Russell Edson


Russell Edson was an American poet, novelist, writer, and illustrator. He was the son of the cartoonist-screenwriter Gus Edson and Gladys Cedar Edson.
Born in Manhattan, New York City, Edson studied art early in life and attended the Art Students League as a teenager. He began publishing poetry in the 1950s. His honors as a poet include a Guggenheim fellowship, a Whiting Award, and several fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Edson self-published several chapbooks and later, numerous collections of prose poetry, fables, two novels, Gulping's Recital and The Song of Percival Peacock, and a book of plays under the title, The Falling Sickness. His final book was See Jack.
He lived in Darien, Connecticut with his wife Frances.

Selected bibliography

Prose poems collections

See Jack The Rooster's Wife: Poems The Tormented Mirror The Tunnel: Selected Poems of Russell Edson The Wounded Breakfast With Sincerest Regrets The Reason Why the Closet-Man Is Never Sad Edson's Mentality The Intuitive Journey and Other Works Gulping's Recital The Clam Theater The Childhood Of An Equestrian
  • ''Ceremonies in Bachelor Space''

Chapbooks

  • ''Wuck Wuck Wuck!''

Novels

Gulping's Recital
  • ''The Song of Percival Peacock: A Novel''

Short fiction and fables

Tick Tock: Short Stories What a Man Can See: Fables The Brain Kitchen: Writings and Woodcuts The Very Thing That Happens: Fables and Drawings Appearances: Fables and Drawings
  • ''A Stone Is Nobody's: Fables and Drawings''

Plays

  • ''The Falling Sickness: A Book of Plays''

Music

Ketchup opera in 2 acts. Text By Russell Edson, music by Franklin Stover. Scored for 2 voices & chamber orchestra.The Song of Percival Peacock - an entertainment for reed quintet and narrator set to prose poems of Russell Edson, by Franklin Stover.

Honors and awards