Fielding Dawson, American writer and painter (1930-1/5/2002)
Obituary by Wally Dobelis
A prominent book editor stopped me on the street to comment, bitterly, that no one in the big press had seen fit to remark on the passing of Fielding Dawson, a local NYC resident and one of the last survivors of the literary era that is associated with Black Mountain, the Beats, and their contemporaries in other forms of art, Pop, Shaped Canvas, as well as early Rock.

I knew Fielding as one of the stalwarts of Max's Kansas City, the legendary artists' hangout from 1965 to 1974, as a short story writer and baseball fan. He was the pitcher for Max's softball team, and he had a pitch for me too, to support The Shortstop, a literary journal he was trying to resuscitate. Fielding knew small press publishing; he had written and drawn illustrations for such literary journals of the era as Jonathan Williams's Jargon, Sparrow, Kulchur, Caterpillar, El Corno Emplumado, Joglars, Rockbottom, Mulch and The Zealot. The names bring back the flavor of the era. We talked a lot, in the company of the Old Curmudgeon, a prominent lawyer friend. OC fondly remembers traveling with Fielding to the Cedar Bar on University, and to Lion's Head on Christopher Street, two prominent watering places for artists and writers.

In 1930, after the birth of a son in New York, the Dawson family moved to the mother's home town, Kirkwood, Mo, near St. Louis, where dad found a job in journalism, and young Fielding acquired a taste for drawing and writing. In 1949 he joined the legendary Black Mountain College in Lake Eden, NC, to study painting under Franz Kline and writing under Charles Olson.

Black Mountain College was founded in 1933 as a community of students and teachers, to live and work together, by John Andrew Rice of Florida. It gained strength with the arrival of Joseph and Anni Albers, fleeing Germany after the Bauhaus was closed. Poet Charles Olson mentored a group of students later known as the Black Mountain Writers that included Charles Creeley, Robert Duncan, Joel Oppenheimer, Ed Dorn and Fielding Dawson, several of whom came back to teach. Among the 300 people who taught at BMC before the school closed in 1956 were also John Cage, Merce Cunningham and Buckminster Fuller.

The school experience shaped Dawson's life. After being drafted in the Army in 1953, as a conscientious objector, and experiencing military service in Heidelberg, Germany, where he was a cook, he came to New York. Here Franz Kline was setting the world of art on fire. The old (before the fire) Cedar Bar on University Avenue was home to Willem de Kooning, Philip Guston, and, occasionally Jackson Pollock, and Dawson wrote about them all. The recognition gained with his memoir of Kline, published in 1967 (the artist died in 1962), freed him of the drudgery of a service manager's job at Bon Marche on 6th Ave, and he could concentrate on writing and design (he created collages and artwork for a number of magazines), and teaching. And he wrote and continued to publish short stories.

Fielding Dawson taught writing to prisoners at Sing-Sing and Attica, near Buffalo, the site of the bloody 1971 uprising. His first creative writing class in 1984 changed his life and gave him a purpose, a commitment to facilitate self-discovery for convicts. Not an easy thing, violent men came to his classes with an attitude, and he had to learn how to criticize, all over again, in an environment of threat.

Recognizing his commitment, Larry McMurtry, then president of the American PEN, appointed Dawson to chair their languishing Prison Writing effort, with volunteers helping. He also had a radio program on WBAI, 1996-2000, reading prison inmates' writings on the air.

Of Dawson's recent books, "No Man's Land," (Dec. 2000) was a fictionalized account of his teaching, and "Land of Milk and Honey" (Fall 2001) was a collection of short stories. A review in the New York Times, described his style as loose, almost bebop. That was the way his generation wrote. Creeley and other reviewers have described it as fast shifts, doubling back and reversing, a way of telling a story that immediately convinces.

Of the historiographers of Black Mountain College, Fielding Dawson was the only one who actually studied there, and his eponymous 1970 book, revised and reissued in 1990, is in print. .

