Phil Coram Hugo Manning A Bibliography 1999. 177 pp. ISBN-13 978-3-901993-03-9; ISBN-10 3-901993-03-7; £18.00 (+ 2.00 p&p), €18.00 (+ 2.00 p&p), US$ 23.00 (+ 3.00 p&p)   Since his death in 1977 Hugo Manning's books have gone out of print.But with the publication in 1997 of a new Selected Poetry and IvanSavidge's biography Hugo Manning, Poet and Humanist (both from OpenGate Press) it is hoped there will be a revival of interest in his work.Phil Coram's comprehensive and carefully researched bibliography - a truelabour of love - should help to achieve this. Alan Clodd

Excerpts from the Preface to Hugo Manning. A Bibliography

The writing of Hugo Manning will not be well known to everyone as inthe main, he was published by small presses. Even allowing for Hugo Manning'srelative obscurity, I felt that his work shouts loud enough and with aconsistently high quality for more notice to come to it. This really isthe prime reason for my undertaking the task of compiling a bibliographyof his work. To lay the groundwork, as it were, for others more able andbetter qualified to comment in detail upon his poetic output.

For each book I have attempted to give all of the relevant informationneeded in as much detail as was possible. This proved quite difficult especiallyin the case of his early Argentinian publications. In the interest of accuracy,I have endeavoured to get hold of original copies wherever possible andto include only items that I have actually seen. With regard to the periodicaland newspaper contributions, I have collected as much as possible whilstat the same time endeavouring not to 'clutter' the bibliography with workadayjournalese [hence no Reuters mentions]. In some instances the work hasbeen published in other languages, notably Spanish and Swedish. WhetherI have covered all of this ground remains to be seen as a complete bibliographyis a rare bird indeed!

As far as is known, there have been no previous attempts at compilinga bibliography of Hugo Manning's work but of course, for students, researchersetc, the more information the better. Hopefully, this book will be foundto be of use to those who wish to read Hugo Manning further. It was forthese reasons that it was compiled.

A Brief Biography of Hugo Manning (1913-1977)

1913: Born Lazarus Perkoff on July 15th of Polish/Jewish parents. Hisfather was a tailor's machinist at this time. Hugo spent the larger partof his childhood in the East End of London.

1926: Left school to take up a scholarship which he had won to theTrinity College of Music, London. There he studied violin, viola and theorybetween 1926-32.

1930: Took up work as a free-lance reporter contributing articles tothe Sunday Referee, Sight and Sound etc, to help supplementthe family income whilst continuing his musical studies.

1937: Left London for Vienna as a foreign correspondent and free-lancejournalist for such publications as The Jewish Chronicle, ReynoldsNews, World Film News and Sight and Sound.

1938: Went to Argentina and worked as music critic for the Englishnewspaper, Buenos Aires Herald. He made the acquaintance of someof the leading Argentinean literary lights – Victoria Ocampo, PatricioGannon and Jorge Luis Borges (who thereafter became his lifelong friend).

1942: This proved to be a very fertile period of his writing life andhe made a considerable reputation as a writer and critic whilst in Argentina.Hugo's only known play, Disturbios en Fancilmania was performedin this year (scenery designed by Bernardo Lasansky). He also directeda little.

1943: As 1942 was ending he returned to England via New York to volunteerfor the Services, and joined the Intelligence Corps. He was injured inthe leg whilst in North Africa, which left him partially lame for the restof his life.

1946: He became a Senior Sub-Editor and Features Writer of Reuters.It was during this year that he came to live in Hampstead.

1948: Became Poetry Editor of The New Statesman.

1965: He moved to Belsize Square, his last address in Hampstead.

1968: He retired early from Reuters in order to devote more time tohis poetry and writing.

From 1968 onwards until 1977 Hugo produced a vast quantity of poetryall of which had the unmistakable stamp of his own voice.

1977: Hugo Manning died on Thursday, September 22nd.

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