Product Description
Released for the first time in trade paperback,this is the classic tale of four men caught in aprimitive and violent test ofmanhood.

The setting is the Georgia wilderness, where thestates most remote white-water river awaits. Inthe thundering froth of that river, in itsechoing stone canyons, four men on a canoe tripdiscover a freedom and exhilaration beyond compare.And then, in a moment of horror, the adventure turnsinto a struggle for survival as one man becomes ahuman hunter who is offered his own harrowingdeliverance. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (81)

Great over time
I first read this book back in the 70's and around the same era saw the movie.I don't think there is ANYONE in my age group (30-40-50-60) that does not know those few notes played on a banjo (you are picking them off in your head now, aren't you?) that does not know the book/movie they came from.
I just happened to come accross it in the kindle listings while searching out something else and decided to give it another read.I did NOT waste my time by doing so.This book was as great in 2010 as it was in 1970.
If the story line was not so dark, I would say this is a timeless classic.....no, I take that back - THIS IS A TIMELESS CLASSIC!!

Survival at its essence
This is a powerfully written novel that at its core deals with our instinctual human desire to survive at all costs. The plot is basic; four men decide to raft a seldom traveled river through north Georgia hill country. From that point on it is man verse nature, and in the end you might call it a draw.
James Dickey was a renowned poet, and only wrote a couple of novels. Reading "Deliverance" you can tell. The prose is economical, and there are rarely more words used then are needed. For the casual reader this will be frustrating, as the poetic format of some of the novel leaves narrative gaps that the reader must fill. But, if you get on board with Mr. Dickey's style you will enjoy the ride.
Some have said that the characters are not fleshed out, but I disagree. The book is narrated by Ed Gentry after the fact, and his observations of his companions and the environment around him are sharp and resound with humanity.
Besides the human characters in the text Mr. Dickey has written one of the great novels about Nature and its power. The river is one of the main characters in this novel, and one feels its emotions, its current, its strength, its malice with every descriptive phrase. Rarely have I read a book where the physical actions of the characters were etched into my mind and my body responded with the sense memory. This novel does that. Dickey has made the physical battle for survival as real as I have come across in literature.
Besides the survival element of the book, "Deliverance" also deals with the philosophical question of what makes us human and civilized. The answers are not always what we want to hear, but they still ring with human truth.
It is too bad that most people's connection with "Deliverance" is the film and not this inspired text. It should be much more than a pop culture reference.

yes, shockingly a one star
I usually only rate the books I am disapointed in and this is no different.This is a rare case of the movie being better-(and in this case)-much better than the book.I thought this book was so bad after the infamous rape part I had to stop reading.I felt there was a lot of homosexual innuendos like when the main character admired his friend's build, and not some guys on a trip but that there was more beneath the surface.Just as disgusting was the relationship between the main character and his wife and 'lubricant'.It just didnt seem like these people were friends, or had any relationships.The situation was clumsy and unnatural.I just couldnt relate so I am throwing up my review for whats it worth.Watch the movie and forget the book.It takes away from the movie!

We pay a price for civilization.
Superlative, compact, masterpiece.Many reviews before mine have noted the book and the movie's qualities and I'll just second those.

The important, basic, theme that the work explores is the small price that we pay for the security that civilization (western civ, in particular) provides us.The book is pretty subtle in bringing this idea to the fore (for one example, Ed lusts for a girl but doesn't act upon his lust because he's civilized).The movie is less subtle (having less time to develop character back story's) and hits us over the head with the idea by portraying the church on wheels scene toward the end of the movie.

BTW, if it hasn't been mentioned, James Dickey portrays the sheriff in the movie.

Better than the movie
If you liked the movie, the book is ten times more intense.A must read. ... Read more

Product Description
Documentation of the development of a major literary figure.Amazon.com Review
This is the definitive James Dickey collection. WallaceStegner wrote that Dickey's poems leave the reader with "an awedsense of the pure power of these words." Better known as the novelistwho wrote Deliverance, Dickey wasone of the most important poets of the century. "The Lifeguard" is oneof his best poems and is typical of his writing in its blending of thephysical and spiritual worlds, in its memorable images, and in itsmarriage of sound to sense. This is one to read again and again, to benewly astonished. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

A Reading of "The Sheep Child"
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R2GUH3CYDRQH3K I feel I must state here, as with all my reviews of Dickey's work or of books about Dickey or his work, or, as in this case, a reading from his work: I knew Dickey during the last years of his life and considered him a friend.

This is covered in the video, briefly, in my introduction to this poem as well as my reasons for choosing it.

Dickey one of our finest poets
Dickey writes with a passion for man and his relation to nature (both the wondrous and sinister sides)and his struggle for meaning in an often hostile universe. His themes tend to explore metaphysical depths. His diction is simple yet has the ability to elevate the ordinary & mundane world into the extroadinary and significant, if not the spiritual. His use of metaphor and simile is superbly crafted and carries a unique flavor quite unlike many other poets of his time. From the wonderful narrative poem "Cherrylog Road," to lyrical love pieces like "Place," & "The Beholders," Dickey's verse maintains that inimitable tone and style that has assured him a spot as one of the most gifted poets of the 20th century.

