Best Selling Books by James Dickey

Criticisms collected from the "Times Book Review" and several American literary quarterlies.

The true key to unlocking the secret of the Bible, according to author E. James Dickey, is found in biography. Some people would approach the Bible from a doctrinal, sacramental, historical, and archaeological point of view. Valid as these ways of understanding this magnificent treasure known as the Bible are, any or all of these measures fall far short of encompassing the whole content of the Bible. The way to embrace the totality of scripture and unlock the mystery therein is through biography, according to the author. No other spiritual or religious documents in the world have this element to it. Instead, dictums, commandments, sayings, maxims and axioms dominate such writings. Valid as they are, the truly human element is missing. Moreover, the relationship with the one, true God and with one another is dictated by those wordsbe they inspired, revealed, or fashioned. So, any relationship tends to become subservient to the statements themselves. Thus, freedom is thwarted and throttled at its very roots. It is true that biography often is somewhat sketchy throughout the scriptures, but enough elements are there to portray a real picture of the people involved. To look at the Bible from the primary relationship with the one, true God of the whole universe and with live human beings is the key to the scriptures. When sincere, it will produce fruits beyond compare.

Originally delivered as the University of Idaho Pound Lecture in the Humanities, 1979.

For the person who questions life in the world of the twenty-first century and who struggles within themselves, this book named Excelsior sheds new light. More than an extended autobiography, this writing by E. James Dickey provides insight into everyday issues that can be found within the spiritual roots of our lives. In essence, Excelsior transforms life from the negative to the positive in a way that is helpful, meaningful, and joyous!

Pour tromper l''ennui de leur vie citadine, quatre trentenaires décident de s''offrir une virée en canoë sur une rivière vouée à disparaître sous un lac artificiel. Peu expérimentés mais enthousiasmés par le charismatique Lewis, ils se laissent emporter au cœur des paysages somptueux de Géorgie. Mais la nature sauvage est un cadre où la bestialité des hommes se réveille. Une mauvaise rencontre et l''expédition se transforme en cauchemar : le monde qu''ils ont pénétré n''est régi par aucune loi. Dès lors, une seule règle subsiste : survivre. Best-seller international, prix Médicis étranger immortalisé au cinéma, Délivrance est de ces découvertes littéraires brutales et inoubliables dont nul ne sort indemne.

Poems deal with love, death, nature, travel, childhood, the nature of poetry, alienation, sickness, and hope

Watercolors by Hubert Shuptrine and text by James Dickey present the South as Jericho, "the first city of the Promised Land: the city that fell to Joshua."

Sergeant Muldrow is an American airman who is shot down over Tokyo during World War II. Using skills gained in his youth in his native Alaska, he proceeds to make his escape. A brutal and often poetic tale of survival in the course of which the airman kills a man for his clothes, eats a swan for meat and undergoes torture at the hands of the police.