Emerson Society Papers
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Volume 30, number 2 Fall 2019 EmErson sociEty PaPErs Distinguished achievement award Presented to saundra morris Nineteenth-Century Prose t its annual meeting in Boston on May 24, 2019, the Epigraphs” in (2003); A The Oxford Ralph Waldo Emerson Society proudly presented its 2019 “Twentieth-Century American Poetry,” in Handbook of Transcendentalism Distinguished Achievement Award to Saundra Morris. (2010); a contribution The Princeton Encyclopedia A professor of literature at Bucknell University, where on the Transcendentalists to of Poetry and Poetics she has taught since 1995, Saundra is the foremost scholar (2012); “‘Whim upon the Lintel’: of Emerson’s poetry. Her work consistently demonstrates Emerson’s Poetry and a Politically Ethical Aesthetics,” Nineteenth-Century Prose that this seemingly narrow lane of poems is included in a special edition of Collected Works both deep and wide: Emerson wrote with commanding commemorating the completion of the of Ralph Waldo Emerson knowledge of the British and European poetic traditions, (2013); “Poetry and Poetics,” Emerson in Context, and then later translated Persian poetry. In his quest a chapter in edited by the 1999 Dis - for “metre-making arguments,” Emerson innovated tinguished Achievement Award recipient Wes Mott poetic form in ways that resonated with contemporaries (2014); a chapter, “Politically Ethical Aesthetics: Teach - like Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman, as well as ing Emerson's Poetry in the Context of U. S. Diversity,” Approaches to Teaching Ralph with twentieth-century poets including A. R. Ammons, included in the recent Waldo Emerson, Wallace Stevens, Robert Frost, and M. S. Merwin. edited by Mark Long and Sean Meehan Saundra’s contributions to the study of Emerson’s as part of the MLA’s series on pedagogy (2018). poetry began with her 1993 Cornell dissertation, Whim As a poet, Emerson’s reputation has been mixed. Upon the Lintel: Emerson’s Poetry and “The Sphinx.” Even the most generous readers prefer to sift out the She prepared that work under the direction of 2006 Dis - poetic “successes” from his other works. In his 1953 Emerson Handbook, tinguished Achievement Award recipient Joel Porte. Their for example, Frederic Ives Carpen - professional relationship continued: with Porte, she co- ter summarizes the critical response to Emerson’s poetry edited two important volumes, The Cambridge Compan - thus: “In general, critics who value imagination above ion to Ralph Waldo Emerson (1999) and the Norton logic have preferred the poetry, but those who value logi- Critical Edition Emerson’s Prose and Poetry (2001). Both cal thought above symbolic suggestion have judged the of these books have helped make Emerson’s writings and poetry inferior.” Under this model, the work of the critic related scholarship accessible to generations of students in is like that of the proverbial Supreme Court justice who the U.S. and abroad. simply calls balls and strikes. As late as 2015, little has The Major Poetry, In addition to these books, Saundra has authored a changed; in his introduction to Albert string of influential articles on Emerson’s poetry and po - Von Frank reflects on critical neglect of Emerson’s po - etics. Those articles include her indispensable essay, “The etry: “It may be that none of [Emerson’s] many claims on Threshold Poem, Emerson, and ‘The Sphinx’” in Ameri - our attention has been more generally slighted than the can Literature (1997); “Metre-Making Arguments: Emer - commanding position he achieved as a theoretician and son’s Poems” (1999); “Poetic Portals: Emerson's Essay practitioner of poetry.” A major strength of Saundra’s (Continued on page 5) 2019 E mErson sociEty Donors Emerson Society members continue generously to join at various “patron” levels of membership. All donations above the $20 annual regular membership go to support special programs of the Society. Dues categories are Life ($500), Sustaining ($50), Contributing ($35), Regular ($20), and Student ($5). You may pay by PayPal or by check, payable to The Emerson Society (U.S. dollars only) and mailed to Roger Thompson, The Program in Writing and Rhetoric, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794. For further details, see emerson.tamu.edu/membership. Life Members Len Gougeon Robert Nelson Riddick John Lysaker Ralph H. Orth Elizabeth Addison Bob Hamilton George R. Rinhart Sean Ross Meehan Anita Patterson Barry Andrews Don Henley Fan Shengyu Saundra Morris Sandy Petrulionis José C. Ballón Mark Hicks Nancy Craig Simmons Jean McClure Mudge William Rossi Margaret Emerson Bancroft J. Parker Huber Roger Thompson C. Jack Orr Mikayo Sakuma Ronald A. Bosco Michael J. Keating Jeffrey Wieand David M. Robinson Dale R. Schwie Paul