This is THE definitive collection
I became familiar with James Dickey while pursuing my BFA in writing, and I keep finding myself coming back to his poetry.All of the "famous" ones are here, as well as a few lesser-known gems--such as "Pursuit From Under"--that cannot be lived without,especially if you love great poetry.Dickey was persecuted after "The Fire Bombing" because it showed the bombing of Japan in WWII as beautiful, but it is easy, when reading the poem, to forgive this and understand that Dickey was one of the great masters of poetry.I rank him among the best and most gifted.It's amazing that a man who was once an executive for big buisiness turned out some of the most important poetry ever written.Sensitive and enlightening, this is a collection I would recomment to anyone.Peace not war.

the whole motion -- james dicky
i have been a fan of james dickey's work since college. now that i am teaching a college class in world poetry, i just couldn't resist choosing dickey. the problem was, which book to teach. i decided to use the wholemotion because it spans dickey's career, including every important poem ofthis great, underated american poet. poetry lovers will recognize some ofhis more anthologized works (the lifeguard, the firebombing, cherrylogroad) and will be thrilled to find other penetrating works of art regardingnature, war, guilt, love, family, and so on. i personally recommend thepoem drinking from a helmet, one of the greatest american poems i've everread. if you love dickey's novel deliverance (one of the greatest americannovels ever written) as much as i do, then you will certainly love thisbody of poety, a must for people who are interested in poetry about thepower of nature, as well as the intracacies of human nature. ... Read more

Product Description
Gathers the very best lyrics from the career of one of America's best known poets. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The author of Deliverance was a poet?
James Dickey came to my attention through his poem "The Bee" (still a favorite) - only later did I learn he was also the author of _Deliverance_, which surprised me, although in the opposite manner for those more familar with the film than his poetry.That he is able to do both - write narratives and poetry - so well is testament to his literary prowess.

Dickey is a masculine poet.That is to say, many of his poems will undoubtedly appeal more to men than women, and many of his subjects are masculine-oriented."Drinking From a Helmet" and "The Firebombing" tell of his experiences in World War II (no machismo here - rather the simple, sad reflections on the pointlessness of destruction, but still a clearly masculine voice), "False Youth" gives us a glimpse at Dickey in late-middle age, a little slower, clothes a little tighter."The Bee", though, remains with me.A few lines to give you a sense of his style:

"Old wingback, come
To life.If your knee action is high
Enough, the fat may fall in time G - D
You, Dickey *dig* this is your last time to cut
And run,but you must give it everything you have
Left, for screaming near your screaming child is the sheer
Murder of California traffic: some bee hangs driving

Your child
Blindly onto the highway. Get there however
Is still possible. ..."

The frantic, heart-racing panic a parent feels for a child is communicated with an immeadiacy and clarity that forces you to relive the moment - it is a powerful poem.Would Dickey appeal to female readers?Certainly - but there is no escaping the gender in his voice.

I realize that for some "poetry" and "masculinity" may appear to be an oxymoron.I disagree.Certainly Dickeywill not be to everyone's taste, and some of his poems are a bit heavy on the testosterone and too flavored of the south ("Buckdancer's Choice" is an example of this); to be honest, I don't like *every* poem in the collection.On the balance, though, there are more good poems - honest poems - than bad. ... Read more

Product Description
In the early days of World War II, a blind man sets off in search of the son he never knew, a charismatic Air Force pilot supposedly killed in a training accident. His odyssey leads to the secret heart of a "higher military"--sustained by heroism and a fanatical devotion to flight. By the author of Deliverance. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Twenty Years Later
I read this book when it first came out and I was disappointed.But it has a weird way of lingering in the mind.Of all the books I have ever read, I have spent more time thinking about this one than any book other than "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance"-- which it doesn't really resemble (well, it is about a father and a son, so I suppose it does resemble it).What was Dickey trying to accomplish?I wonder if I'll ever know.I really would like to do something, though.Someday I want to write the screenplay...I'm kidding.No I'm not.I want to make this book into a movie.FADE IN:Exterior-Night, in the clouds.Pink Floyd's "Learning to Fly" plays in the background.A strange, marionette-like flying machine resembling the Wright Bros. contraption drifts throught the clouds towards the camera.At the controls is a very young man wearing a stylized military uniform with a high peaked cap, the letters A L N I L A M appear behind the craft like giant water towers reflecting the searchlights, the fog rolls in to fill the frame and the camera pulls back to reveal the swirling fog transformed into the reflection in the lenses of the dark glasses of FRANK CAHILL...

A worthwhile challenge to any lover of Dickey's writing
Anyone expecting another book like Deliverance will be vastly disappointed. I struggled with this book at first yet I found it had many rewards not offered up by the usual "top ten" hits list of today's pop pulp market. While Dickey fails where someone like Umberto Eco might succeed it is worthwhile to hitch a ride on Dickey's powerful imagination and tough muscular illusory prose. You almost believe a blind man can fly! I'm a sucker for Dickey so became immersed in this book and liked it better than the White Sea which came later and which I found a good cure for insomnia. While Alnilam did not initially "knock me out", I find it staying with me all these years later.

Pebble In A Pond
I'm aware that "Alnilam" didn't fare well on the popular market, and that three previous ..... reviewers have given this Dickey novel low ratings.But this novel engrossed me, and it has stayed with me for fourteen years now.
An English professor of mine used the metaphor of a pebble in a pond to illustrate how interpreting the "meaning" of a fine literary work is essentially a subjective matter.The author drops a pebble into the center of a pond, as it were, and the ripples which it produces, which radiate out to the edges of the pond, arethe meanings which we readers ascribe to his creation. (This was some years before Barthes' "The Death of the Author.")
Thus with "Alnilam," I believe.Dickey's powerful prose and deep symbolisms allow a vast range of responses and interpretations.Mine include a lot of religious themes, although I'm aware that Dickey was a bomber pilot in WWII and thus theaviation references, not only explicit but implicit, may be more concretely referential than I've chosen to interpret them. I'm not particularly religious, but I don't know whether the spiritualmetaphors I find in "Alnilam" are my own particular "ripple in the pond" or anything Dickey intended when he dropped his "pebble."
At any rate, this reader found "Alnilam" not only brilliantly written but profoundly moving. I'd give it five stars but for the fact that I can't claim to fully understand this novel on an intellectual or objective level, despite enjoying it and being deeply moved by it.But is intellectual grasp anecessary criterion of good literature? Particularly of the work of a brilliant poet? Being uncertain, I give it four stars.

Extremely Disappointing.
I gave up after reading a hundred pages or so. I'm a huge fan of James Dickey. I'd waited for so long for a second book from him and was so disappointed by this. The plot was vague and boring, and it didn't have that wonderful prose which Dickey used in Deliverance.

The one positive I could say about this book is his idea of portraying the blind and sighted versions simultaneously. It didn't work in this. But the 'idea' is to be admired. He always seems to find some way to push the established boundaries of writing.

(He pushes the boundaries again in the last of his novels, 'To The White Sea'. He has no dialogue at all for ninety odd percent of the book. Very successfully, too.)

Nothing happened!
This was probably the worst book I have ever read.I thought something would "happen", but other than philosophical meanderings of the war and the meaning of life, it was a complete waste of time and energy. ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description
Poetry that is a blend of superb gift and subtle imagination by a mature and original poet at his finest. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

james dickey.....
Dickey may be somewhat unpopular because his work is politically incorrect by today's standards. He fought in WWII, was a Southerner, wrote a bestselling novel that was made into a popular film--all things academics are uncomfortable with. But his poetry is up there with the best of his generation.

Dickey's best.
James Dickey, Buckdancer's Choice (Wesleyan, 1965)

Buckdancer's Choice, Dickey's fourth book, should have been the one that catapulted him into the national spotlight. (That didn't happen for another five years, until he released his first novel: Deliverance.) Buckdancer's Choice won Dickey the 1965 National Book Award for poetry, as well as getting him named consultant in poetry to the Library of Congress. But, as is usually the way with these things, in the wider world, Dickey remained just as obscure as ever for another half-decade.

There are few nits that can be picked with a book full of stuff as powerful as James Dickey's. Two of the best poems he wrote in his long and illustrious career, "The Fire-Bombing" and "The Fiend," both found their first homes in this slim volume. Both are in the style Dickey invented, presumably nameless, which plays with line breaks by putting them in the middles of lines. (Yes, folks, I know these are called caesurae, but they're not regular, like one would find in Old English poetry; think of it more as a form of Gerard Manley Hopkins' sprung rhythm applied to free verse.) The effect is to get the reader to pause more often than normal, and thus to force the reader to emphasize images in his reflections on the poem than he otherwise normally would:

"He descends.....a medium-sized shadow.....while that one sleeps and turns
In her high bed in loss.....as he goes limb by limb.....quietly down
The trunk with one lighted side...."

("The Fiend")

Coupled with these are, of course, poems written in a more "regular" style, equally as powerful, combining enchantment and revulsion. It was said in Victorian times that the mark of British gentility was to have a copy of one of Tennyson's works prominently displayed in one's home. Were America to value poetry that much, there is little doubt Buckdancer's Choice would be on the short list of books that would mark American gentility in a similar way, or at least a certain type of American gentility. Some of the best American poetry written since (or, perhaps, since long before) World War II. **** ½

No wonder modern readers don't read poetry
Am I the only poetry lover who thinks that James Dickey is tremendously overrated as a poet? I realize that the standards for judging greatness in poetry are vague and complicated by the lack of any generally agreed uponpoetic theory in our day and age, but some poets seem to emerge - eitherbuoyed up by developing a loyal following of readers or held up by academicattention. I have to believe that Dickey is one of those whose prominencewas based on academic attention - for whatever reason - and not on on areal readership. I have never known anyone who read poetry to voluntarilyturn to Dickey's work when they needed a poetry fix. His poems seemselfconscious, too aware of their images, too quick to use a word becauseof some association that the average reader could not possibly know. To me,they always seemed in bad faith, as if the 'poet' had developed a personalchecklist of what he should include in each of his poems and how he wouldgo about being 'poetic'. Most important, I feel that these poems arebloodless. I don't sense real passion in them.

I can spend pleasant timewith Wallace Stevens and with Russell Edson, two poets as different fromone another as can be, even when I have no idea what they are saying -because I at least always have the sense they are trying to say somethingimportant. With Dickey, I frequently have no idea what he is saying andworse, feel that he doesn't either, beyond the message, 'see, I've writtena poem.' ... Read more

Product Description
Award-winning and best-selling author James Dickey returns with the heart-stopping story of Muldrow, an American tail gunner who parachutesfrom his burning airplane into Tokyo in the final months of World War II. Fleeing the chaotic,ruined city, he instinctively travels north toward a frozen, desolate sanctuary he is certain will assure this survival--and freedom. Making his way through enemy terrain, on the lookout for both danger andopportunity, Muldrow's journey becomes the flight of a pure predator. Moving through the darkness,bombarded by haunting visions that consume hisimagination, every step in his violent odyssey bringshim closer to a harrowing climax that is pureJames Dickey. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (22)

