By Joan Richardson . The Later Years , 1923-1955. By Joan Richardson. This biography should, perhaps, end here. Anyone who has attempted to translate life from the medium of daily experience and memory into the medium of words can appreciate this scruple.
Introspection repeatedly gives the lie to the clarity and shapeliness of the narrative on the page.
At the same time, one recognizes her first question as a false antithesis unless she is genuinely uncertain whether her account is fact or fiction. If so, her project was in trouble from the start. Ms. Richardson's first volume followed Stevens from birth to the publication of his first book of poems several weeks before his 44th birthday, in 1923. The second volume begins with the critical response to ''Harmonium'' and ends with his death from cancer in 1955. Between these terminals, his career passed through several distinct phases.