Letter from Kertesz to Rukeyser, March 18 1975

Title

eng Letter from Kertesz to Rukeyser, March 18 1975

Description

eng Original, fragile, typewritten letter, dated March 18th, 1975. The letter is from Louise Kertesz to Muriel Rukeyser. This is the first letter Louise wrote to Rukeyser. While Louise was preparing a talk on contemporary women poets several months ago, she was surprised to find that no substantial study had been done on Muriel Rukeyser’s work. Since then, Louise had been reading her poems, from Theory of Flight on, and is currently engrossed in her biography of Gibbs. Louise has compiled a long bibliography of the reviews of Rukeyser's work and of the studies of Rukeyser’s work in journals and in books such as Gregory and Zaturenska’s A History of American Poetry, Rosenthal’s The New Poets, Beach’s Obsessive Images. Reading through this material, which was helpful at times but far from satisfying, compelled her to write a book-length study of Muriel Rukeyser’s work. Louise asks Muriel if she knows whether or not anyone has been working on a study already, Rukeyser’s account of Josiah Gibbs Sr. 's experience with Gesenius prompted her to ask Rukeyser. Louise describes herself as a former college English teacher with a PhD from Illinois, presently at home with two small children. Contemporary poetry by American Women is Louise’s main interest. Louise would like to devote her scholarly energies to demonstrating the vitality of Rukeyser’s work and give it its proper place in literary history. The task that Louise is setting for herself is a great one, which is to understand the development of Rukeyser’s work in its historical, political, and philosophical contexts and in a context in which the work of women poets is not slighted. Lousie will learn a lot, and hopes to teach it well. If Rukeyser says that no one else has undertaken a study of her work, Louise will begin her own. She ends the letter by saying that she hopes that Rukeyser is willing to respond to questions from Louise as the work progresses.

Identifier

eng 018_LK_01_12_001.jpg

Creator

eng Louise Kertesz

Date Created

eng March 18th, 1975

Medium

eng Paper

Subject

eng Louise Kertesz, Muriel Rukeyser, Female Poets, Correspondence, Photography

Is Part Of

eng 018.LK, Louise Kertesz papers

Contributor

eng Andrew Schick