Fielding Dawson (August 2, 1930 – January 5, 2002, aged 71) was a
Beat-era author of short stories and novels, and a student at
Black Mountain College. He was also a painter and collagist whose works were seen in several books of poetry and many literary magazines.
Born in
New York City, Dawson was known for his stream-of-consciousness style. Much of his work was lax in punctuation to emphasize the immediacy of thought. Additionally, dialogue would often be used to break this up. His lack of deference toward tradition in writing, other than that of the necessity to evoke humanity, often painfully raw, is what puts him in the category of many of his better-known contemporaries, such as
Jack Kerouac
Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation.
Of French-Canadian a ...
or
Allen Ginsberg.
Dawson was still writing up until his unexpected death in January 2002. He had become a teacher, first in prisons like
Sing Sing, at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at the
Naropa Institute
Naropa University is a private university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1974 by Tibetan Buddhist teacher Chögyam Trungpa, it is named for the 11th-century Indian Buddhist sage Naropa, an abbot of Nalanda. The university describes itself as ...
in Boulder, where he taught regularly, and continuing on to work with at-risk students at
Upward Bound High School in
Hartwick, New York
Hartwick is a town located in Otsego County, New York, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town had a population of 2,110. The Town of Hartwick is located in the middle of the county, southwest of the Village of Cooperstown.
History
The t ...
.
He was recently called "The Best St. Louis Writer You've Never Read" by David Clewell, a professor of history at Webster University.
Partial bibliography
*''Elizabeth Constantine'',
Biltmore Press Biltmore may refer to:
Related to the Vanderbilt mansion in North Carolina
* Biltmore Forest, North Carolina, a town in Buncombe County
* Biltmore Village, a village now within Asheville
* The Biltmore Estate, in Biltmore Forest, near Asheville
* ...
(1955)
*''An Emotional Memoir of Franz Kline'',
Pantheon Books
Pantheon Books is an American book publishing imprint with editorial independence. It is part of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.Random House, Inc. Datamonitor Company Profiles Authority: Retrieved 6/20/2007, from EBSCO Host Business Source ...
(1967)
*''Krazy Kat/The Unveiling and Other Stories from 1951-1968'',
Black Sparrow Press (1969)
*''The Black Mountain Book'',
E.P. Dutton (1970)
*''Open Road: A Novel'',
Black Sparrow Press (1970)
*''The Mandalay Dream'',
Bobbs-Merrill (1971)
*''The Dream/Thunder Road'', Stories and Dreams 1955-1965,
Black Sparrow Press (1972)
*''The Greatest Story Ever Told: A Transformation'',
Black Sparrow Press (1973)
*''A Great Day for a Ballgame'',
Bobbs-Merrill (1973)
*"Penny Lane"
Black Sparrow Press (1977)
*"Two Penny Lane"
Black Sparrow Press (1977)
*"Three Penny Lane"
Black Sparrow Press (1981)
*"Krazy Kat And 76 More"
Black Sparrow Press (1982)
*"Tiger Lilies-an American childhood"
Duke University Press (1984)
*"The Black Mountain Book: Expanded and revised edition"
North Carolina Wesleyan College Press
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.
Etymology
The word ''north'' i ...
(1991)
*"Introduction" ''Charles'' ''Olson'' ''in'' ''Connecticut'', Charles Boer, North Carolina Wesleyan College Press (1991)
*"The Orange in the Orange"
Black Sparrow Press (1995)
*"Three Penny Lane"
Black Sparrow Press
*"The Trick: New Stories"
Black Sparrow Press (1990)
*"Virginia Dare, Stories 1976-1981"
Black Sparrow Press
*"Will She Understand?"
Black Sparrow Press
*"The Land of Milk & Honey
XOXOXpress(2001)
*"The Dirty Blue Car
XOXOXpress(2004)
Sources
*
Fielding Dawson's bio and books at xoxoxpress.comDawson: The Best St. Louis Writer You've Never Read
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dawson, Fielding
20th-century American novelists
1930 births
2002 deaths
Black Mountain College alumni
American male novelists
American male short story writers
20th-century American short story writers
20th-century American male writers