From Publishers Weekly
Bly redefines masculinity in a groundbreaking book that went toCopyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Bly, a major American poet who won a National Book Award in 1968, appears regularly at workshops for men. The book's title refers to a mentor-like figure in a Grimms fairy tale who serves as Wild Man, initiator, and source of divine energy for a young man. This marvelous folktale of resonant, many-layered meanings is an apt choice for demonstrating the need for men to learn from other men how to honor and reimagine the positive image of their masculinity. Bly has always responded to Blakean and Yeatsian intensities, preferring to travel the path lit by mythic road signs. His intent here is to restore a lost heritage of emotional connection and expose the paltriness of a provisional life. For many men capable of responding imaginatively to allegory and myth this will be an instructive and ultimately exculpating book. Others may regard it as an inscrutable attempt, intuitive at best, to find merit in male developmental anxieties. For all collections emphasizing family or gender studies.- William Abrams, Portland State Univ. Lib., Ore.Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.


New York Times
"Important and timely"


Deborah Tannen, Washington Post
"A brilliantly eclectic written meditation...an invisible contribution to the gathering public conversation about what it means to be male-or female."


Book Description
In this deeply learned book, poet and translator Robert Bly offers nothing less than a new vision of what it is to be a man. Bly's vision is based on his ongoing work with men and reflections on his own life. He addresses the devastating effects of remote fathers and mourns the disappearance of male initiation rites in our culture. Finding rich meaning in ancient stories and legends, Bly uses the Grimm fairy tale "Iron John," in which the narrator, or "Wild Man," guides a young man through eight stages of male growth, to remind us of archetypes long forgotten-images of vigorous masculinity, both protective and emotionally centered. Simultaneously poetic and down-to-earth, combining the grandeur of myth with the practical and often painful lessons of our own histories, Iron John is a rare work that will continue to guide and inspire men-and women-for years to come.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"In this timeless and deeply learned classic, poet and translator Robert Bly offers nothing less than a new vision of what it is to be a man." "Bly's vision is based on his ongoing work with men, as well as on reflections on his own life. He addresses the devastating effects of remote fathers and mourns the disappearance of male initiation rites in our culture. Finding rich meaning in ancient stories and legends, Bly uses the Grimm fairy tale "Iron John" - in which a mentor or "Wild Man" guides a young man through eight stages of male growth - to remind us of ways of knowing long forgotten, images of deep and vigorous masculinity centered in feeling and protective of the young." At once down-to-earth and elevated, combining the grandeur of myth with the practical and often painful lessons of our own histories, Iron John is an astonishing work, translated into a dozen languages, that will continue to guide and inspire men - and women - for years to come.

FROM THE CRITICS

AudioFile - Robert Berlinger

Poet/storyteller Robert Bly￯﾿ﾽs Iron John is a complex, yet highly personal exploration of issues and images of masculinity. While it is structures around the examination of a particular myth, Bly￯﾿ﾽs vast range of references and witty anecdotal style weave a complex exploration of the masculine spirit. Richard Ferrone￯﾿ﾽs flat, unmodulated reading of Bly￯﾿ﾽs work captures none of his wry humor or ironic tone. The reader￯﾿ﾽs lack of empathy with the author￯﾿ﾽs spirit is most apparent in the book￯﾿ﾽs anecdotal passages in which Bly￯﾿ﾽs own humor shines. While Ferrone￯﾿ﾽs delivery is dull and enervating, the richness of Bly￯﾿ﾽs observations and the beauty of his metaphors offer considerable consolation. R.W.B. ￯﾿ﾽAudioFile, Portland, Maine

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi