Conversations with John Berryman

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Bibliographic Information

Conversations with John Berryman

edited by Eric Hoffman

（Literary conversations series / Peggy Whitman Prenshaw, general editor）

University Press of Mississippi, 2021

  • : hardback

Available at  / 4 libraries

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Includes bibliographical references and index

Summary: "The poetry of John Berryman (1914-1972) is primarily concerned with the self in response to the rapid social, political, sexual, racial, and technological transformations of the twentieth century, and their impact on the psyche and spirit, both individual and collective. He was just as likely to find inspiration in his local newspaper as he did from the poetry of Hopkins or Milton. In fact, in contrast to the popular perception of Berryman drunkenly composing strange, dreamlike, abstract, esoteric poems, Berryman was intensely aware of craft. His best work routinely utilizes a variety of rhetorical styles, shifting effortlessly from the lyric to the prosaic. For Berryman, poetry was nothing less than a vocation, a mission, and a way of life. Though he desired fame, he acknowledged its relative unimportance when he stated that the "important thing is that your work is something no one else can do." As a result, Berryman very rarely granted interviews-"

Contents of Works

  • Introduction
  • Chronology
  • Poet, editor, teacher : looks forward to own book / Jane Stedman
  • The state of American writing, 1948: seven questions / John Berryman
  • Read a book of verse at least once a year, lecturer urges / Charles Ludwig
  • Homage to Mr. Berryman / Dorothy Strudwick
  • Around the town / Ralph Mendonca
  • John Berryman on today's literature / Phyllis Meras
  • Song of a poet: John Berryman / Bob Lundegaard
  • One answer to a question: changes / John Berryman
  • My whiskers fly: an interview with John Berryman / Jonathan Sisson
  • Interview with John Berryman / Al Alvarez
  • Whisky & ink, whisky & ink / Jane Howard
  • Pulitzer prize poet visiting at Trinity this week / Florence Berkman
  • Berryman and Tate: poets extraordinaire / Elizabeth Nussbaum
  • Berryman ends poem of thirteen years / Catherine Watson
  • An interview with John Berryman / David McClelland, John Plotz, Robert B. Shaw, and Thomas Stewart
  • Poetry was once nonsense to Berryman / Anonymous
  • Conversation with Berryman / Richard Kostelanetz
  • People individuals with values: poet John B. talks about life, war, death / Pat Murphy
  • A memoir and an interview / William Heyen
  • The art of poetry: an interview with John Berryman / Peter Stitt
  • A truly gentle man tightens and paces: an interview with John Berryman / Martin Berg
  • Who killed Henry Pussy-cat? I did, says John Berryman with love and poem and for freedom / Joseph Haas
  • Appendix: a recommended Selected Berryman
  • Works on John Berryman

Description and Table of Contents

Description

The poetry of John Berryman (1914-1972) is primarily concerned with the self in response to the rapid social, political, sexual, racial, and technological transformations of the twentieth century, and their impact on the psyche and spirit, both individual and collective. He was just as likely to find inspiration in his local newspaper as he did from the poetry of Hopkins or Milton. In fact, in contrast to the popular perception of Berryman drunkenly composing strange, dreamlike, abstract, esoteric poems, Berryman was intensely aware of craft. His best work routinely utilizes a variety of rhetorical styles, shifting effortlessly from the lyric to the prosaic. For Berryman, poetry was nothing less than a vocation, a mission, and a way of life. Though he desired fame, he acknowledged its relative unimportance when he stated that the "important thing is that your work is something no one else can do". As a result, Berryman very rarely granted interviews - "I teach and I write", he explained, "I'm not copy" - yet when he did the results were always captivating. Collected in Conversations with John Berryman are all of Berryman's major interviews, personality pieces, profiles, and local interest items, where interviewers attempt to unravel him, as both Berryman and his interlocutors struggle to find value in poetry in a fallen world.

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