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{"value"=>"1962-2016", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1962/2016"}
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{"value"=>"Parnassus: poetry in review records"}
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{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">Manuscripts and Archives</span>"}
- abstract
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{"value"=>"Parnassus: Poetry in Review, a journal devoted to long reviews of new books of poetry and in depth retrospective essays covering the careers of particular poets, was founded in 1972 by Herbert Leibowitz (Editor) and Stanley Lewis (Publisher). In 1975, Leibowitz purchased the magazine from Lewis and set up the non-profit Poetry in Review Foundation whose only function was to publish Parnassus. Leibowitz assumed the duties of publisher in addition to his duties as editor. The Parnassus: Poetry in Review Records (1971-1996) consist mostly of general and editorial correspondence and revised and corrected typescripts, authors' galleys, and page proofs of pieces which appeared in the magazine. The correspondence also traces editor Herbert Leibowitz's personal and professional relationships with many notable and aspiring writers, poets, critics, artists, and academics. The records include additional editorial files, such as interoffice communications and readers' reports, typescripts of rejected or otherwise unpublished submissions to the magazine, art and photographs, administrative and financial files, sound recordings and electronic media."}
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{"value"=>"English"}
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{"value"=>"Parnassus: poetry in review", "type"=>"corpname"}
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{"value"=>"<p>Parnassus: Poetry in Review was founded in 1972 by Herbert Leibowitz (Editor) and Stanley Lewis (Publisher). They felt that books of poetry were rarely reviewed seriously or given enough notice; they were published and soon forgotten. The founders wanted their magazine to serve the poetry community. In order to do this effectively, they believed that their journal should consist primarily of long reviews of new books of poetry and in depth retrospective essays covering the work of a single poet; contain prose that was lively, witty, controversial, and non-academic, accompanied by original art and photography; and reflect the sensibility, curiosity, and vision of its editor, Herbert Leibowitz, by being eclectic in taste while rigorous in analysis.</p> <p>From the beginning, Leibowitz worked very closely with his writers, providing intense editorial scrutiny and guidance even to the work of unknown writers in whom he perceived some potential. He has edited every issue (except for Volume 13 #1, which was guest-edited by William Harmon, and the Women and Poetry Issue which he co-edited with Diane Ackerman) and has always challenged his writers to break free of the limited and sometimes lifeless language found in Sunday supplements and the jargon of many academic reviews. In \"The Poetry of Reviewing\" Leibowitz writes. \"Our editorial policy has been to seek out reviews which possess the density, clarity, and incandescence of works of art. A review should be a literary tour of ideas and poems, some masterpieces, the majority not, and the critic a guide who should be articulate, quirky, companionable; entertain while instructing….sometimes in the éclat and erudition of their commentary, gifted reviewers eclipse the book of poems they are assessing. But that is a normal hazard of the genre…\"</p> <p>In 1975 Leibowitz purchased the magazine from Lewis and set up the non-profit Poetry in Review Foundation whose only function was to publish Parnassus. Leibowitz assumed the duties of publisher in addition to his duties as editor. From 1975 through 1980, he labored almost completely alone out of his apartment for no salary. He handled mailings, subscriptions, advertising, and distribution. Despite the conditions under which it was produced, the journal thrived editorially during this period. In its first 5 years the journal grew from an average of 150 to over 300 pages an issue, and its reputation began to spread, especially among poets.</p> <p>Parnassus's fifth year also brought its only major change in editorial content: the fifth anniversary issue was the first to contain poetry. Leibowitz, who had previously made it a policy not to publish poems, allowed poets who were submitting reviews to submit poems as well. The journal already had a steady cast of contributors, many of whom were poets. The practice was a success, and most later issues of the magazine contained at least some poetry, either published for the first time, newly translated, or reprinted to accompany an essay. Some special issues, such as the Women and Poetry issue or the Emerging Voices issue, featured poetry.</p> <p>By the early eighties Leibowitz was able to secure some tolerably regular funding from organizations, such as The National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, and the Research Foundation at the City University of New York, and take on some part-time help, usually students hired through internship programs (See Appendix C). By 1986 Parnassus moved out of Leibowitz's apartment and into its own offices in 41 Union Square West. Parnassus had not reached complete financial stability: as in all independent literary endeavors, money remained a perpetual problem; finding it was as much part of publishing the journal as soliciting and editing its contents. Nevertheless, Parnassus has managed to appear regularly (the magazine has appeared twice a year on an irregular schedule (sometimes when there was a special double issue, the magazine appeared only once in a year) and continues to be an important source and outlet for its primary audience: those who write, read, and study poetry.