Amiri Baraka and Edward Dorn

"Baraka and Dorn were at the very heart of two of the most significant developments in American literature in the decades after World War II, the so-called New American Poetry and the Black Arts Movement. That fact alone makes this book one that will interest scholars and poets in many otherwise divergent communities. The letters commence near the beginnings of these two artists' careers. We not only witness the poetic development of these two crucial figures, but we witness it against the background of the evolution of the Civil Rights Movement into the Black Power era. And both writers have much to say about the unfolding revolution in jazz that was taking place alongside the explosive social transformations of American society. The book is filled with significant surprises."—Aldon Lynn Nielsen, author of Reading Race

"These two poets had to struggle to make a living. Baraka was making a transition during the years he corresponded with Dorn from the predominantly white New York avant-garde scene to the black nationalist politics of the mid and late 1960s. Through much of this period Baraka worked tirelessly on Dorn's behalf just to get his manuscripts published. These letters give readers a sense of the generous collaboration of avant-garde poets in the 1960s."—Robert von Hallberg, author of American Poetry and Culture, 1945-1980

“The two writers (Amiri Baraka and Edward Dorn) could not have hoped for a better editor than Claudia Moreno Pisano, whose notes clarify every obscurity and shed light on shadowy in-jokes.”—Times Literary Supplement

“The collection provides a fascinating look not only into the lives of these two poets but also into a turbulent time in American culture that is both very different from and sadly very similar to our own.”—Christianity Today

“Studiously compiled. . . . [The] fundamental conjunction of alternative cultures and social movements is at the heart of the Baraka-Dorn correspondence.”—Boston Review

“A narrative assemblage with artfully selected materials whose backdrop never overshadows the shifting tones contained within the correspondence between poets Ed Dorn and Amiri Baraka.”—Rain Taxi

“These are letters both for poets and scholars. They will inspire poets to write and believe in the importance of art and they will clarify the times for scholars. . . . Pisano sharpens the scholar’s understanding of Baraka and Dorn and helps us fill in the story.”—American Studies

“The friendship that emerges in these letters follows the pattern of the exchange itself. Defined by its intensity, it is in turns trusting and antagonistic: reading it through in its entirety, we hear two major poets at the germinal moment of their careers hammering out the ideas that define their art. . . . The letters have been intelligently edited by Claudia Moreno Pisano: her annotations are assiduously judged and enlightening.”—PN Review