Regarding your story about WH Auden and his relationship with Hugo Kurka and his wife, Christa (WH Auden formed intense friendship with sex worker who burgled him, unseen letters reveal, 27 October), the details of this love triangle are already well known to readers of Auden biography. A detailed account of Auden’s affair with “Hugerl” was given by Charles Osborne in WH Auden: The Life of a Poet, published in 1979.
Hugerl and Christa are both named by Osborne in his book. He discusses Glad, the posthumously published love poem that Auden wrote about them. Osborne writes that the poem should have been titled Sad. He also tells us that Hugerl and Christa were among the chief mourners at Auden’s funeral in 1973 – a public funeral, recorded by TV camera crews – and he provides a photograph as evidence. Their participation in the funeral reveals something about their complicated and unorthodox relationship with Auden.
Osborne was an eccentric biographer, but his 1979 version of the Hugerl affair seems to be accurate. He deserves credit for his pioneering work.
Prof Andrew Biswell
Manchester Metropolitan University
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