A slow harrowing
At first this seems like the story of a resourceful US aviator shot down over Japan near the end of World War 2. He manages to avoid capture on his way out of Tokyo mostly because the Japanese never seem to look at him; they are too busy deferently looking down at the ground. So Muldrow escapes from Tokyo and makes his way northward to Hokkaido. At first his killings of civilians along the way seem necessary for his escape and to provide the clothes necessary to prevent recognition and capture. But then he commits several unnecessary murders. He cuts off a woman's head and puts it on a water wheel. Later he enters a home at night and kills the elderly occupants---even though the man has a samurai sword. He then sleeps the night in the house and sews a set of winter clothes for his northward trek, never concerned that someone would come to the house looking for the occupants. Later, after reaching Hokkaido, he kills the man who helped him and who sheltered him in his village. By then it is pretty clear that Muldrow has either become deranged by his flight or was deranged to begin with. Never do we get the impression that the Japanese army or even civilians are on his trail, yet the ending seems to have a company of men finally coming upon Muldrow at the end and killing him.
There is a lot going on here, psychologically. It's very poetically and lyrically written. But I think that most Japanese readers would not enjoy it. Indeed, it is not a book to be read for enjoyment.

Thought provoking and difficult to read
This a beautifully written and perplexing book. Muldrow is a complicated protagonist/antagonist - arrogant and condescending but a pure professional. He is obsessive about his equipment, from his twin .50's on the B-29 to his customized bread knife. Dickey does an excellent job of bringing you into Muldrow's mind before putting him into crisis. Upon being shot down in Japan, Muldrow begins a slow but unstoppable transformation from a warrior behind enemy lines to behavior that is really more savage than predatory. Muldrow kills to survive and escape, but as his journey north gains momentum, his self-justification for each kill gets thinner and thinner until Muldrow drops any pretense of humanity. The novel's primary accomplishment is how Dickey slowly turns up the heat on the reader until the very last sentence. We all go along for the ride with Muldrow and each sane reader, even the most battle-hardened, will want to get out at some point. But you can't.

The prose in this book reminds you that a poet laureate wrote it. For all his violence, Muldrow is very sensitive to animals and some of his musings on nature possess their own beauty. It is these sentiments that make him so compelling and, despite his murderous behavior, morally ambiguous. What kind of creature can feel so deeply and still be so destructive? Dickey's answer is the human being.

Indirect writing style is original; story was unexpected
I'd added this book to my Wishlist years ago, based on a list of great war novels I saw in a magazine.Based on the book's appearance on that list, I was greatly surprised by the content of this book; it was less a war novel than it was a story of a man in a crisis.

As has already been said, it is a novel of an aviator shot down during a WWII bombing raid over Tokyo, and his story of survival.The novel has a single narrative and a single voice (the protagonist's), and no chapters.One story-line, one voice, and one long chapter has the potential for tedium, yet I found the novel to be gripping and excellent.

Dickey's character doesn't really tell you what is happening to him, but relies on an indirectness to tell the tale.You don't so much get the action, rather you get the effect.You don't read the words of this novel; you just sort of take in the pages.

As the story unfolds, the character's traits, flaws, and past transgressions seep out.It is a novel way to get to know a character.While this book moved slowly at time, and wasn't the war novel I thought it was, I really enjoyed it and would recommend it.I read Deliverance long ago, and am glad I finally read this novel.

Portrait of the Hero as a Jackass
"To the White Sea" is the second novel by James Dickey that I have read.The first was "Deliverance" and I came away from "White Sea" wondering what the heck his poetry must be about.After all, his prose comes across as a sort of "disfunctionally bestial man in the wilderness who does whatever it takes to survive".I'm not sure that there's much poetry out there that emanates from such subjecdt matter.I'm also not sure I want to find out if there is.

"To the White Sea" challenged my value systems and left me rejecting the hero and actually cheering for some of his later "adversaries".The hero is an WWII American airman who parachutes from a downed US plane and lands on the edge of Tokyo.His survival skills are impressive and I found myself cheering him on.As the book progresses (and we learn more and more about his upbringing on the North Slope of Alaska) our "hero's" survival techniques become more and more ruthless.When he reaches his "destination" he discovers a lifestyle we expect him to embrace.What happened next (and why it did) totally turned me off to this guy.The resulting few pages were probably what Dickey meant to leave us with but I got left behind about 20 pages earlier.

As I struggled with what to think about "To the White Sea", I pondered whether Dickey meant it as a statement against the self-destructive nature of war.By baring it all on a man who will stop at nothing to survive, was Dickey saying that war causes nations to stop at nothing to prevail?I'm not sure that the pattern of his prose doesn't point to a baser level of study.Perhaps it is meant to be Dickey's exploration of man's degenerative nature period."Deliverance" was a masterpiece that challenged our senses and sensitivities."To the White Sea" merely challenged my patience.

Escape through death
The basic story is that of a WWII bomber crewman shot down over Tokyo immediately prior to the great firebomb raids at the end of the war. He is alone in enemy territory. We follow our tail-gunner as he plans to escape Tokyo during the confusion of the upcoming firebomb raid the following night. We watch him as he struggles to stay alive with his only goal to keep moving north. To the ice regions like his home in Alaska, where he feels he will be safe. We are given many glimpses into the thoughts of our crewman as he tries to survive. The ending of the book we have our main charcter sort of at home with his surroundings and he seems to accept his fate at the end. I did find this a bit of a slow read. And therefore rated it 3 instead of 4 stars.