</p> <p>Besides anniversary issues every five years, Leibowitz has published special issues of Parnassus on the themes of Words and Music, Women and Poetry, Multicultural and New Voices, the Long Poem, as well as special supplements on Charles Ives, Charles Olson, and Virgil Thomson. (See Appendix A. Issue Listing)</p> <p>Poets and critics who have contributed regularly to the journal include Adrienne Rich, Joseph Brodsky, Seamus Heaney, Donald Davie, John Ashbery, Charles Rowan Beye, Hayden Carruth, Turner Cassity, Guy Davenport, Helene J. F. de Aguilar, Ross Feld, R. W. Flint, W. M. Spackman, Judith Gleason, Rachel Hadas, Paul West, Colette Inez, Ronald Johnson, William Logan, Alicia Ostriker, Jonathan Williams, Vernon Young, Helen Vendler, Marjorie Perloff, Donald Sutherland, Calvin Bedient, and Richard Howard.</p> <p>Alice Neel, R. B. Kitaj, Philip Pearlstein, Romare Bearden, Nina Yankowitz, John Furnival, Cynthia MacDonald, Susan Elias, Oriole Farb Feshbach, Maurice Grosser, Mari Lyons, Bruno Schulz, Reuben Tam and Red Grooms are among the notable artists whose work has appeared in Parnassus.</p> <p>Herbert Leibowitz (1935- ) Herbert Leibowitz was born in 1935 on Staten Island. He attended Brooklyn College and received his BA in 1956. He earned a Ph.D. from Columbia in 1966. He has taught at Brooklyn College and Columbia and has been a professor of Humanities and English at City University of New York, Staten Island since 1971, and at the CUNY Graduate Center since 1986.</p> <p>His books include: Hart Crane: An introduction to the poetry, 1968; and Fabricating Lives: explorations of American biography, 1989. Before founding Parnusses he served as editor and member of the editorial board at Salmagundi.</p> <p>He married Susan Yankowitz in 1978. They have one son, Gabriel.</p> <p>Sources: Leibowitz, Herbert. \"The poetry of reviewing.\" Parnassus: Poetry in review. Vol. 7, No. 1,p.5-6.</p>"}
- scopecontent
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{"value"=>"<p>The Parnassus: Poetry in Review Records (1962-2016) consist mostly of general and editorial correspondence and revised and corrected typescripts, authors' galleys, and page proofs of pieces which appeared in the magazine. This material documents the editorial procedures of the journal. The correspondence also traces Herbert Leibowitz's personal and professional relationships with many notable and aspiring writers, poets, critics, artists, and academics and, to some extent, his professional life as an editor, publisher, and professor. The records include additional editorial files, including interoffice communications and readers' reports that complement the information provided by the correspondence, typescripts, and galleys; typescripts of rejected or otherwise unpublished submissions to the magazine; art files, which include some original art and photographs; administrative and financial files, which document the efforts of Leibowitz to produce, distribute, promote, fund, and staff the journal, through various corporate, governmental, and cooperative means; and sound recordings, mostly of interviews with poets later published in the magazine.</p> <p> The additions, dated 1962 to 2016, include correspondence, drafts, the Parnassus editorial files for the volumes, administrative files and electronic media.</p> <p>The correspondence significantly expands the names of individuals who were correspondents of Herbert Leibowitz's regarding \"personal and professional relationships with many notable and aspiring writers, poets, critics, artists, and academics and, to some extent, his professional life as an editor, publisher, and professor.\" The files include the names of individuals previously represented in the collection, and predate the founding of Parnassus.</p> <p>Series II, the Editorial Files holds volumes 22 to volume 34 (located with Issues). These files are mostly \"working files\" regarding the pre-production of the issue. Herbert Leibowitz is the main editor who corresponded with poets and writers for the issues. He also wrote detailed criticism to accepted contributors and also to those whom work he rejected. Other individuals working with Leibowitz include co-editor Ben Downing and associate editor William Brewer.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p class='list-head'>The Parnassus: poetry in review records are arranged in five series:</p>\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/2341#c1463429'>Series I: Correspondence</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1962-2016</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series consists of correspondence between the staff of Parnassus and its writers and potential contributors. It is comprised mostly of letters from contributors to Leibowitz. There are also copies of Leibowitz's replies, most prevalent in the 1990s, throughout the correspondence; a file of some of his letters written between 1979 and 1983 (SEE Box 13, f. 11); and some correspondence between staff, including Donna Dorian, Suzanne Fox, Robert Carnavale, and Ben Downing, and contributors. The correspondence mainly addresses editorial matters, and often traces an essay's passage from idea to published work and sometimes includes edited typescripts and reader's reports. Personal letters, Christmas cards, wedding and birth announcements, as well as dedicated poems and drawings document Leibowitz's relationships with several poets and critics.</p> <p>The series is full of resumes, cover letters, dedicated essays and poems, and requests for written recommendations sent to Leibowitz from both unknown and notable critics, poets, and academics. These materials are evidence of the professional status and role of Leibowitz and his journal in the literary and academic communities. Young or unknown writers often wrote Leibowitz, sending him samples of their work, in the hopes that he would recognize their talents as critic or poets. Leibowitz often responded at length to these solicitations, sometimes forming relationships with young writers as he helped them work through their ideas or, later, specific editorial problems; some of these relationships lasted several years, continuing when the young writer had become a respected critic or poet and a regular contributor to the journal.</p> <p>Writers represented by large amounts of correspondence include Cal Bedient, R. W. Flint, Edwin Fussell, Judith Gleason, Rachel Hadas, William Harmon, Colette Inez, William Logan, Rick Lyon, Sherman Paul, Marjorie Perloff, M. L. Rosenthal, and Paul West.