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David Chapman gives a great introduction and history of Don Whitman and his life. This is another great male nude photography book helping to keep the history of that era of photography alive today. This would be a great addition to your collection.
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Whitman's voice, in this collection from the Calamus poems, is turned toward a more personal declaration of intimacy between men rather than fist-shaking against war. In a beautifully designed and curated format, David Groff has selected poems that are enhanced by Richard Berman's selection of photographic images to allow the reader to listen more carefully to the thoughts of the master. Here we are not ask to weep as with "The Wound Dresser": here we celebrate the comradery and love between the living. The sensitive photographs are the contributions of John Dugdale, Mark Beard, Robert Flynt, Bill Jacobson, Russell Maynor, Frank Yamrus and Steve Morrison, and while none of these images is "illustrational", each embellishes the poetry in a way one believes Walt Whitman would mightily approve. A beautiful volume this.
The seven male, contemporary photographers represented in the book are all dealing in their images with the themes set forth in Whitman's poetry: loss, love of life and nature and mankind, death, love of man for man, loneliness, companionship, etc.: a man bathing in a tin tub in a John Dugdale cyanotype; two men embracing underwater in a mysterious Robert Flynt image; a man, stripped to the waist, standing alone staring at the camera, in what seems an old, empty house in the hand-colored photograph by Mark Beard; Russell Maynor's color Poloroid of a young, male nude---all of the 76 fascinating photographs in this small, perfectly put together volume deserve to be seen, seen again and shared.
And then, of course, there are always Whitman's magnificent words: "...Doubtless I could not have perceived the universe, or written one of my poems, if I had not freely given myself to comrades, to love." VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
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I had not explored Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" before reading this book, and was looking for a portrait of Whitman and his times, not a compilation of "influences," A to Z. In short, I found it dull. The author's writing style doesn't help either, which is straightforward at best, pedantic at worst ("No other biographer has noted...").
If you love Whitman's poetry, by all means buy and read this book. However, if you are looking for a more straightforward biography or a picture of America in the age of Whitman, you might look elswhere. Please, tell me what you find!
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