James Dickey, 1923-1996. American author
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Finding-Aid for the Dickey Papers [00035]Collection Description
Papers, 1954-1970
2832 items
Access: Open
James Dickey was an American author and poet whose work brought him international recognition as well as innumerable awards. Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Dickey's urban Southern roots are clearly evident throughout his poetry. Dickey began his college education at Clemson University, but left at the outbreak of World War II to enlist in the United States Army Air Force. His experiences as a fighter pilot provided him with subject matter for some of his best known poems. Dickey subsequently completed both Bachelor's and Master's degrees at Vanderbilt University where among his teachers was the critic Monroe K. Spears who was influential in directing Dickey's interest toward poetry.
James Dickey began writing poetry in 1947, but turned to writing full-time only in 1960 when his first book, Into the Stone and Other Poems, was published. Prior to this, Dickey had worked as a college instructor and as a highly successful advertising executive. In 1966, Dickey was awarded the National Book Award for his second poetry collection, Buckdancer's Choice. He received international acclaim for his 1970 novel and 1972 screenplay, Deliverance. He is the author of more than 17 books of poems and 12 books of prose.
Washington University's James Dickey Papers include a correspondence file, spanning 1954 to 1970, consisting of nearly 1000 letters from literary figures, publishers, editors, and friends. Letters from literary notables are often accompanied by their poetry manuscripts. The bulk of the collection consists of Dickey's own manuscript drafts of poems, essays, reviews, translations and addresses. Proof of Dickey's meticulous craftmanship is found in his heavily revised poetry manuscripts, many of which have undergone such pronounced change that the initial worksheet is unrecognizable from the final version. The Dickey Papers also include editorial matter toward all of his books of poetry prior to 1970, as well as a collection of informal monologue published that same year as Self-Interviews.
The James Dickey Papers are an excellent collection with which to view the development of the creative process. One can observe the progress of a poem, the idea for which was expressed perhaps in a letter to or in an exchange of manuscripts with a fellow poet, through its revisions in a series of worksheets, on through the final typescript and proofs, and ending with the published version.
Bibliography:
Elledge, Jim. James Dickey: A Bibliography, 1947-1974. (Matuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1979).
Selected Names
Dickey, James, 1923-1996. American author
Abse, Dannie, 1923- . British Author
Adams, Phoebe Lou, 1918- . American author
Aiken, Conrad, 1889-1973. American author
Auden, W.H., 1907-1973. British author
Belitt, Ben, 1911- . American author
Benedikt, Michael, 1935- . American author
Berry, Wendell, 1934- . American author
Berryman, John, 1914-1972. American author
Bly, Robert, 1926- . American author
Booth, Philip, 1925- . American author
Brooks, Gwendolyn, 1917-2000. American author
Browns, Michael Dennis, 1940- . American author
Buckley, Wiliam F., Jr., 1925- . American author
Bunting, Basil, 1900-1985. Brithish author
Burden, Jean, 1914- . American author
Burnshaw, Stanley, 1906- . American author
Calisher, Hortense, 1911- . American author
Carroll, Paul, 1927- . American author
Carruth, Hayden, 1921- . American author
Cassill, R.V., 1919-2002. American author
Ciardi, John, 1916-1995. American author
Conquest, Robert, 1917- . British author
Corman, Cid, 1924- . American author
Corrington, John William, 1932- . American author
Creeley, Robert, 1926- . American author
Dacey, Philip, 1939- . American author
Dahlberg, Edward, 1900-1977. American author
Dana, Robert, 1929- . American author
Davison, Peter, 1928- . American author
Dickey, William, 1928- . American autho
Donoghue, Denis, 1928- . Irish author
Duncan, Robert, 1919-1988. American author