</p> <p> Recent additions to Correspondence includes includes Iain Bamforth, Star Black, Alice Fulton, Albert Goldbarth, Joy Ladin, John Matthias, Marjorie Perloff, Jonathan Williams, and Brenda Wineapple.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/2341#c144761'>Series II: Editorial Files</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>ca.1972-1995</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Typescripts, proofs, and galleys for each issue from Volume 1 through 20 make up the majority of the Editorial series. Typescript drafts, sometimes referred to as \"Foul Copy\" throughout the collection, are author's typed manuscripts, often edited, sometimes in several stages of revision, accompanied by readers reports, and, in a few cases, by editorial correspondence. Files for issues with any drafts do not necessarily have drafts of every essay in that issue. Issues for which typescript drafts exists do not necessarily include all these drafts. Setting Copy, the copy sent to the printer, is most often made up of edited manuscript but sometimes includes page proofs or authors galleys. Authors' Galleys are proofs corrected by authors, sometimes accompanied by correspondence or lists of corrections. Corrected Proofs are proofs from the printer onto which edits and author corrections were entered and sent back to the printer; they may include typescripts when new articles were added and/or received later in the production process. General Material includes interoffice communications, readers' reports, assignments, contracts [SEE ALSO: Box 73, f. 10 Contributor Payments / Contracts], correspondence regarding production, drafts of tables of contents and contributors notes, and background material. [SEE ALSO other Editorial subseries.]</p> <p>Other editorial subseries include assignments; interoffice communications, which include miscellaneous readers reports, editorial memos between staff, and some memos concerning administrative business; a manuscript log for December 1989; a style sheet from 1991; and several subject files. Much of this same sort of material pertaining to a particular issue can be found in the other files for that issue. Unpublished Manuscripts are typescripts, sometimes accompanied by readers' reports or Leibowitz's rejection letter, most of which are in the writer's correspondence file.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/2341#c145021'>Series III: Art</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>undated</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The Art series consists of camera-ready ads placed in Parnassus and by Parnassus; Artist Files, which are collections of printed samples of artists' work, and clippings about particular artists; idea files, an assortment of catalogues, postcards, photographs, and clippings saved for future reference; issue files, which include some photographs and tear sheets of art which appeared in the journal; and photos of poets.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/2341#c145053'>Series IV: Administrative Files</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>ca.1975-1994</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Administrative / Financial records consist of correspondence, bills, invoices documenting the journal's selling and exchanging ads; paying and contracting writers and artists; registering each issue under copyright; distributing issues through book clubs, book stores, distributors, and subscriptions; granting permission to reprint articles in other publications; marketing through mailings; coordinating and paying for the production and design of each issue; tracking its inventory of back issues; managing office space; hiring and paying staff; and addressing legal issues.</p> <p>The Financial subseries includes the journal's tax returns, annual reports, bank statements, and spreadsheets recording cash disbursements and receipts. The Funding files include plans and invitations for fundraising events, background material on potential individual and institutional sources of money, proposals for future initiatives to keep the journal afloat, and the journals applications for funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, and the Research Foundation (three bodies from which the journal received funding regularly) along with attendant correspondence. The Literary Organizations, Prizes and Programs subseries document Parnassus's role in cooperative efforts attempting to support literary journals and programs.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/2341#c145123'>Series V: Sound Recordings</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>undated</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series consists interviews with poets mostly conducted for publication in the journal. Interviewees include Rita Dove, Adrienne Rich, Donald Graham, Sonia Sanchez, April Bernard, and Amy Clampitt.</p></div></li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Purchased from George Minkoff, 1995; subsequent accessions received in 1999, 2000, 2001. Additions were purchased from Herbert Liebowitz in 2017.</p>"}
- processinfo
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{"value"=>"<p>Compiled by <span class=\"name\">William Stingone</span>.</p>"}
- userestrict
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{"value"=>"<p>Copyright retained by any document's creator.</p>"}
- revisiondesc
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{"value"=>"Additions to the collection added to the finding aid by William\n Stingone.", "date"=>"2012"}
{"value"=>"124 boxes were processed by Valerie Wingfield.", "date"=>"November 2017"}
- date_start
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1962
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1962
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2016
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1962
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2016
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56.71 linear feet (223 containers)
- prefercite
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{"value"=>"Parnassus: poetry in review records, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library"}