Saipan The War Diary Of John Ciardi

The University Of Arkansas Press, 1988. Hardcover. Fine. As new . First Printing . John Ciardi was one of the great American literary figures of the Twenthieth Century and his thought was deeply rooted in his experiences in World War II . After his death in 1986 , this unpublished manuscript , in his handwriting , was found among his papers . It is a diary that he kept during his time in the Pacific from November , 1944 to Mid-March , 1945 . This wonderful publication , arranged by his fellow poet Miller Williams of The University of Arkansas Press , publishes the manuscript without alteration . All spelling and punctuation has been left as found . All parenthetical and bracketed text is Ciardi's . Williams explains " it has seemed inappropriate to attempt to edit away evidence of the pressures under which most of this was written " . The Diary entries were interspersed with poetry . Many of Ciardi's comrades were killed in the War . Ciardi later said " it was luck - and poetry - that saved me " . These poems , many of them not published before , are included in this book and they are tender , sensitive , powerful verses . This is a war story of a very special man . As Edward M. Cifelli puts it in his Introduction , " It is a warm and personal story ' but " It presents images of men at war and is characterized by numerous physical descriptions ( of men , places , and battles ) as well as equally frequent psychological penetrations . This Diary and the poems are in the gendre of Robert Graves'seminal writting about World War I , published as GOODBYE TO ALL THAT and William Manchester's memoir of World War II , GOODBYE DARKNESS . Cifelli's Introduction is a very valuable essay . The Foreword is a sensitive , personal statement written by Robert M. Cordray , pilot of the B-29 on which Ciardi flew . This is a remarkable book . Dust jacket is protected with a mylar cover .