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Volume 44, Issue 1/2
TO HONOR JULES CHAMETZKY, a founding editor of The Massachusetts Review, on his retirement from his co-editorship in 2001, the editors asked Anne Halley and Mary Heath, with the help of Paul Jenkins and David Lenson, to prepare a special issue.
Because of Jules' ranging interests and his leadership role in serving several organizations, the response from invited contributors caused the single to become a double issue. We open this volume with the first recorded "idea" for a review, a memo from Jules in October, 1958. David Clark, a member of the original MR board, explains the memo's context and import in a note. Then John Hicks, who joined the board in 1960, and remained a co-editor until 1984 (he and Jules were co-editors from 1963 until 1974) offers some reminiscences of the early days at MR. We reprint a poem, "June Rain, 1972" by another member of the first MR board, Robert Tucker, who died while still serving as editor in 1982.
Jules made MR a founding member of the Coordinating Council of Literary Magazines, and Pauline Uchmanowicz discusses the history of CCLM and Jules' role in it in her essay. When Jules retired from MR (the first time) in 1974, he was recruited to serve as a negotiator for the first contract and then as President of the faculty union; union comrade and colleague Bruce Laurie both discusses the beginnings of the Union and interviews Jules about his memories of it. When Jules left the presidency, he became the first Director of the Institute for the Humanities at the University. Esther Terry, who was Associate Director at the Institute, here offers him an appreciation. Werner Sollors first worked with Jules at the Kennedy Institue of the the Free Universitiy in Berlin in 1970-1971. His essay weaves together phrases and ideas from Jules' work in Ethnic and Jewish-American literature, fields of study and concentration that emerged to flourish during his academic career, and to which he has been deeply committed. Hilene Flanzbaum, who co-edited Jewish American Literature: A Norton Anthology with Jules, John Felstiner, and Kathryn Hellerstein, has contributed an essay on editing that anthology.
We set out to make this issue reflect Jules' intellectual and aesthetic and social-moral concerns: civil rights, the visual arts as well as literature and ethnic studies. Colleagues from Germany as well as this country contribute essays that address those interests they share with him. Some of his former students have also contri buted to this issue, and we include fiction and poetry. Lisa Baskin contributes eleven drawings by her late husband, Leonard, both of them long-time friends and past editors of MR. And finally, Jerome Liebling studies an old family photograph taken when Jules was fourteen, and meditates on the life of his friend that began in Brooklyn, New York.
We salute your abounding spirit.
—The Editors
Entries
non-fiction
A Family Photograph, Brooklyn, 1942, with commentary
BY Jerome Liebling
non fiction
Jules Chametsky's Memo (October 23, 1958) From Which Sprang the Massachusetts Review, with a Note by David R. Clark
BY Jules Chametzky
poetry
June Rain '72
BY Robert Tucker
non fiction
Early Days
BY John Hicks
non fiction
For Jules, In Appreciation
BY Esther Terry
non fiction
Jules Chametzky's Union Years
BY Bruce Laurie
interview
Bruce Laurie Talks Union with Jules Chametzky: An Interview
BY Bruce Laurie
non fiction
Broadening the Canon; or Talmudic Faulknerism: Reading Chamtezky, Knowing Jules
BY Werner Sollors
non fiction
Reflections on Editing Jewish American Literature: A Norton Anthology
BY Hilene Flanzbaum
non fiction
A Brief History of CCLM/CLMP
BY Pauline Uchmanowicz
art
Four Faces of SNCC
BY Julius Lester
non fiction
Music of New Orleans
BY Stephen Clingman
non fiction
Oriki: Ancestors and Roots
BY Kwame Ture with Ekwueme Michael Thelwell
non fiction
Salzburg
BY Daniel Aaron
non fiction
From Race and Class to the Feminist Press
BY Florence Howe
non fiction
Four Radio Scripts
BY Ursula Junk
art
Kleist Drawings
BY Leonard Baskin with commentary BY Anne Halley
non fiction
Travelling Memory; The Middle Passage in German Representations
BY Sabine Broeck
non fiction
Postcolonial (?) Linguistic Fieldwork
BY Emmon Bach
non fiction
Contraband Guides: Twain and His Contemporaries on the Black Presence in Venice
BY Paul Kaplan
non fiction
The Intellectual as American: Richard Rorty on "Achieving Our Country"
BY Alan Trachtenberg
non fiction
Carribean Writers and Language: The Autobiographical Poetics of Jamaica Kincaid and Patrick Chamoiseau
BY Rose-Myriam Rejouis
non fiction
The American Academic: Immigrant Bard of Diversity
BY Dale Peterson
non fiction
That Much Credit: Irish-American Identity and Writing