His 22 books were written over a nearly 50 year period, on a range of subject matter. Most are collections of short stories ( his mother bought him a typewriter at 15, remarking " we could use a new Saroyan.") There are also biographies, criticism, poems and novels. The title of the novel Penny Lane gave birth to Two and Three Penny Lane.

Black Sparrow Press, a recognized publishing house of many important poets of the era, took him on in 1969, with "Krazy Kat," a collection of short stories. This press was organized in 1966 by businessman John Martin to print the poems of Charles Bukowski, and took on a life of its own, as the flagship venue for Diane Wakoski, Clayton Eshleman, also Paul Bowles, Ed Sanders, William Everson and Tom Clarke.

Fielding Dawson had lived in this East Midtown- Gramercy neighborhood for 38 years, in the same house, sharing it for the past 25 with his wife, Susan Maldovan, a free-lance editor, and frequently traveling to prisons and universities to lecture on writing and on the literary period of which he was an integral part.

He was a periodic visitor at the Naropa Institute in Boulder, CO, and lectured at the University of Alabama in Montgomery and Wayne University in Indiana. They were active locally, as members of the Union Square Community Coalition and the Samuel J. Tilden Democratic Club. He died suddenly, on January 5, 20002, after returning home from a stay in the Beth Israel Hospital, where he had been fitted with a pace maker.

The survivors include a sister, Cara Fisher, of Canyon City CO. There will be a memorial service on Sunday, March 3, 3-7 PM, in the Parish Hall of St. Mark's Church In The Bowery.

Distributed with permission from Town & Village weekly newspaper (Hagedorn Communications).

I initially slogged through this book wondering why we had to go from the backwaters of Mexico to corporate Japan to tell this story. It wasn't until the ending that I appreciated what the author was trying to do. But I still don't know why so much of the book was spent on earlier adventures.

Generally, much of this story is unbelieveable. The main chararcter was initially disabled by a balance problem, but seemed to have dropped it altogeather towards the end. The meeting with the father and subsequent rise to corporate knowledge seems hard to believe from a college drop-out. The whole Japanese corporate servitude seems unbelievable and contrived.

The whole first half of the book, which I think was meant to provide character insight, was unnessesary. It could easily have been provided as background. Though there were references to his early experiences later in the story, they are so few that it seems unnessesary to devote most of the book to these events. This first part actually would make a pretty good book in itself, there are some great characters that could have been developed further.

The second part could have been, and maybe should have been, a different book altogether. It started to go into the territory of corporate cyber-punk aka Bruce Sterling or Neal Stephenson without the futuristic gadgets.

That said, the ending was very good and actually had me reading it over to savor the ironies. It nicely tied up the connections to the myth of Theseus and made the introductory quotes suddenly relevent.

I really enjoyed Dawson's "Body of Knowledge" and was hoping for more of her wonderful characterizations, but I found this effort at plot-based storytelling a little flat.

Let me start off by saying my attention span is too short to have read this book completely. The good news is that the book is only about 200 pages, so I probably will read all of it.

There are a lot of great ideas and some great information contained in the book. If you've been wanting to limit results returned from an RPG program without rewriting, or if you've heard of OPNQRYF but have been afraid to try it, this book is for you.

I would have given it 4 stars, but it needs to be sent back to the technical editor. There are extra characters, missing characters, missing attributes like "Ten raised to the first power (101)..." (missing the superscript), just plain typos (unmatched quotes on command line parameters). Most of the errors are in examples that will fail because of them.

Fix the "typos" and this book might even be a 5 (haven't read it all yet...)

