Dream Song (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: Paul Mariani
- First Published: 1990
- Type of Work: Literary biography
- Time of Work: 1914-1972
- Setting: McAlester, Oklahoma; Tampa, Florida; New York City; South Kent, Connecticut; Cambridge, England; Cambridge, Massachusetts; Princeton, New Jersey; Cincinnati, Ohio; Iowa City, Iowa; and Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Principal Characters: John Berryman (born John Allyn Smith, Jr., John Allyn Smith, Sr., Martha Little Smith (Jill) Berryman, John Angus (Uncle Jack) Berryman, Mark Van Doren, Bhain Robert Campbell, Eileen Mulligan Berryman, Elizabeth Ann Levine Berryman, Kathleen Donahue (Kate) Berryman
- Genres: Nonfiction, Biography
- Subjects: Family or family life, Suicide, Literature, Poetry or poets, Alcoholism or alcoholics, Substance abuse, Death or dying, Drug addiction or addicts, Clocks or watches
- Locales: New York, NY, Connecticut, Cincinnati, OH, Cambridge, MA, Oklahoma, Minneapolis, MN, Cambridge, England, Princeton, NJ, Iowa City, IA, Tampa, FL
John Berryman, the subject of Paul Mariani’s study, sought love and fame throughout his life with a persistence few possess; nevertheless, his self-destructiveness, best seen in his irascible personality, his womanizing, and his addictions to alcohol and pills, usually cost him the prizes he sought soon after successful struggles to obtain them. Numerous love affairs and the life-style of a drug-taking alcoholic were beyond the endurance of the three angelic women who married him. Temper tantrums in the classroom and petty feuds with colleagues contributed to his losing at least two...
[The entire page is 2033 words long]
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