Product Description

Provides a detailed look at the artistic origins of one of America's most accomplished writers. Chronicling James Dickey's scrutiny of a variety of works, the notebooks serve as a critical tool in understanding his literary apprenticeship.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3291280 in Books
• Published on: 1996-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 291 pages

From Library Journal
Covering the early 1950s, these six notebooks chart the beginnings of Dickey's development as a poet and fiction writer. Editor Van Ness, a Dickey scholar, has included ideas for stories and poems, explorations of literary techniques, lists of books read, and allusions to various writers. Several of the longer entries?like those on prosody?provide some insight into Dickey's aesthetics, but too many jottings lack sufficient context to yield meaning, the editor's copious notes notwithstanding. Since Dickey wrote in all of the notebooks simultaneously, Van Ness's decision to present each notebook separately does little to unify the volume. Organizing the material around Dickey's major topics (prosody, literary criticism, notes on his own work, etc.) would have provided a more coherent context. Recommended for research-level collections.?William Gargan, Brooklyn Coll. Lib., CUNY
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.