-Clearly and succinctly written -Covers the skills and techniques required to view people within the boundaries of an an effective HRD domain -It is aimed at not only managers wishing to understand their role in human resource strategy, but also for employees searching for a unique identity within a fast-paced organisation,which in turn is growing within an ever-changing and dynamic environment. In a clear, succinct way the authors cover the skills and techniques required to design and implement an effective HRD policy. In addition, they tackle the important tasks of team building, recruitment and change management, as well as the role you play in motivating and appraising your staff. Real examples and case studies are used throughout to illustrate points in a practical context.--Neil

A personable memoir of a young Londoner who ran the blockade in order to fight for the Confederacy. Dawson's account of sailing as an utter landlubber (but a fan of Marryat's novels) is among the best parts of the book, amusing and anecdotal. Learning quickly, Dawson joined the CS Navy but quickly transferred to the artillery as an ordnance officer for first Longstreet and then Fitz Lee. His book includes Pickett's Charge, a not very vivid account of Longstreet's Burnside impersonation (versus Burnside!) at Fort Sanders, and the friendly-fire incident at the Wilderness that killed the brilliant young Micah Jenkins and badly wounded Longstreet. Not a deeply informative memoir, but a well-written and appealing one.

As the bowling host at BellaOnline.com, I read everything I can about the game. This book is as basic as they come. It includes a lot of photos that help give understanding, although they are a bit dated.

If you have never bowled before, are using a ball without a special composition, drilled normally, you can learn the basics from this little book. Dawson Taylor bowled 194 average om the 50's when that meant something. With today's lane and ball composition, many of the techniques he employs will suffice, but won't really put you in the game.

I've been teaching introductory cognitive science for about 6 years, to college sophmores. There's a real shortage of good textbooks written for this level. Dawson's book is head and shoulders above the rest. Dawson has a clear, consistent voice, which makes the book easy to use as a text. It is apparent to students that Dawson is writing with a point of view, which encourages them to approach to course with a critical eye. Most of this book's competitors are edited volumes where the chapters vary greatly in both quality and difficulty. I believe this book has improved my cognitive science course. The book has one minor drawback -- it is ugly as sin. A second edition with professional figures would be a blessing.

This book went right back an hour after I started to read it. This is a poor excuse for assistance to any recruiter, much less a technical recruiter. Save your money.

When I ordered both books, I thought they are two different books. Actually, they are alomost same. This book has same charpter titles/wording as the author's "Complete Guide for Technical Recruiting". It just changed some words, such as using "bill rate" instead of "Fee", the rest are almost same. I guess what I want to say is that: there is no need for you to buy this two books together because they are almost same. I think the author should include some information from this book (.. for IT Firm) to the "Complete..." book, makes it a liitel more "complete". ...

the book is awesome and i really wants to aquire it because it will be asset to my collection

I can't believe this book has 5 stars. I myself am a total romantic, but this book didn't do anything for me. It is ridiculously easy to read, has a very simple plot-line, and has no excitement. Every climactic part lasts about a page, and the entire book is predictable. It was also written at such an easy level, I actually felt dumb as I was reading it.

This book was soooooo Boring. I read it for a book report
and would have rather read something else. The story line is hard to follow. Its was way to mushy. Its also very easy to read though, its not a difficult book, a third grader could even understand what's goin on! I would not recomend this book to anyone. -Amberly-

This book is like the fairy tale every woman has been waiting for. It is so sweet and romantic. It has some very funny parts. The movie is very good too. I recommend both!!

the book started off ok. However, it finished quite abruptly just when the hero began to know the heroine. The feeling was that there is much more to the story.

I thought it was a very interesting book. I didn't want to put it down. It was interesting to try and figure out how Nazleen and Zaktar were going to work out their differences. I actually felt sad when Miklav got killed.

The book was quite good and I liked The carakters and the plot was great but when I came to the end of the book I was sure that there was a second and maybe even more because the book didn't quite finish and I didn't get to know the caracters well enough so I wasn't satisfied with it completly. But if Ms.Dawson ever finishes Greenfire I would defenetly like to read more about Nazleen and Zaktar and people of this world.It finishes much to abruptly. If you don't mind that I would recommend it but othervise not.