James Dickey
James Dickey | |
---|---|
Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. | |
Died | January 19, 1997[1][2] Columbia, South Carolina, U.S.[1][2] | (aged 73)
Occupation |
|
Nationality | American |
Period | Contemporary literature |
Notable works |
|
Notable awards | |
Spouses | |
Children | |
Relatives | Thomas Swift Dickey, Sr. (brother) |
Signature | |
![]() | |
Military career | |
Allegiance | ![]() |
Service/ | |
Years of service |
|
Unit |
|
Battles/wars | |
Awards |
James Lafayette Dickey (February 2, 1923 – January 19, 1997) was an American poet and novelist.
Dickey is best known for his novel Deliverance (1970), which was adapted into the acclaimed 1972 film of the same name.
Early years
Dickey was born to lawyer Eugene Dickey and Maibelle Swift in
Career
Dickey taught as an instructor of English at
His first book, Into the Stone and Other Poems, was published in 1960. Drowning with Others was published in 1962, which led to a Guggenheim Fellowship (Norton Anthology, The Literature of the American South). Buckdancer's Choice (1965) earned him a National Book Award for Poetry.[8] Among his better-known poems are "The Performance", "Cherrylog Road", "The Firebombing", "May Day Sermon", "Falling", and "For The Last Wolverine".
He published his first volume of collected poems, Poems 1957-1967 in 1967 after being named a poetry consultant for the
Dickey wrote the poem The Moon Ground for Life magazine in celebration of the Apollo 11 Moon landing. His reading of it was broadcast on ABC television on July 20, 1969.[9]
His popularity exploded after the film version of his novel Deliverance was released in 1972. Dickey wrote the screenplay and had a cameo in the film as a sheriff.
On January 20, 1977, Dickey was invited to read his poem The Strength of Fields[10]: 378-379 at the inauguration of Jimmy Carter.
Personal life
In November 1948 Dickey married Maxine Syerson, and three years later they had their first son, Christopher; a second son, Kevin, was born in 1958.
Christopher Dickey was a novelist and journalist, providing coverage from the Middle East for Newsweek. In 1998, Christopher wrote a book about his father and Christopher's own sometimes troubled relationship with him, titled Summer of Deliverance. Christopher died in July 2020.[11]
Kevin Dickey is an
Two months after Maxine died in 1976, Dickey married one of his students, Deborah Dodson.[12][13] Their daughter, Bronwen, was born in 1981. Bronwen is an author, journalist, and lecturer. Her first book, Pit Bull: The Battle over an American Icon,[14] was published in 2016.
Death
Dickey died on January 19, 1997, aged 73, six days after his last class at the
Works
Publications
Novels
- — (10 September 1994) [1970]. Deliverance (Reprint ed.). OL 7439054M – via Internet Archive.
- — (5 May 1987). Alnilam (First ed.). OL 2725934M – via Internet Archive.
- — (1 September 1993). To the White Sea (First ed.). OL 1394042M – via Internet Archive.
Poetry
- Into the Stone and Other Poems (in Poets of Today VII) (1960)
- Drowning with Others (1962)
- Two Poems of the Air (1964)
- Helmets (1964)
- Buckdancer's Choice: Poems (1965) —winner of the National Book Award[8]
- Poems 1957-67 (1967)
- The Achievement of James Dickey: A Comprehensive Selection of His Poems (1968)
- The Eye-Beaters, Blood, Victory, Madness, Buckhead and Mercy (1970)
- Exchanges (1971)
- The Zodiac (1976)
- The Owl King (1977)
- Veteran Birth: The Gadfly Poems 1947-49 (1978)
- Tucky the Hunter (1978)
- Head-Deep in Strange Sounds: Free-Flight Improvisations from the unEnglish (1979)
- The Strength of Fields (1979)
- Falling, May Day Sermon, and Other Poems (1981)
- The Early Motion (1981)
- Puella (1982)
- Värmland (1982)
- False Youth: Four Seasons (1983)
- For a Time and Place (1983)
- Intervisions (1983)
- The Central Motion: Poems 1968-79 (1983)
- Bronwen, The Traw, and the Shape-Shifter: A Poem in Four Parts (1986)
- Summons (1988)
- The Eagle's Mile (1990)
- — (15 March 1992). The Whole Motion: Collected Poems, 1945–1992. Wesleyan Poetry. OL 1566756M – via Internet Archive.
- The Selected Poems (1998)
- The Complete Poems of James Dickey (2013)
- Death, and the Day's Light (2015)
Illustrated prose
- — (1979). In pursuit of the grey soul (Limited ed.). Bruccoli Clark. OL 4402809M.
