Letter from Louise Kertesz to Muriel Rukeyser

An original, typewritten letter dated October 24th, 1979. The letter is from Louise Kertesz to Muriel Rukeyser. Louise begins the letter by saying that she had phoned Rukeyser earlier today, but she was told that Rukeyser was out of town. Louise is hoping that Rukeyser is doing well. Louise asks Rukeyser if she has received the page proofs. The proofs were in such poor shape that Louise will be receiving corrected page proofs and Louise is to be the final proofreader, at her request. The press went with electronic composition for her book, which is their first experience with computer set type, and they have had many problems. The galleys were full of errors. Louise had received the reviews that Rukeyser had sent her a few weeks ago, and she wondered how she could answer them, since Louise’s book is an answer to all of these reviews. Louise was particularly shocked at William Prichard’s review in The Hudson Review, and Louise was amazed again at the “...shallowness, the stupidity I encounter from time to time in reading past reviews of your books”. There is a rich vein of that running in “contemporary criticism” Louise then states that in B.R. Cohen’s review in the Buffalo Newspaper she (?) didn't read attentively, and seems to have paraphrased several reviews of Rukeyser's books, reviews they might have read while they were researching these series of articles. One review they may have referenced is Thomas Stumpf’s review of Breaking Open in the Carolina Quarterly. Louise sent copies of these reviews to Michael True who said he would try to place a review in The Chronicle of Higher Education. True will see that the reviews that Rukeyser sent Louise are like several others that are present in Louise’s book. Louise hopes that True will reference these reviews in his review of Louise’s book. Louise is mailing to Rukeyser at her 50thy St. address a copy of Moving to Detroit. There is a shorter version at 90 pages. Louise is now querying publishers, with a sampling of the poems. Louisiana didn't want the manuscript,saying only that it was too long. It took them 5 and a half months for them to say that. Perhaps they didn't want to offend Louise, but Louise is sure that Rukeyser will be more candid. She is looking forward to Rukeyser’s response, when she gets time to read it. Louise ends the letter by saying that she is thinking of Rukeyser, and she hopes that all is well.