrnWarren’s presence—even at some distancernfrom the small figure, and evenrnsmaller voice, on stage, hi addition to anrnaura of intellect and imagination exceedingrnmere fame, presence was reinforcedrnby tenacity of will (he was obvioush’ toornLoxley F. ‘Nichols teaches in the Englishrnand Writing departments of LoyolarnCollege in Baltimore, Maryland.rnill to be there in the first place) and byrnthe graciousiiess with which he greetedrnadmirers afterward. His wife finallyrnstepped in to rescue him.rnDogged determination characterizedrnWarren throughout his life; precedent tornrapid decline in his last years, he also possessedrnunbounded energy and iron-cladrndiscipline. Born in 1905 in Guthrie, Tennessee,rnWarren grew up an omnivorousrnreader and precocious student whose aptitudernand interests included not only literaturernbut science and history, militaryrnhistory especially. When his plans to attendrnthe Naval Academy were spoiled b)-rna fluke accident that cost him sight in hisrnleft eye, Warren ended up at Vanderbiltrnwhere he immediately fell in with arngroup of a’ant-garde intellectuals knownrnas the Fugities. He was then 16. By 18,rnhe was a full-fledged member of thisrnliterary elite. It was at Vanderbilt thatrnWarren met Allen Tate, John CrowernRansom, Donald Davidson, Andrew Lytic,rnand Cleanth Brooks. Warren’s collegernyears were tumultuous. Depressionrnbrought on by physical and emotionalrnexhaustion from study, carousing, andrnhis unrequited love for a Nashville socialiternculminated in an awkward attemptrnat suicide. Nevertheless, it wasrnduring this time that Warren discoveredrnT.S. Eliot, and he and his fellow Fugitivesrnembarked on a path that revolutionizedrnthe approach to literary analysisrnand the teaching of literature in the classroomrn—what came to be known as thernNew Criticism.rnUpon graduating from Vanderbiltrnwith highest honors and multiplernawards, Warren attended Berkeley, a periodrnhe described as his “sojourn amongrnthe barbarians” (modernism having vetrnto reach the West Coast). Since Warren’srnlife in California was fully as turbulentrnas his Nashville existence, it is perhapsrnnot coincidental that during thisrntime he met the volatile Cinina Brescia,rnwho became his first wife. From Berkeley,rnWarren went to study at Yale,rnand then as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford.rnAfter Oxford, Warren, now married,rnwent on to teach at several Southernrnschools—first at Southwestern CollegernNOVEMBER 1997/25rnrnrn