... Read more

Product Description
James Dickey, a poet who raised my consciousness at a time when I was not writing any more, a time when I had abandoned it, a time when the muse had departed. Well, James Dickey has now departed. He died on January 19, 1997. I suppose he was best known for his novel Deliverance but he also wrote about 20 volumes of poetry. James Dickey?s Poetry: The Religious Dimension is my elegy to the man.

Pat Mullan, Connemara, IrelandNovember, 2007 ... Read more

Product Description
James Dickey was the maker of his own mystique. He portrayed himself as sports star, war hero, businessman, outdoorsman, a voracious consumer of both alcohol and women, the Georgia mountain boy turned National Book Award winning poet and bestselling novelist who became one of the most popular and notorious writers of the 1960s and 1970s. This authoritative, immensely entertaining biography delves deeply behind his subject's many masks. Utilizing letters, dozens of interviews, archival research into unpublished manuscripts, and drawing on James Dickey's own reluctant but candid cooperation, Henry Hart sorts the tall tales from the true ones. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

GARBAGE!
ANOTHER OVERRATED, BIOGOTED,SEXIST, HEAVY DRINKING, TURD WHO BITE THE DUST! FULL OF HIS OWN BS!BURN IN H!E!L!L ALONG WITH WILLIAM F. BUCKELY.

Fear of Effeminacy
The intriguing thing about Dickey's lies was that he didn't need to lie.He was a man of massive and varied achievements who lied about his achievements. He had flown, as navigator, on 38 missions over Japanese held territory. He was an accomplished musician and athlete, an expert on French literature, a major poet and a major best-selling novelist.
Hart does not quite give us the answer to the puzzle, and perhaps none is possible. It is an old theory (one often used to explain Hemmingway) that the jock who exaggerates his masculinity is reacting against a fear ofeffeminacy. Some of Dickey's life, and much of his work fits in with that theory. Simple alchohol and a writer's fertile imagination account for a lot.
At 751 pages I found it rather too long and felt about it the way Samuel Johnson felt about Paradise Lost.There are a lot of day-by-day passages about where Dickey was on what particular date that I found mind-numbing, but I suppose the conscientious writer of what will probably be the only biography had to pack everything in.
The book is an interesting source of information about the literary scene of the sixties, seventies and eighties. Hart seems familiar with the life and work of practically every English language poet of those eras
He is evidently less familiar with the Greek iambic poets; a scurrilous and quarrelsome bunch. He misattributes the only well-known quotation from their best-known member, Archilochus of Paros (a touchy man who lied about his war record and abused women).
One of Dickey's many skills was as a navigator. He liked to use a sextant. I wonder if his services should have been called upon by the captain of the ship that took him to Europe when "On February 13 Dickey watched the New York skyline recede behind the gray waters of Long Island Sound."(But perhaps he enjoyed the extra ride up the East River).

Exhaustive and compelling
Author Henry Hart has created a mammoth biography about one of the finest poets America produced in the 20th Century. Drawing from an exhaustive resevoir of interviews, anecdotal illuminations, criticisms and Dickey's work itself, Hart has painstakingly researched the life of a man who barricaded himself inside a fortress of glorious self-promotion.

By all accounts, the difficult Dickey loved the accolades and trappings of fame and worked extremely hard to promote his finely crafted poetry by painting himself as both the uber wilderness alpha male as well as the backwoods red neck. Following in the self mythologing traditions of Hemingway and others, Dickey, a former advertising executive knew how to market a product and became his greatest pitchman. Exploiting America's love of the violent pioneer, he quickly confused fact with reality. For underneath all the bluff, bluster and macho posings,there lay a sensitive, cultured aesthete who favored the creature comforts of the upper middle class.

Much to Hart's credit, he always keeps rightly focused on both Dickey's fine literary output as well as his highly respected career as a college professor. Despite all of Dickey's claims to the contrary, Hart reminds us that here was first rate literary critic and devoted instructor. Hart takes the position that in many respects Dickey became America's answer to Dylan Thomas.

THE WORLD AS A LIE, paints a compelling portrait of an often abrasive, but always fascinating artist. This is a great literary biography. A must read for all Dickey fans.

The Controversy as a Container
Some reviewers have expressed their concern and dissatisfaction with Hart's concern or possible over-concern with the lies that surrounded Dickey's life. The truth is in the poems and in Dickey's own personal statements. Dickey's poems are narratives mixing both autobiographical and fantastical details; some of which Dickey appropriated from other people's lives. Dickey's public life was a collection of stories...lies. Hart puts the focus of his biography on these lies, because they were so bound up with Dickey's actual life. In his 'Self Interviews,' Dickey himself describes his fascination with lying, both in art and in life. He felt that the poet and artist had the right to lie. If Dickey had not made such a big deal about lying throughout his life, then Hart's biography might seem overkill. But, seeing as Dickey was an admitted liar, provacateur and even suggested the title for the book (which serves as a great justification for the focus of the book), I feel the biography paints a wonderful portrait of a wonderful writer. Hart does not set out to smash the image of Dickey, but to illustrate the different perspectives of the poet's life. Aside from this, the work is beautifully written and the drama of Dickey's life provides ample subject matter for the reader looking for adventure.

I would recommend this book to both Dickey's fans and detractors as a substantial work of literature.

The Lie of the Mind is the Truth
What a wonderful biography of James Dickey. I knew Dickey slightly during his tenure at the University of South Carolina, interviewed him once and knew him to be all Hart says -- mercurial, brilliant and the consummate actor. Hart's biography of this amazing man and incredible poet is a real page-turner; don't miss it! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

de los Santos is Spot On
This small collection of Marisa de los Santos' poetry is beautiful, poignant and contemplative.She speaks to women the world over and writes in an attainable and readable style.Having read her two highly successful novels first, I was hoping for magic in her poetry and I certainly found just that.

from the bones out
These are rare, beautiful poems. Her images breathtaking. I love this book.

Grace, Lightness and Movement, too
Octavio Paz said once that to read a poem is to let "words enter through our ears, appear before our eyes, disappear in contemplation." This is what Marissa de los Santos offered us. And in its variousincarnations. In her poems, the writer also allows the words to enter oureyes, appear in contemplation and to never disappear from within.

Deft Grace
Lightness and grace permeate the words in this book.Throughout, the reader can sense a warm heart and compassionate eye.A joy to read for observations on family, on history, on nostalgia, on desire...the poemscreate a beautiful presence and experience for the attentive reader.Ithank the poet for her words.

Meaningful elegance.
What a lovely, beautifully written book. . . a real joy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Classic, favorite book!
This is one of my favorite books ever. My mom used to read it to me, over and over, whenever I asked when I was wee. I just loved the rhythm and the story line. I used to imagine for myself the adventures that I would have in a magical night time. I suppose that my love of poetry now stems from my mother's readings when I was a child. I can NOT believe that this is not considered a classic kid's book, it is a shame that more kids don't get to hear the magical story of Bronwen- and as prose, it scans! That's awesome these days!

Pure Enchantment
To read the authoritative reviews on Bronwen, the Traw and the Shape-Shifter, you'd think this book was a real stinker. And maybe it is, if you're the sort who can render a cathedral in excrutiatingly exacting historical and architectural detail, yet overlook the doves nesting in the corbels. Case in point -- David Macaulay's 1987 review of this book, written shortly after it's release: "Over-designed!" he declared, "[An] ill-conceived, pretentious product that undercuts the abilities of both of its artists and underestimates the intelligence of the discerning book buyer."

Color me undiscerning, but I bought this book for my children in 1987, and -- 22 years later -- bought another copy for my grandchildren. While I agree with Macaulay that this book is not without its flaws, I think it's a wonderful gift to the imagination of any child. Richard Jesse Watson's illustrations are nothing short of enchanting, and the poetic imagery is richly drawn. Will a child's attention stay riveted for the entirety of this 4-part epic poem? Probably not. But will the mind's eye of a child be opened by the imagery of Bronwen digging in the garden, "for the magical color That comes up through the stem of the rose"?

Will children innately recognize that primordial child-fear of the darkness, upon reading Dickey's description of the awakening All-Dark, as it "turns loose a thing from its middle, A cloud-shape with fingers of coal That drops a black rain on the bedspread And makes a deep noise like a hole"?

I think so.

Again, this book is not without its flaws, but it's far from a failure. Had I been James Dickey's editor, I would have urged shortening the book from 32 pages to, perhaps, 20. Had I been Macaulay's editor, I might have urged a sketching a nest into the corbel. Because it's true enough - Dickey's poem grows repetitive and is, in places, a stretch -- as if the author had to work (and work hard) to shoehorn this wondrous little story into its preconceived mold (that of a 4-part epic poem, with the heroine battling wind, fire and water). Unlike Macaulay, however, I wouldn't suggest "avoiding" (by holding the pages together), one single illustration. Talk about pretentious.

I figure there's room for everyone. There's room for people who draw the human story with T-squares and scale rulers, and there's room for people who draw the human story from the soul. A good artist draws from both worlds to create a masterpiece. Here, Dickey fell short, but I still contend that a child's world will be enriched by this imperfect but lovely book, if only by one stanza -- its imagery brought to life through the impossibly beautiful illustrations of Bronwen's world and her battle to save the flying squirels from the Shape-shifter.

Bronwen, the Traw, and the Shape-Shifter
This is a children's poetry book.It is divided into four parts.It has beautiful kid friendly illustrations of immagination.This is a hard cover edition with the original dust cover.To the White Sea (Delta World War II Library)James Dickey: The World as a LieJames Dickey: The Selected Poems (Wesleyan Poetry) ... Read more

Product Description
By turns comic and poignant, the poems in Portrait in a Spoon explore the uses and abuses of language as it intersects the uses and abuses of power. Taking George Eliot's observation that even Milton, looking at himself in a spoon, would have to "submit to have the facial angle of a bumpkin," James Cummins investigates questions of identity - the illusions we sustain, the passions we conceal, and the stories that surround both. In his previous collection of sestinas, The Whole Truth, Cummins rewrote to absurd and magisterial ends the Perry Mason saga. In this much-awaited second volume of poems, he again trains his eye on culture - high and low, popular and elitist - to explore and explode the myths and mythos of making. He finds the spoon that encloses and discloses, like John Ashbery's mirror, distorts as it explains. It has its analogue in the closed forms that he masterfully employs here: epigram, sonnet, villanelle, and sestina. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A wonderful volume of poems
I am surprised to find no other reviews here of this special book, a collection that should be read.This is a wonderful volume, by a poet so at ease with forms,with his own voice of casual,yet complex insight,with thebalancing of colloquial tone and wisdom,the poems really speak wonders. Ibought this book after reading his "Echo" in the Best AmericanPoems of 1998, John Hollander's edition. (Checked the back promptly--how tofind more of this poet's work!) I think what moves me most about these,beyond the mastery of formal technique made to look so natural, organicreally, is the honesty. The pain expressed in many of these poems isfamiliar -- love, loss, longing,-- but Cummins seems to see into the painof all the players, and especially into the pain of women, (which startledme,the recognition of my own experience so perfectly expressed by a malepoet) and I loved the way he captures the affections and bonds between menand women who willingly suffer at eachother's hands, and the pained humorhe has in describing the failings of this "I". "Fling"is fabulous, the strained comedy of an infidelity that should be assuagingbut turns ridiculous; "Portals" is a ladder of insights, eachstanza taking me deeper into the experience of praying, loving, lying,ego;and my favorite, "The Husband", which never esteems one partner'sexperience over the other's. I learned a lot from this poet: to admireformal mastery more than I have,the possibilities of it for a modernsensibility, and mostly, how to view others with compassion. In truth, Ifeel I understand the experience of my own loved ones more because of thisbook, and will be kinder to them as a result. These poems do what poemsshould -- change things. I hope many others -- new poets, experiencedpoets, and lovers of poetry, and skeptics of poetry, will read this book. ... Read more

