Dream Song: The Life of John Berryman by Paul Mariani (PDF)

Description

Dream Song is the story of John Berryman, one of the most gifted poets of a generation that included Elizabeth Bishop, Randall Jarrell, Robert Lowell, and Dylan Thomas. Using Berryman’s unpublished letters and poetry, as well as interviews with those who knew him intimately, Paul Mariani captures Berryman’s genius and the tragedy that dogged him, while at the same time illuminating one of the most provocative periods in American letters. Here we witness Berryman’s struggles with alcohol and drugs, his obsession with women and fame, and his friendships with luminary writers of the century. Mariani creates an unforgettable portrait of a poet who, by the time of his suicide at age fifty-seven, had won a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐I love a good biography of a writer as I write too and am very interested in how they lived their lives and what other writers they spent time with.

⭐Dream Songs is the poetic style, or modality, that poet John Berryman developed at the crux of his career, and author Paul Mariani uses that moniker as the title of his excellent biography.It is a sordid tale of a fathers suicide, a mother of dubious character, and a brilliant son who in the end succumbs to the ravages of the tragic family legacy, and an alcoholism that seemed to both fuel the flame of a his talent, and shorten its lifespan.In the beginning I did not like the John Berryman who was presented at the start (arrogant and conniving), and I despised the mother. But Berryman won me over. Not just as a poet, but as a professor, an academic (the best sense of the term), and even as a man. The human, and the humane, side of this complex man is revealed and by the end you are sad to see him go, even though you see his untimely demise coming very early on. The mother? Not so much. She turns more into an object of pity, but there is some sympathy for her. By the way, she would be a fascinating subject for her own biography.Earlier I said that Berryman won me over. That statement deserves a final bit of discussion before closing. The author did an excellent job of providing a narrative, with just enough subjective analysis to keep it interesting. In other words, Paul Mariani stays out of the way, letting the story tell itself, and letting the life and career of Paul Mariani speak for itself. I love good biographies, and I loved this book. I will most definitely read his biography of William Carlos Williams.

⭐His father, cuckolded and bankrupt, shot himself under his son’s bedroom window.His mother, who could maybe spell the word “No,” married the paramour.The paramour adopted the boy. He went from being John Allyn Smith to John Berryman. The kid had his identity taken away before he was in his teens. “John Berryman” was one of the great literary fictions of the 20th century. There WAS no John Berryman–there was someone using that name and forever in search of an identity born in pain and betrayal.It led him to womanizing…not at all curious given his stepfather’s and his mother’s histories…to an hysterical disposition…and ultimately–or really for years–into incipient and then full-blown alcoholism.Berryman jumped off that bridge on January 7, 1972, but he died of drinking. He’d been through detoxes and rehabs but he could never figure out how to stay sober. The compulsion was too strong. Ultimately, I suspect, it was his weapon of choice in a lifelong suicide attempt. The bridge simply ended the quest.Mariani’s book isn’t just worth having, it’s indispensible to understanding Berryman’s work: unless you’re one of those New Critical purists (are there any left?) who exclude biography from the study of literary production. There isn’t much to say about it except it never bores the reader. Alcoholics are notoriously boring and dull people who repeat the same asininities over and over, but Mariani draws us into Berryman’s inner life and shows us as well the effect he had on the people around him. It was not always negative…but when it was, it was appalling.He also, by the way, shows us a great and difficult poet, not just a horse’s ass with a gift for getting into trouble. Mariani’s description of how Berryman composed “Homage to Mistress Bradstreet” is worth the price of the ticket.

⭐I didn’t know much about John Berryman despite being an English major in college. However, I ran across a magazine article about Paul Mariani and the series of biogrphies he wrote on American poets. It intrigued me enough to pick up Dream Song. All I can say is “WOW!!”Mariani brings Berryman to life and what a life Berryman had. Yes, Berryman was self destructive but he was also brilliant. Mariani tells the story in such a poignant way that I found myself looking forward each night to the time I could spend reading this book.If you like biographies, especially literary biographies, then treat yourself to this book. You might also read Mariani’s other books. I read his book about Robert Lowell and that was well done. However, Berryman is my favorite of the two.

⭐A good recount of all the pain (much of it self-induced) Berryman went through to be able to find the voice that emerged in the Dream Songs. His childhood, parents, education, heroes, friends, addictions…all of them given appropriate weight in this biography. If you like his poetry, you’ll like this book.

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