A DIFFERENT PERSON: A Memoir by...

A DIFFERENT PERSON: A Memoir by James Merrill (HarperSan Francisco: $14; 271 pp., illustrated). Growing up with a substantial trust fund (his father was a founder of Merrill Lynch), National Book Award/Pulitzer Prize winning poet James Merrill could easily have become a dissolute idler. In this lively autobiography, he describes his coming of age as a man and an artist, learning to accept his homosexuality and developing the discipline to pursue his metier. Merrill never lectures or poses. With a poet’s subtlety, he recalls travels in Europe, love and family relations, and allows the reader to share his discovery of his vocation.