BY Shaun O'Connell
non fiction
"The riffs, runs, breaks, and distortions of the music of a community in transition"—Redefining African Modernism and the Jazz Aesthetic in Langston Hughes' 'Montage of a Dream Deferred' and 'Ask Your Mama'
BY Dr. Gunter Lenz
non fiction
Henry Hurwitz, the 'Menorah Journal,' and the Last Years of an American Romance
BY Lewis Fried
non fiction
Edward Bond's DE-LEAR-IUM
BY Rosette Lamont
non fiction
Salt Women
BY Yehudit Ben-Zvi Heller, Translated by the author, edited by Agha Shahid Ali and Stephen Clingman
poetry
Twenty Questions I Wish I'd Asked My Father
BY John Felstiner
poetry
Ghazal For Open Hands
BY Martín Espada
poetry
Paula Executes the Angels; The Scissor-Tailed Swallow
BY Madeline DeFrees
fiction
Madman
BY Chinua Achebe
poetry
Recognitions & Recollections
BY Joseph Langland
fiction
Jules
BY Andrew Lass
poetry
Aging Amelia
BY Doris Abramson
poetry
Walt Whitman in Chile
BY Paul Jenkins
poetry
The Confusion About What It Means To Be Human; Fourth of July on the Deerfield
BY Carol Potter
poetry
The Way God Must Feel; Atlantis
BY Val Vinokurov
poetry
The Eye
BY Adrienne Rich
poetry
I Never Meant to Harm Him
BY James Tate
poetry
All We Have
BY Ellen Dore Watson
poetry
Ne'ilah
BY Kadya Molodowsky, Translated by Kathryn Hellerstein
poetry
The Distant Town of Luniniec
BY Melvin Wilk
Table of Contents
A Family Photograph, Brooklyn, 1942,
with commentary, Non-Fiction by Jerome Liebling
Jules Chametzky's Memo (October 23, 1958) From
Which Sprang the Massachusetts Review,
with a note by David R. Clark
June Rain '72, Poetry by Robert Tucker
Early Days, Non-Fiction by John Hicks
For Jules, In Appreciation,
Non-Fiction by Esther Terry
Bruce Laurie Talks Union with Jules Chametzky:
An Interview, Non-Fiction by Bruce Laurie
Interview with Jules Chametsky,
Non-Fiction by Bruce Laurie
Broadening the Canon; or Talmudic Faulknerism:
Reading Chametzky, Knowing Jules,
Non-Fiction by Werner Sollors
Reflections on Editing Jewish American Literature,
Non-Fiction by Hilene Flanzbaum
A Brief History of CCLM/CLMP,
Non-Fiction by Pauline Uchmanowicz
Four Faces from SNCC, photographs,
Art by Julius Lester
Music of New Orleans,
Non-Fiction by Stephen Clingman
Oriki: Ancestors and Roots, Non-Fiction by Kwame Ture
From the autobiography 'Ready for Revolution: The Life and
Struggles of Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture)' by Stokely
Carmichael with Ekwueme Michael Thelwell
Salzburg, Non-Fiction by Daniel Aaron
From Race and Class to the Feminist Press,
Non-Fiction by Florence Howe
Four Radio Scripts, Non-Fiction by Ursula Junk
Kleist Drawings, Art by Leonard Baskin, 11 drawings,
with commentary by Anne Halley
Travelling Memory; The Middle Passage in German
Representations, Non-Fiction by Sabine Broeck
Postcolonial (?) Linguistic Fieldwork,
Non-Fiction by Emmon Bach
Contraband Guides: Twain and His Contemporaries on
the Black Presence in Venice, Non-Fiction by Paul Kaplan
The Intellectual as American: Richard Rorty on
"Achieving Our Country", Non-Fiction by
Alan Trachtenberg
Carribean Writers and Language: The Autobiographical
Poetics of Jamaica Kincaid and Patrick Chamoiseau,
Non-Fiction by Rose-Myriam Rejouis
The American Academic: Immigrant Bard of Diversity,
Non-Fiction by Dale Peterson
That Much Credit: Irish-American Identity and Writing,
Non-Fiction by Shaun O'Connell
"The riffs, runs, breaks, and distortions of the music of
a community in transition"-- Redefining African Modernism
and the Jazz Aesthetic in Langston Hughes' 'Montage of a
Dream Deferred' and 'Ask Your Mama',
Non-Fiction by Dr. Gunter Lenz
Henry Hurwitz, the 'Menorah Journal', and the Last Years
of an American Romance, Non-Fiction by Lewis Fried
Edward Bond's DE-LEAR-IUM,
Non-Fiction by Rosette Lamont
Salt Women, Non-Fiction by Yehudit Ben-Zvi Heller,
Translated by the author, edited by Agha Shahid Ali
and Stephen Clingman
20 Questions I wish I'd asked my Father,
Poetry by John Felstiner
Ghazal For Open Hands,
Poetry by Martin Espada
Paula Executes the Angels; The Scissor-Tailed Swallow,
Poetry by Madeline DeFrees
Madman, Fiction by Chinua Achebe
Recognitions & Recollections,
Poetry by Joseph Langland
Julius, Fiction by Andrew Lass
Aging Amelia, Poetry by Doris Abramson
Walt Whitman in Chile, Poetry by Paul Jenkins
The Confusion About What It Means To Be Human;
Fourth of July on the Deerfield,
Poetry by Carol Potter
The Way God Must Feel; Atlantis,
Poetry by Val Vinokurov
The Eye, Poetry by Adrienne Rich
I Never Meant to Harm Him, Poetry by James Tate
All We Have, Poetry by Ellen Dore Watson
Ne'ilah, Poetry by Kadya Molodowsky,
Translated by Kathryn Hellerstein
The Distant Town of Luniniec,
Poetry by Melvin Wilk
Portrait of Jules Chametzky,
Cover Art by Jerome Liebling
