Clysle Julius (C.J.) Stevens (8 December 1927 – 9 December 2021[ Robin Hunt Caruso, "Thrill of Gold Mining is in the Hunt, says Author" , Sun Journal, June 4, 1990. Retrieved July 9, 2010.]
In 1998, the Portland Press Herald described him as "versatile and charismatic".
Biography
Early life
Stevens was born in Smithfield, Maine, the son of Earl Wade and Leonora May (Witham) Stevens.
He had his first poem published at age 13 in the Waterville
Morning Sentinel, a Maine newspaper.
As a young man he enlisted in the U.S. Army in February 1946 for the duration of the war, plus six months.
Writing career
The United States Library of Congress contains a special collection of Stevens' works.
He published over 30 books, including
poetry,
short stories,
non-fiction, and
biography.
He said he submitted his poems "haphazardly" over the years to publishers, being a contributor to
The Nation,
Prairie Schooner,
Literary Review,
Modern Age,
The Post-Crescent, and other publications.
By 1990, his poems and stories had also been published in 400 magazines, and more than 50
anthologies and texts.
Poetry
Stevens wrote nearly 20 books of poetry. His first book of published poetry, and his only book published under the name "Clysle Stevens", was
Loose Stones: First Poems, published by Hitchcock Press in 1954.
He published his next 13 books of poetry under the
pen name "John Stevens Wade".
These were
-
Climbs of Uncertainty (New Athenaeum Press, 1961),
-
Northeast (Hammond Press, 1963),
-
Two from Where it Snows, with John Judson (Northeast Chapbook Series, 1964),
-
Drowning in The Dark (The Group, 1965),
-
Small World (The Group, 1965),
-
Gallery: Drawings by Tom Ricciardi (Poet & Printer, 1969),
-
The Backhouse (Funch Press, 1971),
-
The Cats in the Colosseum (Crossing Press, 1972, ),
-
Well Water and Daisies (Northeast/Juniper Books, 1974, ),
-
Each to His Own Ground (Juniper Press, 1976, ),
-
Some of My Best Friends Are Trees (Sparrow Press, 1978)
-
Homecoming (Icarus Press, 1979),
-
Up North (Juniper Press, 1980, )
He then began publishing under the name "C.J. Stevens", and produced
-
The Uncertain Cartographer: selected poems of CJ Stevens (Oracle Press, 1981),
-
Borderland Traveller: Poems, (Oracle Press, 1985, ),
-
Beginnings and Other Poems (J. Wade, 1989, ),
-
Circling at the Chain's Length (J. Wade, 1991, ),
-
Hang-Ups: poems (J. Wade, 1993, ),
-
Selected Poems (J. Wade, 1995, ),
-
Shepherd without Sheep (John Wade, 2001, ), and
-
Collected Poems (John Wade, 2002, ).
His poetry also appeared in the works of other people. For example, his poetry appeared, under the name John Stevens Wade, in
-
28 Poems (Sumac Press, 1966),
-
Flowering after Frost: the anthology of contemporary New England poetry (Michael McMahon (editor), Branden Books, 1975, ),
-
Talking animals (Charley Davey (editor), Juniper Press, 1978),
-
So many heads, so many wits (Janet Sobieski, Wolfgang Mieder (editors), Dept. of German and Russian, University of Vermont, 2005, ).
His poetry also appeared under "C. J. Stevens" in
Short stories
Stevens wrote two collections of short stories, both under the name C. J. Stevens. They are
The Folks from Greeley's Mill and other Maine Stories ( J. Wade, 1992, ), and
Confessions: New and Selected Stories (John Wade, 1998, ).
Non-fiction
Stevens and his wife began
prospecting in about 1970, and found gold in more than 30 rivers.
When his book
The Next Bend in the River: Gold Mining in Maine (John Wade, 1989, ) about discovering gold in Maine was published, many readers were amazed to learn that
can be found by
Gold panning certain rivers.
[ "TV Show to Focus on Hedgehog Hill" , Sun Journal, October 27, 1989. Retrieved July 10, 2010.]
He also wrote the related book, Memoirs of a Maine Gold Hunter (John Wade, 2005, ), about panning for gold and searching for treasure.
He wrote additional non-fiction including:
-
Maine Mining Adventures (Wade, 1994, ),
-
The Buried Treasures of Maine (Wade, 1997, ),
-
One Day with a Goat Herd (Wade, 1992, ), about goat herding,
-
The Supernatural Side of Maine (Wade, 2002, ).
In his book about the supernatural in Maine, he d out-of-body experiences, , , , and people from Maine who faced the supernatural.
Biographies
Stevens wrote a series of biographies starting in the late 1980s. Two were biographies connected to a period in D. H. Lawrence's life in Cornwall
In 2000 Stevens published a biography of the American writer Erskine Caldwell,
in 2004 a biography of English
Bryan Pearce.
Translations
Stevens also had a career as a translator, translating a number of books to English from Dutch and Flemish. Under the name John Stevens Wade he translated
Terrena Troubahi, by Paul De Vree (Ganglia Press) in 1960,
Poems from the Lowlands (Small Pond) from the Dutch and Flemish in 1967,
(Schreiber (editor), Hill & Wang Pub, 1968, ),
Waterland: A Gathering from Holland (Holmgangers Press, 1977, translator from the Dutch),
and
From the Flemish of Gaston Burssens (Arts End Books, 1982, )
Subsequently, translating under the name C. J. Stevens, he translated
One Score-And-Two Years of Uncommon Fanfare (John Edward Westburg (editor), Westburg Asso Pub, 1986, ), and collected and translated
Poems from Holland and Belgium (John Wade, 1999, ).
Career outside writing
Over his lifetime, Stevens had many jobs: as a farmer, deliveryman, selectman, and assistant manager at Carvel Hall, an
Annapolis landmark.
[ Yvette Raymond, "Retired Professor Pans for Gold in Maine" , Sun Journal, October 21, 1989] Stevens lived overseas for five years, two of those in the Netherlands, moving approximately every six months to countries including Ireland, England, Portugal, and
Malta.
His interest in images led him to become a poet and a writer. It also led to a second career in painting, and along with his writing, he compiles a photographer's portfolio.
Stevens also lectured and traveled extensively, living in Phillips, Maine, in Weld, Maine, in Temple, Maine, and in South Carolina with his Dutch wife Stella Rachel (née Taschlicky) Stevens, whom he married on June 13, 1954.[ "Author to Talk on Gold Mining" , Sun Journal, May 28, 1990. Retrieved July 10, 2010.][ Lisa Price, "Voices for Blind Focuses on Maine Authors" , Sun Journal, September 7, 1995]
External links
