Dan Chiasson(/ˈtʃeɪsən/;born May 9, 1971[1]) is an American poet, critic, and journalist. TheSewanee Reviewcalled Chiasson "the country's most visible poet-critic." He is the Lorraine Chao Wang Professor of English Literature atWellesley College.
Chiasson is the author of six books:The Afterlife of Objects(University of Chicago Press, 2002),Natural History(Alfred A. Knopf, 2005),One Kind of Everything: Poem and Person in Contemporary America(University of Chicago Press, 2007),Where's the Moon, There's the Moon(Alfred A. Knopf, 2010),Bicentennial(Alfred A. Knopf, 2014) andThe Math Campers(Alfred A. Knopf, 2020).
Chiasson is currently working on a nonfiction book about politics and change in American life,Bernie for Burlington: Sanders in a Changing Vermont,based in part on his own early memories of Mayor Sanders, to be published by Knopf in 2025.
Life
editChiasson was born inBurlington, Vermont.He grew up in the city of Burlington as the only child of his single mother. He attended Catholic schools, Mater Christi School andRice Memorial High School,from which he graduated in 1989.[2]He graduatedsumma cum laudein Classics and English fromAmherst College[3](1993), and fromHarvard University,where he received a Ph.D. in English and was awarded theWhiting Foundation Award in the Humanities.
In addition to teaching at Wellesley, Chiasson has been affiliated withBoston University's Master of Fine Arts program, withNYU's program in Paris, France, and with the Middlebury CollegeBread Loaf Environmental Conferencein Ripton, Vermont. He lives inWellesley, Massachusetts,with his wife and two sons.
Chiasson is a longtime contributor toThe New YorkerandThe New York Review of Books.He was the poetry editor (withMeghan O'Rourke), and later advisory editor, of theParis Review.[4]His poems have been translated into many languages, including German byJan Wagner.HisNatural Historywas published asNaturgeschichteat Luxbooks, a publishing house focused on American poetry in bilingual editions. In the UK, he is published byBloodaxe Books.
He is on the editorial board of the literary magazineThe Common,based at Amherst College.[5]
Honors and awards
edit- 2008 Award in Literature,American Academy of Arts and Letters
- 2008Guggenheim Fellowshipfor poetry[6][7]
- 2004Whiting Award
Bibliography
editSee also links in theExternal links sectionbelow.
Poetry
edit- Collections
- Chiasson, Dan (2002).The afterlife of objects.Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
- — (2007).Natural history: poems.New York: Random House.
- — (2010).Where's the moon, there's the moon: poems.New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
- — (2014).Bicentennial: poems.New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
- — (2020).The math campers: poems.New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
- Anthologies
- Hix, H. L.,ed. (2008).New voices: contemporary poetry from the United States.Irish Pages.
- List of poems
| Title | Year | First published | Reprinted/collected |
|---|---|---|---|
| The anatomy of melancholy | 2001 | Chiasson, Dan (June 18, 2001). "The anatomy of melancholy".The New Yorker:125. | |
| Nocturne | 2001 | Chiasson, Dan (July 23, 2001). "Nocture".The New Yorker:67. | |
| From 'The Names of 1,001 Strangers' | 2017 | Chiasson, Dan (May 1, 2017)."From 'The Names of 1,001 Strangers'".The New Yorker.93(11): 38–39. | |
| Obituary | 2014 | Chiasson, Dan (January 6, 2014)."Obituary".The New Yorker.89(43): 60. | |
| Self | 2000 | Chiasson, Dan (July 24, 2000)."Self".The New Yorker.76(20): 40. | |
| Swifts | 2008 | Chiasson, Dan (July 29, 2008)."Swifts".Poem.Slate. |
Criticism
edit- Chiasson, Dan (1993).The fidgets of remembrance: three reflections on Robert Lowell's late poetry.Amherst College.
- — (2007).One kind of everything: poem and person in contemporary America.University of Chicago Press.
- — (November 3, 2008)."Works on paper: the letters of Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell".The Critics. Books.The New Yorker.98(28): 106–110.[a]
- — (April 19, 2010)."Forms of attention: Don Paterson's 'Rain'".The Critics. Books.The New Yorker.86(9).
- — (November 2012). "The humble vernacular: a word-of-mouth dictionary". Reviews.Harper's Magazine.325(1950): 90–94.
