A Worldly Country

John Ashbery's latest book of poems is Quick Question. From 1960 to 1965, he was the International Herald Tribune art critic and ArtNews Paris correspondent. France has named him Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres and Officier of the Légion d'Honneur. He has received a National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, and President Obama awarded him a National Humanities Medal. Rosanne Wasserman and Eugene Richie's latest poetry book is Psyche and Amor. They have edited Ashbery's essays in Other Traditions and in Selected Prose, as well as his translations of Pierre Martory. She teaches at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy; he is the director of writing at Pace University.