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The Tyrant of the Past and the Slave of the Future
- GenresPoetry
66 pages, Hardcover
First published January 15, 1989
6 people want to read
About the author
Christopher Davis
144 books4 followersThere is more than one author in the database with this name. Not all the books on this profile belong to the author with this biography.
Christopher Davis was born in Philadelphia, PA, in 1928 and raised there. He was educated at public schools; at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Institute; at the Art Students League in New York; at the Barnes Art Foundation in Philadelphia; at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome; and at the University of Pennsylvania (junior year Phi Beta Kappa, BA degree).
His father was the Philadelphia labor lawyer Edward Davis. His mother, Josephine Blitzstein Davis, was a social activist. His uncle was Marc Blitzstein, the American composer. His brother Stephen is a retired banking lawyer who now teaches law. He is the father of four daughters--Kirby Bosley, Katherine Davis, Emily Davis and Sarah Davis. He is married to Sally Warner, the artist and children's book author, with whom he lives in Altadena, California.
Davis has taught creative writing at the University of Pennsylvania; at Bowling Green State University in Ohio; at Drexel University in Philadelphia; at Indiana University of Pennsylvania; at Franklin & Marshall College in Pennsylvania; at Rider College in New Jersey; and, from 1977 to 1995, at Bryn Mawr College. He is Senior Lecturer in the Arts emeritus from Bryn Mawr College.
He has published eleven novels, three books of non-fiction, a book for children, and numerous articles and short stories in magazines such as Esquire, Holiday, Travel & Leisure, and The Pennsylvania Gazette. His short story "A Man of Affairs" was an O'Henry prize story and was the basis for a play produced by the Actors Theater of Louisville. His novels have been published in England, Sweden, Germany, France, Norway, Denmark, Italy and Holland as well as the United States. His novel Lost Summer was adapted for the stage under the title "There was a little Girl" and produced on Broadway with Jane Fonda in the principal role. His adaptation to the stage of his novel A Peep Into the 20th Century was given staged readings at the Long Wharf Theater and at the Annenberg Theater, and was produced first by the Seattle Repertory Company, and later by the Philadelphia Festival of new plays. The text has been published by Plays in Process, Volume Ten Number Eight.
Christopher Davis was born in Philadelphia, PA, in 1928 and raised there. He was educated at public schools; at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Institute; at the Art Students League in New York; at the Barnes Art Foundation in Philadelphia; at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome; and at the University of Pennsylvania (junior year Phi Beta Kappa, BA degree).
His father was the Philadelphia labor lawyer Edward Davis. His mother, Josephine Blitzstein Davis, was a social activist. His uncle was Marc Blitzstein, the American composer. His brother Stephen is a retired banking lawyer who now teaches law. He is the father of four daughters--Kirby Bosley, Katherine Davis, Emily Davis and Sarah Davis. He is married to Sally Warner, the artist and children's book author, with whom he lives in Altadena, California.
Davis has taught creative writing at the University of Pennsylvania; at Bowling Green State University in Ohio; at Drexel University in Philadelphia; at Indiana University of Pennsylvania; at Franklin & Marshall College in Pennsylvania; at Rider College in New Jersey; and, from 1977 to 1995, at Bryn Mawr College. He is Senior Lecturer in the Arts emeritus from Bryn Mawr College.
He has published eleven novels, three books of non-fiction, a book for children, and numerous articles and short stories in magazines such as Esquire, Holiday, Travel & Leisure, and The Pennsylvania Gazette. His short story "A Man of Affairs" was an O'Henry prize story and was the basis for a play produced by the Actors Theater of Louisville. His novels have been published in England, Sweden, Germany, France, Norway, Denmark, Italy and Holland as well as the United States. His novel Lost Summer was adapted for the stage under the title "There was a little Girl" and produced on Broadway with Jane Fonda in the principal role. His adaptation to the stage of his novel A Peep Into the 20th Century was given staged readings at the Long Wharf Theater and at the Annenberg Theater, and was produced first by the Seattle Repertory Company, and later by the Philadelphia Festival of new plays. The text has been published by Plays in Process, Volume Ten Number Eight.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 11, 2012
Amazing how the mention of a brother's death in the beginning can color a whole collection. Even the poems that did not directly allude to this tragedy, had the same, disorienting, frenzied atmosphere. This idea of indirection creating more of an atmosphere than direct confrontation/harping reminds me of film editor Walter Murch's "blue light" theory. According to which, a blue light, the overwhelming "source of all blueness" in a scene, is unscrewed, taken out, so things that are more "authentically blue" appear and have the space to interact with "other colours in more interesting ways." The overall result is paradoxical: "by taking away something I now had even more of it." (For the full explanation of this idea and so many other wonderful others, look/read Michael Ondaatje's "The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Film Editing"). I think Davis' heartbreaking book is a devastating example of the blues in the absence of a blue light.
August 13, 2008
A pretty wild book that I was hoping would be more wild. Emotionally satisfying nonetheless.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews