Description
This critical biography of James Dickey (1923-1997) was the first comprehensive assessment of his life and art. It covers his childhod in and around Atlanta, Georgia, his college years at Clemson and Vanderbilt, his experience in the Army Air Force during the Second World War and Korean War, his successful business career in New York and Atlanta advertising firms, and his academic career. It focuses on the intellectual background to his poetry, and explains how his rigorous study of philosophy, anthropology, and mythology at Vanderbilt influenced his later poetry and fiction. It documents his involvement in the political careers of Eugene McCarthy and Jimmy Carter. The biography also pays particular attention to the way Dickey represents, celebrates, and criticizes heroes in American culture, as it offers an objective, balanced account of his controversial achievements as a poet, novelist, screenwriter, and critic. "James Dickey: The World as a Lie" was published in 2001 by Picador.
