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book: Robert Duncan, The Ambassador from Venus
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Robert Duncan, The Ambassador from Venus

A Biography
Language: English
Published/Copyright: 2012

About this book

This definitive biography gives a brilliant account of the life and art of Robert Duncan (1919–1988), one of America’s great postwar poets. Lisa Jarnot takes us from Duncan’s birth in Oakland, California, through his childhood in an eccentrically Theosophist household, to his life in San Francisco as an openly gay man who became an inspirational figure for the many poets and painters who gathered around him. Weaving together quotations from Duncan’s notebooks and interviews with those who knew him, Jarnot vividly describes his life on the West Coast and in New York City and his encounters with luminaries such as Henry Miller, Anaïs Nin, Tennessee Williams, James Baldwin, Paul Goodman, Michael McClure, H.D., William Carlos Williams, Denise Levertov, Robert Creeley, and Charles Olson.

Author / Editor information

Contributor: Lisa Jarnot Lisa Jarnot is a poet and independent scholar. She has taught at Brooklyn College and the Naropa Institute and is the author of four books of poetry, including Ring of Fire and Night Scenes.

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    Frontmatter

    i
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    Contents

    ix
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    Foreword

    xiii
    Michael Davidson
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    Preface

    xxi
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    Acknowledgments

    xxiii
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    Textual Notes

    xxvii
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    One. Childhood’s Retreat

    1
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    Two. Toward the Shaman

    41
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    Three. The Enamord Mage

    93
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    Four. The Opening of the Field

    147
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    Five. The Nasty Aesthetician

    201
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    Six. Domestic Scenes

    259
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    Seven. Troubadour

    337
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    Eight. The Master of Rime

    387
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    Notes

    435
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    Works Cited

    503
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    Credits

    511
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    Index

    513
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Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
July 22, 2019
eBook ISBN:
9780520951945
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
Main content:
560
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https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520951945
eBook ISBN: 9780520951945
Keywords for this book
inspirational biography; postwar poetry; 20th century poets; post wwii america; american poetry; san francisco renaissance; san francisco poets; american poets; modernism literary criticism; lgbt poets; lgbt inspiration; jack spicer; robert creeley; charles olson; robin blaser; books for english majors; inspirational poets; 20th century literature; poet biography; 20th century america; lgbt figures; 20th century lgbt community; postwar literature; coming of age; life lessons; poetry and poets; gender studies
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