Review by Booklist Review
Poet and memoirist Doty dons his teacher's hat--surely a soft, slouch number like that of Walt Whitman himself--to present a hybrid of literary study and autobiography. With his strongly proclaimed desire to merge with each reader ("For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you"), Whitman encourages Doty's approach, and Doty responds with gusto. He says Whitman's power in his best work "was fed by five sources, five streams." The first he considers Whitman's perception of the vastness of reality; the second, his sexuality; the third, the vitality and promise of the huge new city in which he lived; the fourth, the ocean of language; the last, death and deep time, particularly the measureless future. While all four sources receive Doty's penetrating and illuminating scrutiny, the second, Whitman's sexuality, which Doty shares, receives the most attention and the most autobiographical witnessing. Drawing on his own physical experience, Doty illustrates precisely what Whitman's pervasive homoerotic imagery means and how it informs his poetic achievement and grand vision of life. The cosmic delight Doty adduces from Whitman's sexuality burns bright throughout the book. Doty has given us a scintillating work of literary exegesis and gay memoir informed, as Whitman would want it, by heart, soul, and body alike.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
Doty (Dog Years) explores his relationship to Walt Whitman's poetry and life in this sometimes startling mixture of memoir and literary criticism, providing an invigorating introduction to the continuing artistic value of Whitman's output. This blend of the personal and critical appreciation, however, is stretched quite thin at times. Too often, Doty allows the focus on his own life and relations to distract from the greatness of his chosen master. One imagines Doty's recounting of sexual experiences felt essential to him, perhaps mirroring Whitman's un-blinkered celebration of life in all its manifest glory. And yet that is precisely where Doty's cleanly crafted lyrical writing stumbles. Too often, the Whitman he celebrates is the egocentric theosophizer of appetites and urges, instead of a literary genius. As with Whitman, readers may be overwhelmed with Doty's overabundance of imagery and intimate detail, but also (as with Whitman) audiences will find individual passages that can inspire, change, and sustain a life. VERDICT Despite its flaws, this important and very personal take on Whitman's lasting influence as "America's Poet" should be a worthwhile addition to libraries with strong poetry or LGBTQ collections.--Herman Sutter, St. Agnes Acad., Houston
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A renowned poet uses Walt Whitman's poetry to mirror his own life and to demonstrate the power of words.Doty, who has won the National Book Award for Poetry (2008) and numerous other prizes, is the author of 10 poetry collections (Deep Lane, 2015, etc.) and three memoirs (Dog Years, 2007, etc.). In this new volume, the author combines biography and poetical analysis of Whitman (whom he's greatly admired for most of his life) with autobiographical material, much of which details his romantic and domestic relationships with men. Throughout, Doty displays a number of his gifts and writing techniques. He chronicles his visits to sites relevant to Whitman's story, including Brooklyn; Manhattan ("New York pulls me up out of myself, just as it must have done for Whitman"); his final home in Camden, New Jersey; and his impressive tomb in Camden, which, Doty writes, Whitman visited while it was under construction. He reveals a profound understanding of Whitman's life and poetry, paying close attention to "Song of Myself," "Calamus," "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry," and others. Doty also alludes periodically to other poets (especially Hart Crane and Emily Dickinson as well as some contemporary colleagues) and discusses Whitman's friendships with Bram Stoker and Oscar Wilde. Through Doty's eyes, we see Whitman not only as the writer who transformed American poetry (Doty credits him for inventing free verse), but as a tireless self-promoter (he reviewed himself from time to time) and as a man of many passions. Fans of Whitman will surely enjoy Doty's extensive passages of exegesis, and many readers will admire the author's occasional descriptions of his own revisions of his ideas about Whitman's diction and poetic design. Throughout, the author exudes an exuberance about life and words that rivals that of his subject. Also informative (and necessary) are Doty's evocations of 19th-century Brooklyn and New York City.A captivating paean to Whitman combined with an unblinking self-examination. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