East, Charles, 1924- . American author
Eaton, Charles Edward, 1916- . American author
Eberhart, Richard, 1904- . American author
Enright, Dennis J., 1920-2002. American author
Everson, Ronald Gilmour, 1903- . American author
Exley, Fredrick, 1929- . American author
Fowlis, Wallace, 1908- . American author
Friar, Kimon 1911- . American author
Garrett, George, 1929- . American author
Garrigue, Jean, 1914-1972. American author
Ghiselin, Brewster, 1903- . American author
Gregory, Horace, 1898-1982. American author
Guenther, Charles, 1920- . American author
Hall, Donald, 1928- . American author
Harrison, Jim, 1937- . American author
Hentoff, Nat, 1925- . American author
Hill, Geoffrey, 1932- . American author
Hollander, John, 1929- . American author
Holmes, John, 1904-1962. American author
Howard, Richard, 1929- . American author
Howe, Irving, 1920-1993. American author
Howes, Barbara, 1914- . American author
Hugo, Richard, 1923-1982. American author
Hyman, Stanley Edgar, 1919-1970. American author
Ignatow, David, 1914-1997. American author
Jarrell, Randall, 1914-1965. American author
Kennedy, X.J., 1929- . American author
Kessler, Jascha, 1929- . American author
Kinnell, Galway, 1927- . American author
Kirkup, James, 1927- . American author
Kizer, Carolyn, 1925- . American author
Laughlin, James, 1914- . American author & publisher
Levertov, Denise, 1923-1997. American author
L'Heureux, John, 1934- . American author
Lieberman, Laurence, 1935- . American author
Logan, John, 1923- . American author
Lowell, Robert, 1917-1977. American author
Lytle, Andrew, 1902- . American author
Macauley, Robie, 1919- . American author
Madden, David, 1933- . American author
McGrath, Thomas, 1916-1990. American author
Mailer, Norman, 1923- . American author
Meredith, William, 1919- . American author
Merrill, James, 1926-1995. American author
Miles, Josephine, 1911-1985. American author
Morse, Samuel French, 1916- . American author
Moss Howard, 1922-1987. American author
Moss, Stanley, 1925- . American author
Nemerov, Howard, 1920-1991. American author
Nims, John Frederick, 1913-1999. American author
Norse, Harold, 1916- . American author
O'Conner, Flannery, 1925-1964. American author
Olson, Elder (James), 1909- . American author
Ostroff, Anthony J., 1923-1978. American author
Peace, Roy Harvey, 1919- . American author L1
Pound, Ezra, 1885-1972. American author
Purdy, Al, 1918-2000. American author
Rago, Henry, 1915-1969. American author & editor
Rahv, Philip, 1908-1973. American author
Ramsey, Paul, 1924- . American author
Ransom, John Crowe, 1888-1974. American author
Ray, David, 1932- . American author
Rodman, Selden, 1909-2002. American author
Roethke, Theodore, 1908-1963. American author
Rosenburg, Harold, 1906-1978. American author
Roskolenko, Harry, 1907-1980. American author
Rubin, Louis D., 1923- . American author
Rutsala, Vern, 1934- . American author
Scott, Winfield Townley, 1910-1968. American author
Seager, Allan, 1906-1968. American author
Silkin, Jon, 1930- . British author
Simpson, Louis, 1923- . American author
Skelton, Robin, 1925- Canadian author
Smith, William Jay, 1918- . American author
Spears, Monroe K., 1916- . American author
Squires, Radcliffe, 1917- . American author
Stafford, William Edgar, 1914-1993. American author
Stanford, Ann, 1916-1987. American author
Stegner, Wallace, 1909-1993. American author
Swados, Harvey, 1920-1972. American author
Swenson, May, 1919-1989. American author
Tambimuttu, Thurairajah, 1915-1983. Indian author
Tomlinson, Charles, 1927- British author
Untermayer, Louis, 1885-1977. American author
Viereck, Peter, 1916- . American author
Waugh, Alexander Raben, 1898-1981. British author
Weiss, Theodore Russell, 1916- . American author
Wheelock, John Hall, 1886-1978. American author
Whitehead, James, 1936- . American author
Wilbur, Richard, 1921- . American author
Williams, Jonathan, 1929- . American author
Williams, Miller, 1930- . American author
Williams, Oscar, 1900-1964. American author
Williams, William Carlos, 1883-1963. American author
Witt, Harold, 1923- . American author
Wouk, Herman, 1915- . American author
Wright, James, 1927-1980. American author