Russell Edson Explained

Russell Edson
Birth Name:	Russell Edelstein
Birth Date:	12 December 1928
Period:	19512009

Russell Edson (né Edelstein; 12 December 1928 – April 29, 2014) was an American poet, novelist, writer, and illustrator. He was the son of the cartoonist-screenwriter Gus Edson and Gladys Cedar Edson.

Born in Manhattan, New York City, Edson studied art early in life and attended the Art Students League as a teenager. He began publishing poetry in the 1950s. His honors as a poet include a Guggenheim fellowship,^[1] a Whiting Award,^[2] and several fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts.^[3]

Edson self-published several chapbooks and later, numerous collections of prose poetry, fables, two novels, Gulping's Recital and The Song of Percival Peacock, and a book of plays under the title, The Falling Sickness. His final book was See Jack (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2009).

He lived in Darien, Connecticut with his wife Frances.^{[4] [5]}

Selected bibliography

Full-length prose poetry collections

• See Jack (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2009)
• The Rooster's Wife: Poems (BOA Editions, Ltd., 2005)
• The Tormented Mirror (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2001)
• The Tunnel: Selected Poems of Russell Edson (Oberlin College Press, 1994)
• The Wounded Breakfast (Wesleyan University Press, 1985)
• With Sincerest Regrets (Burning Deck Press, 1980)
• The Reason Why the Closet-Man Is Never Sad (Wesleyan University Press, 1977)
• Edson's Mentality (OINK! Press, 1977)
• The Intuitive Journey and Other Works (Harper & Row, 1976)
• Gulping's Recital (Guignol Books, 1984)
• The Clam Theater (Wesleyan University Press, 1973)
• The Childhood Of An Equestrian (Harper & Row, 1973)
• Ceremonies in Bachelor Space (Grapnel Press, Black Mountain College, 1951)

Chapbooks

• Wuck Wuck Wuck! (with linocut by Richard Mock, Red Ozier Press, 1984)

Novels

• Gulping's Recital (Guignol Books, 1984)
• The Song of Percival Peacock: A Novel (Coffee House Press, 1992)

Short Stories & Fables

• Tick Tock: Short Stories (illustrated with woodcuts, Demitasse/Coffee House Press, 1992)
• What a Man Can See: Fables (with drawings by Ray Johnson, 1969)
• The Brain Kitchen: Writings and Woodcuts (Thing Press, 1965)
• The Very Thing That Happens: Fables and Drawings (New Directions Publishing, 1964)
• Appearances: Fables and Drawings (Thing Press, 1961)
• A Stone Is Nobody's: Fables and Drawings (Thing Press, 1961)

Plays

• The Falling Sickness: A Book of Plays (New Directions Publishing, 1975)^[6]

Music

• Ketchup opera in 2 acts. Text By Russell Edson, music by Franklin Stover. Scored for 2 voices & chamber orchestra.
• The Song of Percival Peacock - an entertainment for reed quintet and narrator set to prose poems of Russell Edson, by Franklin Stover. (Edition Hohenstaufen, 2017)

Honors and awards

• 1992 National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship^[7]
• 1989 Whiting Award
• 1981 National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship
• 1976 National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship
• 1974 Guggenheim Fellowship

External links

• Audio: Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac": Poems by Russell Edson
• Biography & Poems: Russell Edson
• Profile at The Whiting Foundation
• The Believer (March 2004) Why The Reader of Good Prose Poems Is Never Sad: An Appreciation of Russell Edson by Sarah Manguso
• Poems: Webdelsol > Featured Prose Poet: Russell Edson
• Review: Cricket Online: Corey Johnson review of The Rooster's Wife by Russell Edson

Notes and References

1. Web site: Russell Edson . . December 9, 2021 . October 1, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201001122410/https://www.gf.org/fellows/all-fellows/russell-edson/ . live .
2. Web site: Russell Edson, 1989 Winner in Poetry . . February 25, 2019 . March 23, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210323211105/https://www.whiting.org/awards/winners/russell-edson#/ . live .
3. Web site: Russell Edson . Poetry Foundation . December 9, 2021 . October 14, 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20081014190741/http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poet.html?id=1990 . dead .
4. http://www.webdelsol.com/LITARTS/edson Russell Edson, Poet
5. Web site: Department of English Language and Literature - Department of English Language and Literature | University of South Carolina.
6. Web site: The falling sickness : a book of plays . . December 9, 2021 . December 9, 2021 . https://archive.today/20211209171224/https://catalog.loc.gov/vwebv/search?searchCode=LCCN&searchArg=74023986&searchType=1&permalink=y . live .
7. http://www.nea.gov/pub/NEA_lit.pdf National Endowment for the Arts > Forty Years of Supporting American Writers > Literature Fellowships