Cid Corman with Phillip Rowland - Flash Point Mag.

CORMAN: Yes, Frank is one of them. In fact, I just got a letter, my most recent letter from Bob Arnold yesterday, saying, "Shouldn't we do a Selected Samperi?" And I said yes, we should, as soon as we have the means. I have contact with his daughter, who controls his work now -- of course, he died some years ago -- and his letters to me, as I've said a number of times, I think are his masterpiece -- his letters from the beginning of his career to the time virtually of his death -- six months before his death. (He was a little angry at me at the end -- for no reason, really. I think his ill-health contributed to it. It was a silly thing to argue about with me -- not important.) His last letters then were to Clive Faust, an Australian poet, because I put them in touch and they got along fine (maybe because they never met). But Frank was an offbeat character in many ways, very gentle person, very sweet, very handsome guy. He had no parents, he was brought up by nuns; and they didn't treat him very well. He was obviously a very gentle and retiring, shy person; and they took advantage of the boy, I'm afraid. So he had very mixed feelings -- although he was very religious, not a church-goer, not that kind. He became a scholar, of theology, and also a very fine mathematician. And he never finished, I don't know if he finished high school, so he couldn't get a job as a teacher. He should have been a university professor; that probably would have kept him alive longer too. He ended up marrying one of the ladies in his life. They came over here right after they got married, because of me, and lived here for several years. They had two children -- well, one was born here and the other one was conceived here. And they lived in a much better situation than I did. Through friends we got him a teaching job. Of course, the fact that he wasn't a university graduate didn't matter very much. So he taught in Osaka area...


Click on this link to read more: http://www.flashpointmag.com/corman2.htm