S. Christensen Jonathan Emerson Kohler Sustaining Members Margaret Moreland Stathos Joseph St. Germain Phyllis Cole Wesley T. Mott Timothy Barnes A.E.P. (Ed) Wall Yoshio Takanashi Roger L. Cole Joel Myerson F. Jay Deacon Laura Dassow Walls Joseph Urbas Duane H. Cox Nanae Nishio Helen Deese Contributing Members Leslie Wilson Scott C. Crowley Izumi Ogura G.S. Evans Susan Dunston Leslie E. Eckel Samuel K. Parish Claude D. Falls David Greenham Ellen Emerson Wendell Refior Bernabe Genaro Gutierrez Robert D. Habich Mary H. Emerson Paul Rich Robert Hudspeth Jon D. Inners Richard Lee Francis Robert Richardson, Jr. Linck Johnson Daniel Koch Yoshiko Fujita Todd H. Richardson Désirée Kihn Nancy LeMay EmErson sociEty PaPErs EMERSON SOCIETY OFFICERS The newsletter of the Ralph Waldo Emerson Society Daniel S. Malachuk, President (2018–2019) Western Illinois University Published at Purdue University Bonnie Carr O’Neill, President-Elect (2018–2019) www.emersonsociety.org Mississippi State University Editor: Michael Weisenburg Roger Thompson Secretary-Treasurer (2018–2019) Stony Brook University (SUNY) Book Review Editor: Prentiss Clark Design and Production: Peggy Isaacson Todd H. Richardson, Past President (2018–2019) University of Texas of the Permian Basin Emerson Society Papers is published twice a year. Subscriptions, ADVISORY BOARD which include membership in the Society, are $20 a year. You may Margaret (“Bay”) Emerson Bancroft Ralph Waldo Emerson Memorial Association subscribe using PayPal by visiting us at emerson.tamu.edu. Send checks for membership (calendar year) and back issues ($5 each) to David Dowling (2017–2019) University of Iowa Roger Thompson, The Program in Writing and Rhetoric, Stony Paul Grimstad (2019–2021) Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794 . Independent Scholar ESP welcomes notes and short articles (up to eight double-spaced, Sean Ross Meehan (2018–2020) typed pages) on Emerson-related topics. Manuscripts are blind Washington College refereed. On matters of style, consult previous issues. We also solicit Ricardo Miguel-Alfonso (2018–2020) news about Emerson-related community, school, and other projects; University of Castilla-La Mancha information about editions, publications, and research in progress Krissie West (2019–2021) on Emerson and his circle; queries and requests for information in University of Reading aid of research in these fields; and significant news of Emersonian Michael Weisenburg (2017–2019) scholars. Send manuscripts to the editor, Michael Weisenburg, University of South Carolina Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Uni- PROGRAM CHAIRS versity of South Carolina, 1322 Greene St., Columbia, SC 29208, David Greenham (2017 –2019) or [email protected] (email submissions are University of the West of England much preferred). Joseph Urbas (2019–2021) Université Bordeaux–Montaigne Review copies of books on Emerson should be sent to book review WEBMASTER editor Prentiss Clark, Department of English, Dakota Hall, Room 212, Michael Weisenburg (2016 –2019) 414 E. Clark St., Vermillion, SD 57069. University of South Carolina ©2019 The Ralph Waldo Emerson Society, Inc. ISSN 1050-4362 [Term expires at end of year in parentheses.] 2 Emerson Society Papers 2020 Barbara L. Packer Fellowship The Barbara L. Packer Fellowship is named for Barbara Lee Packer (1947 –2010), who taught with great distinction for thirty years in the UCLA English department. Her publications, most notably Emerson’s Fall (1982) and her lengthy essay on the Transcenden - talist movement in the Cambridge History of American Literature (1995), reprinted as The Transcendentalists by the University of ProsPEcts. Georgia Press (2007), continue to be esteemed by students of Emer - son and of the American Renaissance generally. She is remembered as an inspiring teacher, a lively and learned writer, and a helpful friend to all scholars in her field—in short, as a consummate pro - fessional whose undisguised delight in literature was the secret of a Emerson sightings/citings long-sustained success. In naming the Fellowship for her, the Ralph Waldo Emerson Society offers her as a model worthy of the atten - Frequent correspondent Wendell Refior offers these two citings: tion and emulation of scholars newly entering the field. The Barbara L. Packer Fellowship is awarded to individuals engaged in scholarly • From an article published Sept. 11, 2019, by Creators.com, refer - research and writing related to the Transcendentalists in general, and ring to CommonDreams.org: most especially to Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, and Henry David Thoreau. PhD candidates, pre-tenure faculty, and “Why Would We Trust Plutocrats to Protect Us From Plutocracy?” independent scholars are eligible to apply. by Jim Hightower, in which he argues, “They’re still going