. . . The poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling,
Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven;
And as imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen
Turns them into shapes, and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name. . . .
-- Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream (Act v, Sc 1)
Guy Davenport (23 November 1927 -- 04 January 2005)photo from Our University, University of Kentucky Public Affairs Office, 1966 photo by Ralph Eugene Meatyard, from front cover of Guy Davenport's Flowers & Leaves, 1966
Guy Davenport was a scholar, teacher, writer, poet, translator, illustrator, painter, and friend. He will continue to surprise and delight the common reader and intelligent children who like to read, to look at pictures, and to know things. (a conflation of Guy's introductory notes and remarks to The Hunter Gracchus and Objects on a Table).
Professor Davenport, Department of English, University of Kentucky, now retired, was one of my instructors. During an off-campus party, a fellow student described for me a teacher who, while lecturing, strutted back and forth rooster-like, turned to the blackboard from time to time to write in Greek and Latin. I was curious and registered for a class. I recall to this day my sense of amazement and wonder. One Davenport lecture explored Edgar Allan Poe with vectors into Gothic architecture, Greek epic poetry, and the Arabesque. Another, drawing distinctions between American beginnings in Puritan New England and Cavalier Virginia, was devoted to 'Renaissance Geography'. I was hooked. My check lists are of Guy Davenport's books and pamphlets, his contributions to other books, and essays and articles in journals and newspapers. I have made also lists of reviews and interviews, photographs, and, most recently, obituaries and appreciations of Guy Davenport. A labor of love, these pages are for those who want to know more about his work.
Below, an image of the front cover of the last book by Guy Davenport published a few weeks before his death: Wo es war, soll ich werden (Champaign, Il: The Finial Press, 2004)
Nota Bene
My Guy Davenport web site is designed to serve as a Finding Aid for the Common Reader. You may buy Guy Davenport's books on-line from vendors such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Many public and university libraries have circulating copies of now out-of-print Davenport titles. For items not available at your local library, consult with its inter-library loan staff which will locate and retrieve from other libraries, fair-use copies of essays and reviews published in popular magazines, newspapers, and scholarly journals. I will not sell or loan my Guy Davenport books, nor will I make and mail photocopies of his publications in periodicals. Buy his books. Visit the public library and use inter-library loan.
Click on Updates for additions, revisions, and other changes to this site.
LATEST!
2008.10.10
Deleted the 2007 birthday greeting.
Still sorting and re-arranging household goods, mostly books and LPs and CDs, in the wake of my July 2006 house fire
Discovered only last week that Jonathan Williams, poet and publisher and long-time friend of Guy Davenport, died 16 March 2008, aet. 79.
Go to The Jargon Society and JW's Musings < http://www.jargonbooks.com/newlookmusings_list.html > for JW on Davenport and others.
RECENT
2006.06.12
- Added "Archaic Ode" Pearl 12 (Summer-Fall 1991) 10-11. Thanks to Brigit Stephenson for sending me this issue of Pearl published by the The Book Trader, Skindergade 23, DK -- 1159 Copenhagen K, Denmark, and edited by Birgit Stephenson, Lars Rasmussen, and Gregory Stephenson. This translation was republished as part of the story "The Concord Sonata" in Davenport's A Table of Green Fields (NY: New Directions, 1993) at pp. 82-83. This "Chinese" ode as Davenport calls it in the 'Acknowledgements' section of A Table of Green Fields (verso title page) appears as the voice of Meng Tse sings "one of the most archaic of the odes". There are slight textual variations, in three of the poem's twelve stanzas, between the Pearl version and that in "The Concord Sonata".
- Added "At Marathon" [poem] Parnassus 5:2 (Spring/Summer 1977) 17. This poem was re-published in Davenport's Thasos & Ohio (1984). Thanks (again) to Mario Godwin who sent me a copy of this issue.
- Added External Link to the Wikipedia entry for 'Guy Davenport'.
2006.01.20
Revised and expanded the entry for the review essay "Celebrating the Shaker Vision" which appeared in the July 1986 issue of House & Garden magazine. Thanks (once again) to Mario Godwin who found a copy of this magazine with its beautiful photos of Shaker buildings and artifacts and sent it to me. I'll take the original color over photocopy gray every time.
Corrected the entry for Wo es war, soll ich werden so that the pronouns 'es' and 'ich' in the title are in lower, not upper case. This was pointed out by David Eisenman who worked closely with the author on the expanded text of the edition published by The Finial Press in 2004. Thanks, David.
Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia has a Guy Davenport entry, begun 23 April 2005 (birthday of William Shakespeare). URL is < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Davenport >. The entry at its 'Article' tab, displays biographical information about Davenport gleaned from several publications listed on this site under headings: Interviews with and Studies of.
The Wikipedia 'Discussion' tabs reveals a controversial interest in the sexuality of certain characters in Davenport's fiction, in Davenport's politics (or lack thereof), and other matters. Note that anyone may edit Wikipedia entries (at the 'Edit this Page' tab) provided that added content is verifiable and does not violate Copyright laws.
Use < http://changedetection.com > to monitor changes to this page. Just enter your e-mail address in the box above and click its 'OK' button. You will receive, within the hour usually, an e-mail from Change Detection that says this page has changed. Additions, updates, revisions, etc. will be reported first on this 'home' page.
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