American Book Awards
1 appearances
-
Edition 1 (1980) Winner
Ed Dorn
エド・ドーン
Ed Dorn
Aliases:
Edward Merton Dorn / Edward Dorn / Ed Dorn
Profile
- Gender
- Male
- Born
- 1929-04-02 （Villa Grove, Illinois, U.S.）
- Died
- 1999-12-10 （Denver, Colorado, U.S.） age 70
- Nationality
- United States
- Languages
- English
- Residence History
- Villa Grove, Illinois — childhood → Pacific Northwest, U.S. — early adult/working period → Black Mountain College (North Carolina) — student (1950–1955) → England (mainly during University of Essex years) — 1965–1970 → Boulder, Colorado (university teaching) — later life
Career
- Occupations
- Poet, Educator, Translator, Writer
- Active Years
- 1950-1999
- Affiliations
- Idaho State University, University of Essex, Northeastern Illinois University, Kent State University, University of Colorado at Boulder
- Influenced By
- Charles Olson, Robert Creeley, Robert Duncan, J. H. Prynne (close associate)
- Influenced
- Stephen King (referenced and expressed admiration)
Education
| Institution | Faculty | Department | Degree | Period | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black Mountain College | — | — | — | 1950–1955 | United States |
| University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | — | — | — | — | United States |
Black Mountain College
Period:
1950–1955
Country:
United States
Interacted with Charles Olson and others; formative period for his poetry.
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Country:
United States
Attended; details of degree unclear.
Awards & Nominations
Works
Major Works
Gunslinger
1968 Epic poem / long poemA long, multi-part poem drawing on American Western myth, linguistic experiment, satire and travel motifs to interrogate American culture; Dorn's magnum opus.
American Westtravel and wanderingmythmaking and satirelinguistic experimentation
Collected Poems: 1956–1974
1975 Poetry collectionA representative collection of poems from his early career through 1974, including significant material related to Gunslinger.
social critiqueregional/geographic imageryexperimental language
Bibliography
- The Newly Fallen (1961)
- Hands Up! (1964)
- From Gloucester Out (1964)
- Idaho Out (1965)
- Geography (1965)
- The North Atlantic Turbine (1967)
- Gunslinger (Book I 1968; complete text 1974)
- Recollections of Gran Apacheria (1974)
- Collected Poems: 1956–1974 (1975)
- Abhorrences (1989)
- The Denver Landing (1993)
- High West Rendezvous: A Sampler (1996)
- Chemo Sábe (2001, posthumous)
- Way More West: New & Selected Poems (2007, posthumous)
- Westward Haut (2012, posthumous)
Translations by Author
- Our Word: Guerilla Poems From Latin America (co-translated with Gordon Brotherston)
- Tree Between Two Walls (Jose Emilio Pacheco, co-translated, 1969)
- Selected Poems of Cesar Vallejo (co-translated, 1976)
- Image of the New World (co-translated, 1979)
Style & Themes
- Literary Style
- Experimental poetics associated with the Black Mountain schoolColloquial, speech-like dictionBlend of epic/narrative and fragmentary techniques
- Recurring Motifs
- American West / frontiertravel and wanderingsatire of power and societylanguage deconstruction and reconstruction
Health
-
Pancreatic cancer1997–1999Directly affected his late work; poems documenting his treatment (e.g., Chemo Sábe) were produced. He died of the disease in 1999.
Legacy
Ed Dorn is a significant American experimental poet associated with the Black Mountain school; his long poem Gunslinger is regarded as his masterpiece. He influenced figures in literature and popular culture (notably Stephen King) and remains the subject of scholarly attention; his papers are held in several university archives.
Archives
- University of Connecticut Special Collections (Edward Dorn papers)
- Indiana University at Bloomington (archive holdings)
- Simon Fraser University Special Collections (records)
In Popular Culture
- Stephen King praised Dorn and quoted his lines in novels; King's Dark Tower series novel The Gunslinger takes its title in homage to Dorn's poem.
Quotes
-
Stephen King described Dorn's poetry as "talismans of perfect writing."
Source: Source: referenced admiration by Stephen King and use of a Dorn line in King's The Stand -
"We need help, the Poet reckoned."
Source: Quoted in the prologue/epilogue of Stephen King's The Stand (1990)
Trivia
- Stephen King praised Dorn and quoted his lines in his novels.
- In his late years Dorn underwent treatment for pancreatic cancer and reflected those experiences in poems (e.g., Chemo Sábe).
- He was closely associated with Charles Olson and Robert Creeley at Black Mountain College.