From Publishers Weekly
An incandescent biography of the inventor of "projective" verse, this comprehensive portrait distinguishes the convivial, bluff public figure from the tormented inner man. A lapsed Catholic, Olson (1910-1970) turned to Sumerian myths, Mayan legends and Islamic mysticism for cosmic insights that would inform poems of cyclic sweep. Torn by contradictory feelings toward his proud, stern father--a Swedish immigrant postman in Worcester, Mass.--the poet found a father-figure in mentor Edward Dahlberg and later in Ezra Pound. Reclusive self-absorption sapped his two common-law marriages; he harbored enormous guilt over his neglect of his two children and over second wife Betty Kaiser's death (in a car accident), which may have been self-inflicted during a severe depression. Clark, author of books on Kerouac, Celine and Ted Berrigan, reveals that Olson grappled with homosexual impulses, took hallucinogens and dominated those around him, seeking periodic release from inner demons in frenzied floods of images. Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Best known for his innovative poetic theory and the famous "Maximus" poems, Olson served as a mentor to an entire generation of poets, among them Robert Duncan and Robert Creeley. In this critical biography, Clark provides new insight into the conflicts and struggles of Olson's life and the influence they had on his work. Clark draws from his own acquaintance with Olson, the poet's journals and poetry, as well as correspondence with many who were close to him, to make sense of this man's life as a parable. This is an admirable biography, for Clark accomplishes the difficult task of combining the continuous story of Olson's life with an understandable account of his poetic development and explications of many poems. Recommended for academic libraries and public libraries with strong literature collections.- Nancy R. Ives, SUNY at GeneseoCopyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Book Description
Charles Olson (1910-1970) was a mass of contradictions - at once egalitarian and elitist, as desperate for the love of a devoted woman as he was haunted by homosexual urges, a lapsed Catholic who eventually drifted into Islamic mysticism and Sumerian studies. In this provocative biography of a poet both feared and revered, Tom Clark shows how these conflicts troubled Olson's life even as it fueled his art.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Charles Olson (1910-1970) was a mass of contradictions - at once egalitarian and elitist, as desperate for the love of a devoted woman as he was haunted by homosexual urges, a lapsed Catholic who eventually drifted into Islamic mysticism and Sumerian studies. In this provocative biography of a poet both feared and revered, Tom Clark shows how these conflicts troubled Olson's life even as it fueled his art.

FROM THE CRITICS

Bradford Morrow - The Washington Post

Tom Clark, with extraordinary compassion and sharp-eyed intelligence, has given us a moving, lucid portrait of this American original.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

Charles Olson was the most intellectually active American poet of the second half of the 20th century. He was the cultural defendant of Ezra Pound and the moral tonic for the complaints of T.S. Eliot. This is the first total picture of Olson that we have had. Only a biographer as discriminating as Tom Clarke could have done justice to this troubled and vibrant giant. Let us rejoice that some longstanding assumptions about this great literary figure have been swept away by Clark's long-anticipated portrait.  — Dorn

First ever to use the term post modern, Charles Olson is now recognized as its most complex and determining presence. This deceptive and compassionate biography maps with singular clarity the vulnerable passage of a classic American genius.  — Robert Creeley