The Business Of The Dancer. This item is unavailable.The Business Of The Dancer

The Business Of The Dancer is a posthumous collection of seventy-five poems by Edward Case (1923-1985). Shortly before his unexpected death at age sixty-two, Case selected these poems from more than one hundred fifty he had written, intending to publish them as a book under the title of the collection's opening poem. The volume is presented here for the first time.

Case's poems originally appeared in journals including The New Criterion, The American Scholar, Modern Age, The Freeman, and Saturday Review between the 1950s and 1980s. His poetry reflects a mid-century American voice, marked by precise language, intellectual clarity, and a philosophical tone engaging themes of life, mortality, politics, civics, love, and nature.

The poems are formal, employing meter and often using rhyme, yet are direct and accessible. Their economy is notable, with no excess and no wasted syllables. They exhibit a nuanced complexity, with words often bearing multiple meanings.

Educated in the 1940s at New York University and Columbia University, in the 1950s Case was a book review columnist for The Wall Street Journal and National Review and founded a syndicated literary journal titled Classic Features. Beyond letters, from 1960 until his death, he was a businessman, serving as President and CEO of a manufacturing company founded by his father. Additionally, he engaged in local politics and was elected to the Board of Education in Weston, Connecticut, serving as its chairman in the 1960s and 1970s.

The Business Of The Dancer brings to print the complete volume Edward Case intended to publish, offering contemporary readers a formally structured and disciplined body of work from an American poet of the postwar period. Serious but not without wit, the poems are the work of a well-read, broad intellect.

Edward Case (1923-1985) was an American poet whose work appeared in leading journals including The New Criterion, The American Scholar, Modern Age, The Freeman, and Saturday Review between the 1950s and 1980s. In addition to his poetry, Case was a book review columnist for The Wall Street Journal and National Review in the 1950s. He also founded and edited Classic Features, a syndicated literary journal in the 1950s that published book reviews and commentary in newspapers across the United States. Beyond letters, from 1960 until his death, Case served as President and CEO of a manufacturing company founded by his father. He was also active in public service in Weston, Connecticut, where he was elected to the Board of Education and served as its chairman in the 1960s and 1970s. Case wrote poetry throughout his adult life and was preparing a manuscript for publication at the time of his unexpected, untimely death. The Business Of The Dancer presents that manuscript as he assembled it.

James Case is the founder of Kaseowitz Publishing and Kaseowitz Art Gallery. He earned a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Carnegie Mellon University and practiced architecture for over four decades, serving as a Principal and Healthcare Market Leader at CannonDesign in New York City before retiring in 2025. In addition to his architectural career, Case has been engaged in fine art painting and in publishing. He prepared the manuscript of The Business Of The Dancer for publication from the author's original typescripts and wrote the introduction and notes accompanying the text. He also designed the book. He lives in New Jersey.