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Guy Davenport:  Home Page 


 
 
 

IN MEMORIAM

.  .  .   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 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
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

RECENT

2006.06.12   

2006.01.20

EXTERNAL LINK

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.

 


 

 



 

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 Guy Davenport Home Page

 Obituaries

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   Memorial Service    Acknowledgements
 Bibliography    Reviewed 1  
   Interviews with  Reviewed 2  
 Books and Pamphlets  Reviewed 3  
   Photographs of
 Parts of Books by Others  
 Studies of 1  
 Periodicals    Studies of 2  
     Acquisitions
      National Review    Translations of  
     

Copyright 1998-2005, Charles A. Ralston. All rights reserved.
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Last revised:  2008-12-14
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