Non-fiction
- Shuptrine, Hubert; — (1 January 1974). Jericho: The South Beheld (First ed.). OL 8257523M.
Filmography
- —; Lowell, Robert (1970). Lord Let Me Die But Not Die Out | A James Dickey Documentary (Documentary film). Croner, Stanley (director). Atlanta, Georgia: Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 1 February 2022 – via YouTube.
- Deliverance (novel / screenplay) (1972) - Sheriff Bullard (cameo film role)
- The Call of the Wild (screenplay) (1976)
References
- ^ from the original on 14 January 2022. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
Mr. Dickey's first wife, Maxine, died in 1976, and two months later he married Deborah Dodson, who was one of his students. He is survived by his wife; two sons, Kevin and Christopher, from his first marriage, and a daughter, Bronwen Elaine.
- ^ from the original on 8 March 2021. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
During World War II, Dickey flew more than 100 combat missions in the Pacific. He later reenlisted to fly in the Korean War.
- ^ from the original on 14 January 2022. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
- ^ OL 8166470M – via Internet Archive. p. 2:
Dickey's entrance into World War II immersed him in that element which would transfix his imagination. He was a P-61 navigator, part of the 418th Night Fighter Squadron stationed in the Philippine Islands, then in the process of being turned from a defensive unit into a squadron whose sorties would be primarily offensive, flying intruder missions to bomb and strafe
- ^ "James Dickey | U.S. Consultant in Poetry, 1966-1968". United States Poet Laureate. Library of Congress. n.d. Archived from the original on 19 April 2021. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
- OL 50392M – via Internet Archive.
- OCLC 1010591826. Archivedfrom the original on 16 June 2021. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
James Dickey attempted a similar balancing act between writing and advertising, only he flagrantly deceived his bosses in order to work on his poetry in the office (and eventually got fired for his obvious disregard for his advertising duties).
- ^ a b "Buckdancer's Choice: Poems | Winner, National Book Awards 1966 for Poetry". National Book Foundation. 1966. Archived from the original on 20 October 2021. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
- YouTube
- OL 1566756M – via Internet Archive.
- ^ Nadeau, Barbie Latza (16 July 2020). "Legendary Foreign Correspondent Chris Dickey Dies in Paris". Europe. The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on 18 January 2022. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
We talked at length about what it was like to be the poet and novelist James Dickey's son and about the summer he was on the film set with Burt Reynolds when they filmed Deliverance, which his father wrote. He had just written his memoir Summer of Deliverance and the stories were raw, and he was honest about the pain of his father's genius and his mother's demons.
- ^ OCLC 1098736991. Archivedfrom the original on 21 January 2022.
Christopher Dickey watched his father and his mother sink into deep alcoholism, watched the enormous talents of the poet dissipate, watched his mother die of complications from cirrhosis and his father marry, in haste, one of his young students, who later became addicted to narcotics.
- OCLC 2269358. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
In what might be called Dickey's second life, he's the husband of a 35-year-old former student, Deborah Dodson Dickey, called Debba, who is nearly as tall as he, and he is 6 feet 3. He married her in 1976, two months and two days after the death of his first wife. They have a little girl named Bronwen, who is 6.
- OL 27405899M.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/Wikiquote-logo.svg/34px-Wikiquote-logo.svg.png)
- The James Dickey Page
- James Dickey papers at the University of South Carolina Department of Rare Books and Special Collections
- James Dickey Newsletter & Society
- CNN Audio Clips with James Dickey
- 1977 audio interview of James Dickey by Stephen Banker
- James Dickey at Academy of American Poets — with brief biography and selected list of works
- James Dickey Papers at Washington University in St. Louis
- Joyce Morrow Pair collection of James Dickey at the University of South Carolina Department of Rare Books and Special Collections
- Matthew J. Bruccoli collection of James Dickey at the University of South Carolina Department of Rare Books and Special Collections
- Donald J. and Ellen Greiner collection of James Dickey at the University of South Carolina Department of Rare Books and Special Collections
- James Dickey Archived February 1, 2013, at the Wayback Machine in New Georgia Encyclopedia
- James Dickey Archived December 28, 2015, at the Wayback Machine at Modern American Poetry
- James Dickey at IMDb
- James Dickey Revisited - online "themed issue" of the South Carolina Review that collects all pieces by and about James Dickey that have been published in that literary journal since 2001, in addition to content related to a James Dickey Festival that was hosted at Clemson University.
- Bronwen Dickey on her father's legacy Archived December 29, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
- Clark Powell Harbinger, "James Dickey: A Personal Memory" Archived March 3, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
- "James Dickey, The Art of Poetry No. 20". The Paris Review (Interview). No. 65. Interviewed by Franklin Ashley. Spring 1976.
- James Dickey Papers at Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library