Berryman's Henry : living at the intersection of need and art

191 Pages·2006·3.39 MB·English

by  John, Dodson, Samuel Fisher, Berryman

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Ț’’˜—œȱ˜˜™’ȱǯǯǰȱ–œŽ›Š–ȱȬȱŽ ȱ˜›”ǰȱȱŘŖŖŜ
›’—Žȱ’—ȱ‘ŽȱŽ‘Ž›•Š—œ
For Patty Taggart Dodson,
Who introduced me to Henry’s Song so long agone
For my father, James Henderson Dodson,
Who never knew Henry
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Acknowledgements
This book could not have been written without the support and help of
many people. The Tarleton State University Research Committee
provided me with two summers of generous funding that made the
project even feasible. I’m grateful to Professor Pam Littleton and the
committee as a whole. At the University of Minnesota Libraries,
Professor Alan Lathrop and his assistant Ms. Barbara Bezat were most
kind to me over the years. Richard J. Kelly provided me with
encouragement and support back when I was a lowly graduate student;
his late reading of the manuscript was the final push I needed.
Professors Michael Skau, Linda Ray Pratt, Stephen Behrendt, and
John Janovy steered me as the manuscript took on its early form.
Professor Skau has been my academic mentor and dear friend for over
twenty-five years: I can’t help it if I’m lucky.
Charles Thornbury provided early consultation. Kate Donahue’s
support, encouragement, and permission for manuscript use has been a
blessing from start to finish. Chas Kestermeier, S.J., the better scholar,
has been a friend and advisor through it all. Professor Nick Lilly
offered many hours of both technical support and friendship, for which
I am most grateful. Ms. Mary Etzel has saved me from doing physical
harm to my computer on countless occasions. Saul Bellow, who
answered an important question after his agent opened the gate, wrote
a sweet letter; my gratitude is as big as Herzog’s. Both Paul Mariani
and James Atlas were kind in responding to my questions. Tom
Pilkington, Mike Pierce, Mallory Young, Chris Guthrie, and Mark
Shipman have always offered me support in both my poetic and
academic endeavors; they are the type of people one needs for
colleagues. Ron Hansen, W.D. Snodgrass, and Tom Schatz, through
their encouragement and own exemplary work, pressed me forward in
ways they will never know. At Rodopi, Marieke Schilling offered
consistent support and encouragement and C.C. Barfoot was an editor
with a firm and true hand. Parts of this book appeared in articles in
English Language Notes and Notes on Contemporary Literature.
I also want to thank my large, extended, Irish-Catholic family for
sticking with me through all of my schemes, dreams, and antics.
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CONTENTS
Preface xi
Prologue
Elegy as Theology: Henry’s Search for Death’s Answers 1
Chapter 1
Henry’s Other Method: The Epic’s Freedom of
Language in an Experimental Age 31
Chapter 2
The Paternal Elegies: The Dream Songs’ Shroud 63
Chapter 3
Henry “pale & ill”: Berryman’s Elegies of Praise
and the Last Word 89
Chapter 4
Posthumous Musings from an Active Cofin 127

Chapter 5
Henry’s Uneasy Rest 145
Bibliography 167
Index 173