"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 words--be 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."

The heart-stopping classic 1970 novel--an unforgettable tale of violent adventure and profound inner discovery. Four middle-class men from suburban Altana decide to embark on a three-day canoe trip down a particularly wild section of a river in Georgia. For them the trip represents a break in the domestic routine, a chance for adventure with few real risks, and the last occasion to see a beautiful valley before the river is dammed up. Their leader, an enthusiastic outdoorsman and champion archer, is obsessed by the desire to pit himself against nature. When two of the group are attacked viciously by sinister mountain men, a mildly adventurous canoe trip explodes into a nightmare of horror and murder. Men stalk and are stalked by other men, the treacherous river becomes a graveyard for those without the strength or the luck to survive, and one man, forced to assume the leadership of the group, must call up his resources to try to achieve deliverance.

_______________ 'A brilliant and breathtaking adventure' - New Yorker 'A novel that will curl your toes ... Dickey's canoe rides to the limits of dramatic tension' - New York Times Book Review 'A tour de force' - New Republic 'A novel of stunning power' - Nation _______________ THE ORIGINAL NOVEL THAT INSPIRED JOHN BOORMAN'S OSCAR-NOMINATED FILM STARRING BURT REYNOLDS AND JOHN VOIGHT 'I don't believe I'd go there if I was you. What's the use of it?' 'Because it's there,' said Lewis. 'It's there, all right. If you git in there and can't get out, you're goin' to wish it wudn't.' A group of middle-aged friends in search of the wilderness experience that has been missing from their big-city lives go canoeing one weekend. They pack all the usual survival gear - plus a banjo and a bow and arrow - and head off. Unskilled and naive, they paddle downstream, enjoying the exercise and the gorgeous scenery. But something is in the air. There are small signs at first: their canoes hit sudden rapids, the river seems polluted with litter and bird feathers, and during the night their tent is punctured by the talons of a hunting owl. Then, the following day, after mooring their canoes by the woods, they are approached by two sinister men. One is carrying a shotgun and the other a knife...

'We need London's mythical wolf almost as much as we need the wildernesses of the world, for without such ghost-animals from the depths of the human subconscious we are alone with ourselves' - from the introduction This volume of the best of Jack London's famed stories of the North includes The Call of the Wild, London's masterpiece about a dog learning to survive in the wilderness, along with 'Bâtard', 'Love of Life', and White Fang, the story of a wild dog's acclimation to the world of men, generally considered the companion piece to The Call of the Wild. In his introduction, James Dickey probes London's strong personal and literary identification with the wolf-dog symbol and totem. Andrew Sinclair, London's official biographer and the volume's editor, provides a brief account of London's life as sailor, desperado, socialist, adventurer and acclaimed author.

"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 words--be 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."

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone

NEED INSPIRATION?

The answer may be found in the labor of love The Amazing Power of The Holy Spirit by E. James Dickey

This power-packed writing promises new insights and inspiration to all who are in need of spiritual sustenance today. It is full of examples, stories, scriptural references, and for the deep thinker, strong theological proclamations.

These pages on The Amazing Power of the Holy Spirit promise new insights and inspiration to all who love the written word, especially in relation to the critical need of spirituality today.

This collection of James Dickey's poems and prose includes choice selections of the author's poetry, fiction, and essays, as well as some early unpublished poetry and excerpts from his unfinished novel Crux. Organized chronologically by genre, this is the definitive collection of works by one of the twentieth century's most important talents.

This volume represents, under one cover, the major work of the man whom critics and readers have designated the authentic poet of his American generation. For this collection, James Dickey has selected from his four published books all those poems that reflect his truest interests and his growth as an artist. He has added more than a score of new poems - in effect, a new book in themselves - that have not previously been published in volume form.
Specifically, Poems 1957-1967 contains 15 of the 24 poems that were included in his first book, Into the Stone (1960); 25 of the 36 that made up Drowning With Others (1962); 22 of the 24 in Helmets (1964); the entire 22 in the National Book Award winner Buckdancer's Choice (1965); and, under the titles Sermon and Falling, the exciting new poems mentioned above. Seldom can the word "great" be used of the work of a contemporary in any art. But surely it applies to the poems of James Dickey.

Widely known as the winner of the 1966 National Book Award and author of the best-selling novel ""Deliverance"", James Dickey devoted himself as much to the critique of the modern literary tradition as to his participation in it. A writer enthralled by teaching, he lectured at several major universities before settling at the University of South Carolina for nearly three decades as poet-in-residence. After his death in 1997, a transcript of his lectures was found among his papers. Collected here and published for the first time, these lectures reveal judgments and appraisals Dickey would use to great effect in his teaching. They also contribute to the unraveling of Dickey's art from the larger-than-life myth that surrounded him. In a comprehensive introduction to Dickey's remarks, Donald J. Greiner evaluates the relevance of the writer's often sharply worded opinions. The volume brings to life class sessions planned and delivered soon after Dickey took up full-time residence at the University of South Carolina, in the triumphal years following his rapid succession of honours. Full of asides, witticisms and afterthoughts, the sessions suggest not the pontification of a scholar at an academic conference but the confident learning of a practicing poet who happens to enjoy being in the classroom. Clearly setting forth his sense of literary criticism, Dickey repeatedly emphasizes the preeminence of the poet over the critic, the original use of language as a primary criterion for effective poetry, and the centrality of personal reaction to poetry as a measure of its value. Dickey's comments are valuable for their insight into both his own thought processes and those of the poets he reviewed, among them William Butler Yeats, Ezra Pound, Dylan Thomas, A.E. Housman, Gerald Manley Hopkins, Robert Frost, Walter de la Mare and Robert Bridges.

James Dickey's creativity as a poet is well known. But there have been few opportunities for his readers to become familiar with the full dimensions of his mind, with the thoughts and perceptions that lie just outside the matter of his poetry.

"Sorties" brings together the contents of a journal kept by Dickey for several years and six discerning essays on poetry and the creative process. The journal follows Dickey's mind as it alights on a wide array of topics, ranging from the work of his colleagues to the plotting of a new novel, from the onset of old age to pride over accomplishments in archery and guitar playing. Dickey can be blunt in his opinions, as when he states that "a second-rate writer like Norman Mailer will sit around wondering what on earth it is that Hemingway had that Mailer might possibly be able to get." But the journal also reveals a great capacity for sympathy, as when Dickey tells of his father's long illness, and a revealing candor--"I am Lewis," he writes of his novel Deliverance, "every word is true."

The journal is at its most revealing, however, when Dickey discusses the craft of poetry. "It is good for a poet to remember," he writes, "that the human mind, though in some ways very complicated, is in some others very simple." This awareness that poetry must understand the simplicities of human existence is a recurring concern for Dickey, and he writes with disdain of the "brilliant things" that too often clog poetry, the stale self-absorption that warps the perceptions of many poets. In the essays that make up the second part of the book, Dickey also focuses on poetry, exploring the relation of the poet to his works, the promise of a younger generation of poets, and the place of Theodore Roethke as the greatest American poet.

Wide-ranging and acute, "Sorties" opens up for the reader the discriminating mind that lies behind some of the most accomplished and memorable poetry written in America in this century.