DORN, Edward The Poet, The People, The Spirit. Vancouver, Talon Books 1976
8vo. Brown card paper wraps featuring an illustration photograph of the author by Leroy McLucas, pp. [iv], 5-29, [iii]; with 16-17 showing a map reprinted with permission from The Shoshoneans by Edward Dorn, William Morrow and Co., New York; black and white photograph to rear board cover accompanied by quote from Jediah Smith, Utah, 1827; essentially fine, a couple of small spots the only defect.
First edition, edited by Bob Rose and initial transcript from Derryll White.
The Poet, The People and The Spirit is the transcript of a lecture which took place in the summer of 1965 at the Berkeley Poetry conference. Best know for Slinger (1975) , a four-volume epic Western which American academic Marjorie Perloff christened “one of the masterpieces of contemporary poetry", Edward Dorn studied at The Black Mountain college (1950-55) during which he befriended Charles Olson. Olson would leave an indelible mark on his creative outlook but Dorn's final tutor at the college was the poet Robert Creeley and, through his emphasis on breath-determined rhythm and experimental free verse, Dorn became associated with the younger generation of the famous poetic school. Born during the Great Depression, his upbringing ,which he himself described as an experience of being “brought up off and on during / the intensity of depression nomadism,” woud heavily influecne his political vision, which is explored in this essay.
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