A lively sampling from the work of one of the most celebrated and daring poets of the twentieth centuryJohn Berryman was perhaps the most idiosyncratic American poet of the twentieth century. Best known for the painfully sad and raucously funny cycle of Dream Songs, he wrote passionately: of love and despair, of grief and laughter, of longing for a better world and coming to terms with this one. The Heart Is Strange, a new selection of his poems, along with...

The never-before-published poems of one of the great American poets, edited and introduced by Shane McCrae.Only Sing is a continuation of John Berryman's vast project The Dream Songs. These 152 never-before-published poems are an expansion of this epic of the American twentieth-century psyche.In the voice and figure of Henry - riddled with desire, self-loathing and a permanent sense of being odds with the world - Berryman created, in the w...

A wide-ranging, first-of-its-kind selection of Berryman’s correspondence with friends, loved ones, writers, and editors, showcasing the turbulent, fascinating life and mind of one of America’s major poets.The Selected Letters of John Berryman assembles for the first time the poet’s voluminous correspondence. Beginning with a letter to his parents in 1925 and concluding with a letter sent a few weeks before his death in 1972, Berryman tells his story in his...

If "Modus Vivendi" were a fictional work, it might explore themes of life, relationships, and human experience, given the Latin phrase's meaning of "way of living" or "mode of life." Berryman's poetic style often delved into the complexities of the human condition, so such a collection could potentially feature introspective and emotionally resonant poetry.While "Modus Vivendi" by John Berryman might be a fictional creation, the combination of the title and the author's name suggests a wor...

As the third millennium gets into its stride, this book charts a history of the western church, tracing its evolution from its genesis at Caesarea Philippi to the consecration of women to the priesthood. The development of the church as a fundamental characteristic and dynamic of western civilisation is traced through the identifi cation of twenty defi ning moments in its fortunes, both sacred and secular, upon which the work of Christ has been sustained. Each event is analysed within the ...

The complete Dream Songs--hypnotic, seductive, masterful--as thrilling to read now as they ever wereJohn Berryman's The Dream Songs are perhaps the funniest, saddest, most intricately wrought cycle of oems by an American in the twentieth century. They are also, more simply, the vibrantly sketched adventures of a uniquely American antihero named Henry. Henry falls in and out of love, and is in and out of the hospital; he sings of joy and desire, an...

Here is a juxtaposition of the personal and inter-communal dynamics focussed on the West African experience during the pivotal decade of the 1960s, when National Independence demanded a reflexion on the definition of the new states, and how external factors have borne heavily upon their past, present and future. The author blends his experience of study and travel in the region, acknowledging his debt to the pioneering spirit of the School of Oriental and African Studies who facilitated th...

Less than a year before his death in 1972, John Berryman signed a contract with his publisher for a book of prose, The Freedom of the Poet, for which he had made a selection from his published and unpublished writings. In his draft of a prefatory note, he acknowledged the influence of Eliot, Blackmur, Pound, and Empson on his critical thought, pointing out that "my interest in critical theory has been slight," and concluding: "But I have also borne in mind throughout: rem...

A wild, masterful Pulitzer Prize-winning cycle of poems that half a century later still shocks and astoundsJohn Berryman was hardly unknown when he published 77 Dream Songs, but the volume was, nevertheless, a shock and a revelation. A "spooky" collection in the words of Robert Lowell-"a maddening work of genius."As Henri Cole notes in his elegant, perceptive introduction, Berryman had discovered "a looser style that mixed high and low dictions with...

This is the only biography by a leading American poet of the great American writer, Stephen Crane. John Berryman originally wrote this book in 1950 for the distinguished "American Men of Letters" series, and revised it twelve years later. This edition reproduces the later version.In Stephen Crane, Berryman assesses the writings and life of a man whose work has been one of the most powerful influences on modern writers. As Edmund Wilson said in The New Yorker, "Mr. ...

The novel likely takes its title from Telstar, the name of the first communications satellite launched by NASA in 1962. Given the time period of its publication, "The Trouble with Telstar" may explore themes related to the emerging technologies of the space age and their impact on society.The plot of the novel might involve a fictionalized scenario in which the Telstar satellite encounters unexpected problems or complications, leading to a series of dramatic events. The narrative may follo...

Modus Vivendi by John Berryman is a striking and introspective literary work that reflects the early brilliance of one of America’s most complex poetic voices. Long before his later fame as a confessional poet, Berryman’s writing in this collection reveals a sharp intellect, emotional tension, and a restless search for meaning that would define his career.The Latin title—meaning “a way of living”—serves as both theme and question. In these poems, B...