Letter from Louise Kertesz to Muriel Rukeyser

Original, very fragile, typewritten letter, dated March 18th, 1975. The letter is from Louise Kertesz to Muriel 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 Louise is engrossed in the 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. For Louise, 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 Louise to ask Rukeyser. Louise is a former college English teacher at home with two small children. Louise holds a PhD, earned in 1970, from Illinois. Contemporary poetry by American Women is Louise’s main interest. Louise would like to devote her scholarly energies to demonstrate 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. Louise will learn a lot, and hopes to teach it well. If Rukeyser’;s says that no one else has undertaken a study of her work, Louise will begin her own. Louise ends the letter by saying that she hopes that Rukeyser will receive questions from Louise as the work progresses.