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The Ted Hughes estate has insisted there "is no secret being guarded" by withdrawing support for Professor Jonathan Bate's biography of the poet.
Damon Parker, a spokesperson and solicitor for the estate, wrote in The Guardian that the estate had raised concerns that "he might be straying from the remit agreed for the book" by focussing more on Hughes' life that his writing.
Parker said: "[Bate's] proposal to write "Ted Hughes: a Literary Life" was rather more than a "form of words" to the estate and to Faber: it was a whole new, scholarly approach, and that was the basis on which he was commissioned. Yet in his piece 'How the actions of the Ted Hughes estate will change my biography' he dismisses what he calls "the rather artificial distinction between 'biography' and 'literary life'"."
The estate also claims Bate failed to share his work in progress as agreed, and said he had previously written to Hughes' widow Carol saying that he would not speak to the press about the changes, before making "the inflammatory claim" that he might unearth "revelations about (the poet's) private life."
Bate wrote in The Guardian on Wednesday that the decision for the estate to withdraw support meant his planned book would now be more biographical, as he could no longer quote at length from Hughes' archive to discuss his poetic voice.
The book was signed with Faber, Hughes' publisher, but is now planned for release with HarperCollins imprint William Collins. Bate's said in his piece: "As Ted Hughes's publisher, [Faber] couldn't possibly proceed with a book that did not have the support of his copyright holder. They behaved impeccably: sadly but amicably, we parted company."