Gunslinger (poem)

Gunslinger is the title of a long poem in six parts by Ed Dorn.

History

Book I was first published in 1968, Book II in 1969, The Cycle ('Book 2 1/2')^[1] in 1971, The Winterbook (Book III) in 1972, Bean News (Gunslinger's 'secret book')^[2] in 1972, and 'Book IIII' as part of the complete Slinger^[3] (minus Bean News) in 1975. Gunslinger^[4] is Dorn's best-known work, and widely considered his most important.

Summary

The gunslinger is a long form political poem about a demigod cowboy, a saloon madam, and a talking horse named Claude Levi-Strauss, who travel the Southwest in search of Howard Hughes.^[5]

The conversation stream of the poem is constantly interrupted.^[6] Dorn mixes the jargon of drug addicts, Westerners, and others to reflect the jumble of American speech. He seems to intentionally frustrate the reader; syntax is ambiguous, punctuation is sparse, and puns, homonyms, and nonsense words become an integral part of conversation.^[7]

References

1. ↑ Edward Dorn, Biographical note, Tens #1, ed. Bill Little (Los Angeles, July 1972), p. 1.
2. ↑ ‘An Interview with Edward Dorn’ by John Wright (1990), Chicago Review, 49.3/4 & 50.1, Edward Dorn: American Heretic, ed. by Eirik Steinhoff (Summer 2004), pp. 167-215.
3. ↑ Edward Dorn, Slinger, (Wingbow Press, Berkeley CA, 1975).
4. ↑ Edward Dorn, Gunslinger, (Duke University Press, Durham NC, 1989).
5. ↑ Google books, referencing Gunslinger
6. ↑ Charles Potss from Cento magazine on Gunslinger
7. ↑ Edward Dorn