Product Description

This collection of James Dickey's poems and prose includes choice selections of the author's poetry, fiction, and essays, as well as some early unpublished poetry and excerpts from his unfinished novel Crux. Organized chronologically by genre, this is the definitive collection of works by one of the twentieth century's most important talents. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

His Poetry Is The Real Thing
First off, as in all my reviews of Dickey's work, or work on Dickey's work: a disclaimer.I knew Dickey from 1991 until his death, and thus my opinion of him must be biased in some way, though I'm not sure in which direction, if any.I simply consider him now, after his death, as I did before our meeting in 1991 and our many phone conversations following our meeting, as the last great poet in America. Hart has done a good job of editing and my hat, if I had one on at the moment, would be off to him.-I don't want to belabor the point.Either you get great poetry or you don't.Hart's selection of the best of Dickey's poetry is exquisite.In particular, "The Sheep Child" a poem written from the perspective of the few seconds of life of a product of bestiality is what Dickey is all about:

"...In the summer sun of the hillside, with my eyes Far more than human.I saw for a blazing moment The great grassy world from both sides, Man and beast in the round of their need,

And the hill wind stirred in my wool, My hoof and my hand clasped each other, I ate my one meal Of milk, and died Staring.From dark grass I came straight....."

This is Dickey at his best, in perfect tune with the wondrous and terrible insights combined with the visionary traumas of what we call "Nature," but which we are tremblingly unsure about, just like the sheep child in his (her?) moment of existence.

A must for lovers of true poetry.-A rarity in these days. ... Read more

Product Description

Summer of Deliverance is a powerful and moving memoir of anger, love, and reconciliation between a son and his father. Hailed as a literary genius of his generation, James Dickey created his art and lived his life with a ferocious passion. He was a heavy drinker, a destructive husband and father, a poet of grace and sensitivity, and, after the publication and subsequent film of his novel, Deliverance, a wildly popular literary star. Drawing on letters, notebooks, diaries, and his explicit conversations with his father, Christopher Dickey has crafted a superb memoir of the corrosive effects of fame, a moving remembrance of a crisis that united a family, and an inspiring celebration of love between father and son.Amazon.com Review
Given the amount of emotional injury poet James Dickey(1923-1997) inflicted on himself and his family, it's a remarkableachievement that in this surprisingly tender memoir, ChristopherDickey not only discovers new love for his father but imparts it toreaders as well. Arrogant, alcoholic, unfaithful to his wife, andmanipulative with his children (he boasted of Christopher, "I made hishead"), James Dickey emerges here as an all-too-human figure whoseweaknesses are partially redeemed by his fierce passion for his artand by a late-life attempt to make amends for years of careless,destructive acts. His son's book is, among other things, a cautionarytale about the temptations of fame and money: Dickey's bestsellingnovel Deliverance (1970) pushed the poet to a level ofcommercial success he was ill equipped to deal with. The drinking gotworse, the affairs more flagrant, the writing sloppier, and afterChristopher's mother died in 1976, father and son seldom spoke. Theyreconciled in 1994; this book began as their mutual project todescribe the making of the Hollywood film version ofDeliverance. Good though those chapters are, it's the author'sunflinchingly honest yet compassionate portrait of his father thatstands out. Noted for his journalism, particularly covering CentralAmerica's gruesome civil wars of the 1980s, Christopher Dickey provesthat he can plumb the intricacies of the human heart as incisively asthe horrors of military conflict. His father would beproud. --Wendy Smith ... Read more

Customer Reviews (18)

Summer of Deliverance: A Memoir of Father and Son
The book was in good shape except for the cover of which one half was torn off.

solid, but flawed, like the subjects themselves
A difficult read. Like the House of Atreus, James Dickey caved into fate and tragedy while also famous. It is all too easy to blame drink, when what was really at the root of it all was character and genius meted out in unequal measures. This biography resembles "Long Day's Journey Into Night" but the nearness of the real-life characters and the unflinching AP-journalism style of Christopher Dickey's dual biography of himself and his father removes the comfort and distance of art in this engaging book.

Still, the pain and hope mixed here leaves something missing which I cannot quite identify. Perhaps it is the worn faux-Puritanism of partially blaming alcohol when irresponsible human behaviour is the true and fully and singularly guilty culprit. There are also some backhanded and unnecessary slurs levelled at the South that only the son of a prominent Southerner who has rejected his father and taken up with the attitudinal glad rags of snooty pseudo-elite would dish out.The tiresome implied superiority of the cosmopolite over those who actually embrace a nation, culture and heritage is so accepted today as know-nothing provincialism it is always given a pass, and Christopher Dickey falls into that trap.

