SOURCE: Calhoun, Richard J., and Robert W. Hill. “The Literary Criticism, Lately Neglected.” In James Dickey, pp. 124-35. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1983.

In the following essay, Calhoun and Hill discuss Dickey's reputation and work as a literary critic.

The “suspect” in Poetry

James Dickey's career as a literary critic began when he was poetry editor and reviewer for the Sewanee Review. There he developed something of a reputation as a “hatchet man” who deftly chopped down the reputations of poets he did not respect. Robert Penn Warren, later a friend and admirer, recalls: “When James Dickey came to my attention as a reviewer, I thought he was one of the roughest around.”¹ This reputation was not quite deserved since Dickey's critical hatchet was reserved only for what he called in the first collection of his reviews the “suspect” in poetry. Dickey's reviews were perceived variously as entertaining, opinionated...