From Publishers Weekly
This is not a critical biography of Berryman, and readers not familiar with the pulsations and contortions of his poetry might wish that it were. Here, however, is the man, by turns kind, arrogant and belligerent; obsessed with poetry, women and his father's early suicide; a compulsive alcoholic with a self-destructive streak that drove him to suicide in 1972 at age 58. Berryman lived at the very heart of the Anglo-American literary world, associating with the likes of Mark Van Doren, E. P. Blackmur, Delmore Schwartz, Robert Lowell, Randall Jarrell, T. S. Eliot, Dylan Thomas and W. H. Auden. He possessed a dynamic if sometimes outrageous presence, and was by all accounts a spellbinding teacher. Although he found his poetic voice late and never quite achieved the resonant Yeatsian simplicity he seems to have been looking for, his poetry earned praise and prizes, particularly his autobiographical epic The Dream Songs. In this hefty, copiously researched book, Mariani, biographer of William Carlos Williams, brings us to a closer understanding of the man behind and within the work. Photos.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.
From Library Journal
Clearly, this is another definitive work from the author whose biography of William Carlos Williams was nominated for a National Book Award. From Berryman's myriad letters, journal entries, and marginalia, and accounts from family, students, friends, and contemporaries, a picture of the tortured, self-obsessed, and sometimes kind poet emerges. The biographer refrains from imposing a critical view or value judgment on his subject, and his occasional remarks on the poet's difficult personality are amply supported by psychological evidence. Although it incorporates much of Berryman's writing, Mariani's angle on the poet's development is more personalized. This thorough and highly engaging biography will be welcomed by those who admire Berryman's verse and criticism and by those who wish to better understand his stylized, Modernist approach.
- Jean Keleher, Wally Findlay Galleries Lib., Chicago
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.
- Jean Keleher, Wally Findlay Galleries Lib., Chicago
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.
