Sometimes the distance between the life and the art is huge. Chet Baker comes to mind. Not only his trumpet but his singing could be so melodic and gentle -- but away from his art, he was a mad man of self-destruction. During the year out of grad school, we lived for a time across the street from a jazz musician, vibe player, formerly with name bands (Shearing and others) but going downhill, a drug addict. I heard him play in Portland: such sweet, gentle, melodic notes he played! And, again, he was otherwise an energetic mess, set on destroying himself. And so, too, with Berryman, the featured writer today at TIL.
Berryman: Dream Songs to Suicide
On this day in 1972 American poet John Berryman committed suicide at the age of fifty-seven. His 77 Dream Songs won the 1964 Pulitzer, and the writing of some 300 more over the subsequent years earned Berryman international fame, but his personal problems kept pace. These seem to stem from the severe trauma of his father's early suicide, but whatever the cause, living became a volatile and destructive mix of compulsions -- work, alcohol, sex, and four packs a day.
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