Synopses & Reviews
andlt;Iandgt;Summer of Deliveranceandlt;/Iandgt; is a powerful and moving memoir of anger, love, and reconciliation between a son and his father. Hailed as a literary genius of his generation, James Dickey created his art and lived his life with a ferocious passion. He was a heavy drinker, a destructive husband and father, a poet of grace and sensitivity, and, after the publication and subsequent film of his novel, andlt;Iandgt;Deliverance,andlt;/Iandgt; a wildly popular literary star. Drawing on letters, notebooks, diaries, and his explicit conversations with his father, Christopher Dickey has crafted a superb memoir of the corrosive effects of fame, a moving remembrance of a crisis that united a family, and an inspiring celebration of love between father and son.
Review
"Christopher Dickey has written a superbly crafted memoir of one of America's most celebrated and most infamous writers, his father, James Dickey. There is bitterness here and the stories of drunkenness and womanizing come to light, but what lies at the heart of the book is the powerful, frequently awkward, and painful love between a father and son. From Christopher's childhood when James Dickey began 'making my head,' to the filming of Deliverance, when the Georgia poet was already more famous than most of the actors on the set, from his second marriage, long after he had become a caricature of himself, to his death bed and reconciliation with his son, James Dickey is an engrossing subject. 'If I didn't call him before eleven o'clock in the morning,' Christopher writes, 'I might as well have not have called him at all. He wouldn't remember or couldn't speak coherently enough.' And, later, 'We were not my father's kind anymore. But we all wanted to believe, still,
that we could be.' In clear-eyed, often moving prose, Christopher Dickey recognizes both his father's demons and the frequent genius of his work. His poetry runs through the book like a time line. '... Come, son, and find me here/In love with the sound of my voice.'" Reviewed by Andrew Witmer, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)
Review
Elizabeth Hardwick A heartbreaking, eloquent memoir by the son of the heartbreaking, eloquent poet, James Dickey.
Review
David Bottoms andlt;Iandgt;The Atlanta Journal-Constitutionandlt;/Iandgt; An exquisite balance of blistering candor and healing grace....Writing so wonderful that it simply transcends the limits of the genre.
Review
David Kirby andlt;Iandgt;The New York Times Book Reviewandlt;/Iandgt; Angry, affectionate...both gut-wrenching and hypnotic. A father-son conflict worthy of the pen of Sophocles.
Review
Joseph P. Kahn andlt;Iandgt;The Boston Globeandlt;/Iandgt; As unsentimental a father-son memoir as one can imagine. James Dickey may have died a broken man, but he was given a tremendous opportunity to get at least one thing right. By the evidence of this book, he succeeded, too.
Synopsis
Summer of Deliverance is a powerful and moving memoir of anger, love, and reconciliation between a son and his father. Hailed as a literary genius of his generation, James Dickey created his art and lived his life with a ferocious passion. He was a heavy drinker, a destructive husband and father, a poet of grace and sensitivity, and, after the publication and subsequent film of his novel,
Deliverance, a wildly popular literary star. Drawing on letters, notebooks, diaries, and his explicit conversations with his father, Christopher Dickey has crafted a superb memoir of the corrosive effects of fame, a moving remembrance of a crisis that united a family, and an inspiring celebration of love between father and son.
About the Author
andlt;Bandgt;Christopher Dickeyandlt;/Bandgt;, andlt;Iandgt;Newsweekandlt;/Iandgt;'s award-winning Paris bureau chief and Middle East editor, reports regularly from Baghdad, Cairo, and Jerusalem, and writes the weekly "Shadowland" column -- an inside look at the world of spies and soldiers, guerrillas and suicide bombers -- for andlt;Iandgt;Newsweekandlt;/Iandgt; Online. He is the author of andlt;Iandgt;Summer of Deliverance, Expats, With the Contras,andlt;/Iandgt; and the novel andlt;Iandgt;Innocent Blood.andlt;/Iandgt; He lives in Paris.
Table of Contents
andlt;Bandgt;CONTENTSandlt;/Bandgt;andlt;BRandgt;Overturesandlt;BRandgt;FATHERSandlt;BRandgt;The Landingsandlt;BRandgt;The Collectorandlt;BRandgt;Root-Lightandlt;BRandgt;Flight Schoolandlt;BRandgt;The Color of Rustandlt;BRandgt;All Saintsandlt;BRandgt;SONSandlt;BRandgt;The Two-Car Garageandlt;BRandgt;Serpentsandlt;BRandgt;Bring Home the Cokeandlt;BRandgt;Lonersandlt;BRandgt;God's Scriptandlt;BRandgt;Moonshineandlt;BRandgt;RIVALSandlt;BRandgt;Positanoandlt;BRandgt;Barnstormingandlt;BRandgt;The Night Poolandlt;BRandgt;The Corvetteandlt;BRandgt;Apolloandlt;BRandgt;At the Riverandlt;BRandgt;The Cutting Roomandlt;BRandgt;Resting Placeandlt;BRandgt;ENEMIESandlt;BRandgt;The Canoe Beneath the Hammockandlt;BRandgt;Re-enactmentandlt;BRandgt;Womenandlt;BRandgt;The Sudanese Daggerandlt;BRandgt;The Sea and Old Menandlt;BRandgt;FATHER AND SONandlt;BRandgt;Vectoringandlt;BRandgt;The Nightmare Life in Deathandlt;BRandgt;Walls of Booksandlt;BRandgt;Closingsandlt;BRandgt;Bibliographyandlt;BRandgt;Acknowledgmentsandlt;BRandgt;Index