- — (April 15, 2013)."End of the line: new poems from Carl Phillips".The Critics. Books.The New Yorker.89(9): 78–79.
- — (October 28, 2013)."The ghost writer: Lucie Brock-Broido's" Stay, Illusion "".The Critics. Books.The New Yorker.89(34): 78–79.
- — (February 10, 2014)."Bet the farm: Robert Frrost's turbulent apprenticeship".The Critics. Books.The New Yorker.89(48): 72–76.
- — (June 2, 2014)."Mother tongue: poetry and prose by Rachel Zucker".The Critics. Books.The New Yorker.90(15): 77–79.
- — (October 20, 2014)."View from the mountain: new poems by Louise Glück".The Critics. Books.The New Yorker.90(32): 95–97.
- — (April 13, 2015)."Out of this world: James Merrill's supernatural muse".The Critics. Books.The New Yorker.91(8): 70–74.
- — (March 21, 2016)."The tenderness trap: Robyn Schiff and the poetry of ordinary terror".The Critics. Books.The New Yorker.92(6): 89–90.
- — (June 20, 2016)."Boundary conditions: Adrienne Rich's collected poems".The Critics. Books.The New Yorker.92(18): 78–81.
- — (August 8–15, 2016)."Childhood's end: a debut about life, language, and what binds them".The Critics. Books.The New Yorker.92(24): 75–77.[b]
- — (March 20, 2017)."The mania and the muse: did Robert Lowell's illness shape his work?".The Critics. Books.The New Yorker.93(5): 94–97.[c]
- — (December 4, 2017)."One man's trash: how A. R. Ammons turned the everyday into art".The Critics. Books.The New Yorker.93(39): 69–72.[d]
- — (February 11, 2019)."Song of my selves: Shane McRae's poems to America".The Critics. Books.The New Yorker.94(48): 68–69.[e]
- — (June 3, 2019)."Bittersweet: Natalie Scenters-Zapico's poems evoke damage and repair".The Critics. Books.The New Yorker.95(15): 65–67.[f]
- — (January 13, 2020)."Original recipes: appetite and anxiety in Tommy Pico's poems".The Critics. Books.The New Yorker.95(44): 68–69.[g]
- — (September 7, 2020)."Suspended pleasures: a month in the life of Bernadette Mayer".The Critics. Books.The New Yorker.96(26): 76–77.[h]
- — (May 31, 2021)."Far out: what the Bolinas poets built".The Critics. Books.The New Yorker.97(14): 65–66.[i]
———————
- Notes
- ^ReviewsTravisano, Thomas & Saskia Hamilton, eds. (2008).Words in air: the complete correspondence between Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell.New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
- ^Online version is titled "Poetry of a childhood lost". ReviewsPrikryl, Jana.The after party.Tim Duggan Books.
- ^Online version is titled "The illness and insight of Robert Lowell".
- ^Online version is titled "The great American poet of daily chores".
- ^Online version is titled "Shane McRae's poems to America".
- ^Online version is titled "The bittersweet poetry of 'Lima:: Limón'".
- ^Online version is titled "Tommy Pico filibusters mortality with poetry".
- ^Online version is titled "Inside Bernadette Mayer's time capsule".
- ^Online version is titled "What the Bolinas poets built".
References
edit- ^Dan Chiassonat poets.org.
- ^"Rice memorial High School Graduates".Burlington Free Press.Burlington, VT. June 5, 1989. p. 3B – viaNewspapers.com.
- ^"Poet, Critic and Editor Dan Chiasson '93",Amherst College, 2009.
- ^"Msthead", The Paris Review.
- ^"About The Common".
- ^"Dan Chiasson - John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation".Archived fromthe originalon February 11, 2009.RetrievedSeptember 12,2009.
- ^"Wellesley's Dan Chiasson Is Named a 2008 Guggenheim Fellow",Wellesley College, April 9, 2008.
External links
edit- Search for Chiasson's workinThe New Yorker
- Search for Chiasson's workinThe New York Review of Books
- Search for Chiasson's workinThe Paris Review
- Profileat The Whiting Foundation
- Dan Chiasson interviewed by Christopher Lydon,"Whose Words These Are", Radio Open Source, May 27, 2010
- "Amherst Poets Dream Date: Interview with Dan Chiasson"by Josh Jacobs, September 2011