"never meet the sons of your heroes"
I think Deliverance is an excellent book, and when I saw this memoir, I couldn't resist giving it the once-over.Much like James Dickey's poetry, which was both introspective and irreverent, this memoir is a mixed bag.Christopher entwines the more well-written of his father's poems with his own memories to create stirring, bittersweet passages.But while Summer of Deliverance begins promisingly, it gradually slips into a low, persistent hum of anger until even poignant recollections seem tedious and shallow.At forty-odd years, Christopher projects his insecurities and anger onto others.He longs to be the battered child he never was: James spoils his son in return for "molding his head," and when daddy's life grows too volatile, Christopher bails out.

The anecdotes about the making of Deliverance pick up the middle of the book.To my chagrin Christopher makes little mention of why Dickey was banned from the set, alluding to some clashes between the big "D" and Burt Reynolds.According to Christopher, James Dickey lost it when his artistic vision was compromised and distorted by Hollywood.Bite the hand that feeds you? Will do.

James Dickey is portrayed as so unwittingly cruel, and so consumed by a god-complex, the reader can't help but feel cheated by Christopher's emphasis on his halcyon days and his trivial upsets that all teenagers experience.These memoirs of the specious Dickey and his social-climbing son, no doubt meant to milk Christopher's association with his famous pop and the bestseller Deliverance (cough *title* cough), are okay.Some of the more revealing passages work, and some may find them memorable, but in the end C. Dickey just isn`t the storyteller D. Dickey was.If you are considering this book, try Philip Roth's Patrimony instead, a superior memoir with a humor and insight that this one can't match.

Son of a Showman
I picked up this book thinking that it would be a good gift for Father's Day (coming up June 19, boys and girls), and after finishing it I concur.This is the kind of book that shows fatherhood for what it really is.

In Chris' case the experience of being James Dickey's son was pretty painful, and one feels that he has never gotten out of his dad's shadow.Chris' mother, Maxine, was more beautiful than Elizabeth Taylor, and yet Jim Dickey treated her shabbily, calling her "Miss Chubby of 1956" and other high camp names.Chris ascribes her drinking problem to the rough treatment Jim meted out.Hard to say, but Jim wins no prizes as husband of the year.The funny thing is trying to recall back to a time when James Dickey was popular--not only popular but critically acclaimed and, as Chris, points out, the critic Peter Davison published an article in Atlantic Monthly that posited that either Dickey or Robert Lowell was then (1970?) poised to assume the throne as greatest American poet.Oh, what a long time ago it seems.Chris' defense of his father's poetic legacy is a strong one, and his selection of quotes from his father's poems drove me back to the big Wesleyan collected poems which I hadn't visited in a hound's age.I'm getting to like Dickey all over again and I can see that some of his poetic devices eerily forecast ones that are popular right now.He must have been a spellbinder on stage; one of the best sections of SUMMER OF DELIVERANCE is all about Chris fuming in the audience while Jim launches into a self-important poem called "Adultery" in which he boasts about cheating on Maxine with Robin Jarecki (a young woman with whom Dickey became involved in the 1960s).

Dickey's second marriage was even more troubled than the first, and issues of elder abuse, the latchkey children phenomenon, and crack cocaine addiction reared their heads in this one.The full-length biography of Dickey that came out after this book told more of the story, but what Chris has to say is pretty bad.

The title of the book I didn't care for.It sets you up thinking that the whole book will be about the "summer" in which John Boorman made the film of DELIVERANCE.Far from it, that account occupies only a sliver of the book.It is the best part of the book, but buyer beware, you have to trudge through a lot of Buckhead mud to get to the good part.

Duography
This book has some excellent parts, but I was frustrated by some aspects of this book.

The best reason to read the book is the relation of James Dickey's apparent last lecture on writing soul stirring poetry...not lifeless verse.This section alone is worth the price of the book.

But looking at the book as a whole, when I start to care about Christopher Dickey and his adolescent fears, he turns to glossing over his coming of age into distant generalities.He gives us just a taste of the distant places where he expunged his fears by immersion in danger.These omissions make the book not a biography of Christopher.

So is the book a biography of James Dickey?

While he gives much insight into his father and his father's rise to prominence, again, he switches to a distant view, and a rather uninsightful one, of the personal pain of alcoholism and exploitation by others his father experienced and nearly brought about his father's demise.Maybe the distant view is because Christopher insists on telling James' story only from Christopher's own experience and doesn't elaborate on the reports of others.

Christopher becomes a reporter because he values "the truth" rather than exageration, bending the truth, or bold face lies, like his father practiced.Yet, Christopher seems to relate the truth from too much of a distance at critical times.The ultimate, semi, and belated rescue of James is admirable.But Christopher could relate some of his feelings at being told by his finally sober dad that he loved Christopher.Although Christopher experienced a lot of pain, he seems to prefer to pick at those scabs, and not rejoice in the good aspects of his relationship with his father.

Another irritation is the way Christopher so often lists off the places he was happy with his father and his family.These are names and situations that carry a lot of meaning for him, but evoke little in me, without some gripping imagery for each place from prior parts of the book.A few such tales and imagery exist, but not for all and those are frustrating.

I suspect Christopher appreciates both the accurate reporting of scenes, and the magic of poetic license.I think that he should turn to fiction for his next book. He could shine by putting accurate detailed images strung in a new order to move the soul.He should step out from his father's shadow. ... Read more