This oversized box contains the life mask of James Dickey. It also includes a photograph of Ward Briggs used for display purposes. NOTE: this oversized box is not shelved with the collection. --- In the mid-70s, North Carolina sculptor William Dunlap made this aluminum life mask of James Dickey. Dickey appeared, wearing a replica of the mask on his face, on the February 1976 cover of Esquire magazine. The first chapter of his second novel, Alnilam, was excerpted in the same issue. Dickey claimed that chemicals from the cast used to make the mask had seeped into his eyes and rendered him temporarily blind. His “blindness” was later heavily disputed, but Dickey said the experience inspired Alnilam, which is about a blind man searching for his son.