Greiner Dickey Collection donated to Cooper Library

By Marshall Swanson

Donald J. and Ellen Greiner have donated a major collection of the writings of the late James Dickey to Thomas Cooper Library.

The Greiner Collection, which has an appraised value of $45,000, includes books and other publications by Dickey, many inscribed, together with typescripts, photos, ephemera, and other materials.

Dickey, a prize-winning poet and author of the novel Deliverance, taught creative writing and modern poetry at USC from 1969 till his death in 1997.

"The donation is of special value to the library in complementing the Dickey Collection previously donated by Matthew J. and Arlyn Bruccoli, and James Dickey's personal library, acquired from the Dickey estate," said Patrick Scott, Cooper Library's director of special collections. "Books from these collections will be featured in a major library exhibition planned for January 2007."

Greiner, distinguished professor emeritus of English, taught modern American literature at USC for 37 years and retired recently as Carolina Distinguished Professor of English and associate provost and dean of undergraduate studies. He continues to teach an Honors College seminar each term.

Best-known as a scholar and collector of John Updike and contemporary fiction, Greiner was a long-time Dickey colleague who began his Dickey collection around 1970.

Greiner's many publications include James Dickey: Classes on Modern Poets and the Art of Poetry. The 2004 book published by the USC Press documented 50 "brilliant expositions" given by Dickey on different poets during an early 1970s two-semester seminar.

Among the 900 items in the Greiner Collection is one of only two copies of a pseudo 18th-century poem Dickey wrote for Greiner and fellow English faculty colleague Ben Franklin. The poem celebrated 13 years of lunch meetings the three had at the Faculty House from 1983 until just before Dickey's death to discuss poetry, music, sports, and movies.

Greiner attributed the longevity of the lunches to the realization by Dickey that what was said at the meetings wouldn't appear in print somewhere later.

"He realized that he could open up and talk without fearing that I was secretly taking notes in order to write something about him," Greiner said, adding that his friendship with Dickey was reinforced by the fact that Dickey "was a born storyteller" who was "extraordinarily funny."

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