Fielding Dawson

Fielding Dawson
Fielding Dawson in the 1950s
Fielding Dawson at Black Mountain College
Born
Guy Fielding Lewis Dawson

August 2, 1930
New York City, U.S.
DiedJanuary 5, 2002 (aged 71)
New York City, U.S.
EducationBlack Mountain College (1949–1952)
OccupationsWriter, novelist, short story author, poet, painter, collagist, educator
Writing career
Period1955–2002
GenresStream of consciousness, memoir, fiction
Notable worksAn Emotional Memoir of Franz Kline (1967), Krazy Kat/The Unveiling & Other Stories (1969), The Black Mountain Book (1970)
Movements
Beat Generation, Black Mountain poets

Fielding Dawson (August 2, 1930 – January 5, 2002, aged 71) was a Beat-era author of short stories and novels, and a student at Black Mountain College. He was also a painter and collagist whose works appeared in several books of poetry and many literary magazines.

Biography

Dawson was born in New York City. As a child, his family moved to Kirkwood, Missouri. His father was a journalist. He studied portrait drawing with Tanasko Milovich. In 1949, he enrolled at Black Mountain College. With Robert Rauschenberg and Kenneth Noland, he studied painting with under Franz Kline. He also studied writing with Charles Olson.

Dawson was still writing up until his unexpected death in January 2002. He had become a teacher, first in prisons like Sing Sing, at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at the Naropa Institute in Boulder, where he taught regularly, and continuing on to work with at-risk students at Upward Bound High School in Hartwick, New York.

Work

Dawson was known for his stream-of-consciousness style. Much of his work was lax in punctuation to emphasize the immediacy of thought. His work has been compared to other Beat poets, including Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg.

He has been called "The Best St. Louis Writer You've Never Read" by David Clewell, a professor of history at Webster University.

Porter Fox has written of Dawson, "Many of his best pieces were short, often autobiographical. Some of the greatest were just a page or two. The writing was plain-faced, without contrived plots, bookish vocabulary, or literary allusions."

Robert Creeley said of his work, "I have never seen a writer capable of such fast shifts, so instantly, nervously exact."

The Fielding Dawson Papers are housed at the library of the University of Connecticut.

Partial bibliography

Stories

  • Elizabeth Constantine (Biltmore Press, 1955)
  • Krazy Kat and One More (The Print Workshop, 1955)
  • Thread (Ferry Press, 1964)
  • Krazy Kat/The Unveiling and Other Stories from 1951-1968 (Black Sparrow, 1969)
  • The Dream/Thunder Road: Stories and Dreams, 1955-1965 (Black Sparrow, 1972)
  • The Greatest Story Ever Told: A Transformation (Black Sparrow, 1973)
  • The Sun Rises Into the Sky and Other Stories 1952-1966 (Black Sparrow, 1974)
  • The Man Who Changed Overnight and Other Stories & Dreams 1970-1974 (Black Sparrow, 1976)
  • Krazy Kat & 76 More: Collected Stories 1950-1976 (Black Sparrow, 1982)
  • Virginia Dare: Stories 1976-1981 (Black Sparrow, 1985)
  • Will She Understand? New Short Stories (Black Sparrow, 1988)
  • The Trick: New Stories (Black Sparrow, 1990)
  • The Orange in the Orange: A Novella & Two Stories (Black Sparrow, 1995)
  • The Land of Milk & Honey: A Big Little Book: New Stories (XOXOXpress, 2001)
  • The Dirty Blue Car: New Stories (XOXOXpress, 2004)

Novels

  • Open Road (Black Sparrow, 1970)
  • The Mandalay Dream (Bobbs-Merrill, 1971)
  • A Great Day for a Ballgame (Bobbs-Merrill, 1973)
  • Penny Lane (Black Sparrow, 1977)
  • Two Penny Lane (Black Sparrow, 1977)
  • Three Penny Lane (Black Sparrow, 1981)
  • Tiger Lilies: An American Childhood (Duke University, 1984)
  • No Man's Land (Times Change, 2000)

Other

  • An Emotional Memoir of Franz Kline (Pantheon, 1967)
  • The Black Mountain Book (E.P. Dutton, 1970) (revised, Wesleyan College Press, 1991)

References

  1. 1 2 Hrebeniak, Michael (2002-04-05). "Fielding Dawson". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2026-02-26.
  2. 1 2 "Fielding Dawson". The Independent. 2002-01-24. Retrieved 2026-03-03.
  3. ↑ "Asheville Art Museum - Fielding Dawson". collection.ashevilleart.org. Retrieved 2026-03-05.
  4. ↑ Levitt, Aimee. "Fielding Dawson: The Best St. Louis Writer You've Never Read". Riverfront Times. Archived from the original on 2024-06-24. Retrieved 2026-02-25.
  5. ↑ Fox, Porter (2007-01-01). "The Long Good-Bye Man". Believer Magazine. Retrieved 2026-03-02.
  6. ↑ "Fielding Dawson Papers". archivessearch.lib.uconn.edu. Retrieved 2026-03-02.
  7. ↑ Dawson, Fielding (1972). The dream/thunder road; stories and dreams, 1955-1965. Internet Archive. Los Angeles, Black Sparrow Press. ISBN 978-0-87685-113-5.
  8. ↑ Dawson, Fielding (1974). The sun rises into the sky, and other stories, 1952-1966. Internet Archive. Los Angeles, Black Sparrow Press. ISBN 978-0-87685-115-9.
  9. ↑ Dawson, Fielding (1982). Krazy Kat & 76 more : collected stories, 1950-1976. Internet Archive. Santa Barbara : Black Sparrow Press. ISBN 978-0-87685-563-8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
  10. ↑ Dawson, Fielding (1985). Virginia Dare : stories, 1976-1981. Internet Archive. Santa Barbara : Black Sparrow Press. ISBN 978-0-87685-617-8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
  11. ↑ Dawson, Fielding (1988). Will she understand? : new short stories. Internet Archive. Santa Rosa : Black Sparrow Press. ISBN 978-0-87685-729-8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
  12. ↑ Dawson, Fielding (2004). The dirty blue car : new stories. Internet Archive. Gambier, Ohio : XOXOX Arts Press. ISBN 978-1-880977-09-5.
  13. ↑ Dawson, Fielding (1977). Two penny lane. Internet Archive. Santa Barbara, CA : Black Sparrow Press. ISBN 978-0-87685-317-7.
  14. ↑ Dawson, Fielding (1981). Three penny lane. Internet Archive. Santa Barbara : Black Sparrow Press. ISBN 978-0-87685-447-1.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
  15. ↑ Dawson, Fielding (1984). Tiger lilies : an American childhood. Internet Archive. Durham, N.C. : Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-0599-6.
  16. ↑ Dawson, Fielding (1967). An emotional memoir of Franz Kline. Internet Archive. New York, Pantheon Books.
  17. ↑ Dawson, Fielding (1970). The Black Mountain Book: A New Edition, Revised. North Carolina Wesleyan College Pearsall Library. Rocky Mount, NC: North Carolina Wesleyan College Press.