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Carl Rakosi Papers http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf0j49n7w4 No online items Carl Rakosi Papers Finding aid prepared by Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego 9500 Gilman Drive La Jolla, California, 92093-0175 858-534-2533 [email protected] Copyright 2015 Carl Rakosi Papers MSS 0355 1 Descriptive Summary Title: Carl Rakosi Papers Identifier/Call Number: MSS 0355 Contributing Institution: Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego 9500 Gilman Drive La Jolla, California, 92093-0175 Languages: English Physical Description: 8.2 Linear feet(18 archives boxes and 1 oversize folder) Date (inclusive): 1903-2004 Abstract: Papers of Carl Rakosi, American poet and social worker, who professionally practiced psychotherapy under the name Callman Rawley. Rakosi was known for his association with the Objectivist movement as well as other Jewish writers. The collection contains correspondence, prose, poems, book reviews, and extensive interviews with Rakosi. Creator: Rakosi, Carl, 1903-2004 Related Materials Additional Carl Rakosi materials are located in the David Ignatow Papers (MSS 2), United Artists Archive (MSS 12), George Oppen Papers (MSS 16), Clayton Eshleman Papers (MSS 21), Sun and Moon Archive (MSS 221), and Charley George Papers (MSS 387). Significant portions of Rakosi's papers are also located at the University of Texas, Austin, the Houghton Library at Harvard University, and the University of Wisconsin, Madison (see correspondence in case file). Scope and Content of Collection Papers of Carl Rakosi, American poet and social worker, who professionally practiced psychotherapy under the name Callman Rawley. Rakosi was known for his association with the Objectivist movement as well as other Jewish writers. The collection contains correspondence, prose, poems, book reviews, and extensive interviews with Rakosi, as well as journal articles, case histories and notes that document his work as a psychotherapist during the decades when he withdrew from the publishing world. Included are typescripts and photocopies of poems for The Collected Poems of Carl Rakosi and page proofs for The Old Poet's Tale (1999). The collection represents the part he played as a young poet in the Objectivist movement, with copies of correspondence with other Objectivist poets such as Louis Zukofsky, and essays written by Rakosi much later on the impact of that literary moment, such as "The Objectivist Connection" which explains the origin of the term "Objectivist." The collection contains worksheets for poems, audio and videocassette recordings of readings and interviews, and drafts of printed interviews. Accession Processed in 1996 Materials primarily documenting Rakosi's writings from 1988-1995, as well as his career as a psychotherapist and social worker. Arranged in four series: 1) BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS, 2) CORRESPONDENCE, 3) WRITINGS BY RAKOSI and 4) WRITINGS BY OTHERS. Accessions Processed in 2003 Includes correspondence (including important early correspondence from the 1930s, as well as more recent letters), worksheets for poems, tapes of readings and interviews with Rakosi, drafts of printed interviews, and materials related to Rakosi's readings and lectures from approximately 1973-1999. Arranged in five series: 5) BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS, 6) CORRESPONDENCE, 7) WRITINGS BY RAKOSI, 8) RECORDINGS and 9) ORIGINALS OF PRESERVATION PHOTOCOPIES. Accession Processed in 2005 Includes more recent correspondence (though it does contain excerpts of important early correspondence from the 1930s with other writers and family members), substantial folders of source material and drafts of poems in progress, materials related to Rakosi's 100th birthday, and memorials. Arranged in three series: 10) BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS, 11) CORRESPONDENCE and 12) WRITINGS BY RAKOSI. Biography Carl Rakosi was born on November 6, 1903, in Berlin, Germany, and came to the United States with his father and stepmother in 1910. He received his B.A. (1924) and M.A. (1926) from the University of Wisconsin, and completed his Masters of Social Work at the University of Pennsylvania in 1940. He married Leah Jaffe in 1939. Carl Rakosi Papers MSS 0355 2 During the thirties, Rakosi was a member of a group of poets called "The Objectivists," which included Louis Zukofsky, Charles Reznikoff, and George Oppen. Between 1939 and 1965, he stopped writing in order to devote himself to social work and psychotherapy. It was not until 1965, at the urging of Andrew Crozier, that Rakosi started to write again. Rakosi practiced social work and psychotherapy as Callman Rawley, his legally adopted professional name. Between 1945 and his retirement in 1968, Rakosi was Executive Director of the Jewish Family and Children's Service in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He also conducted a private practice in psychotherapy between 1955 and 1971. As an important Objectivist poet, Rakosi's style of writing can be summarized by Stanley Cooperman's comment: "What Rakosi has, delightfully, is an ability to translate emotion into objects, tastes, smells: and these, in turn, are completely familiar- except that the familiarity occurs in unexpected juxtapositions of sound and theme...Rakosi's work is at once irreverent and serious; highly intellectual and simplistic." His published works include SELECTED POEMS (1941), AMULET (1967), ERE-VOICE (1971), EX CRANIUM, NIGHT (1975), MY EXPERIENCE IN PARNASSUS (1977), SPIRITUS I (1983), COLLECTED POEMS (1986), THE EARTH SUITE (1997), and THE OLD POET'S TALE (1999). Besides his literary work, including poetry, essays and book reviews, Rakosi also published articles and reviews on social work and psychology. In 2003, Rakosi's 100th birthday celebration was marked by several poets--including Anselm Hollo, Lyn Hejinian, George Evans and others--reading from their own work at Rakosi's request. Until his death on June 24, 2004, Rakosi continued to develop new poems and to correspond with younger writers interested in his and other Objectivists' work. Publication Rights Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection. Preferred Citation Carl Rakosi Papers, MSS 0355. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego. Acquisition Information Acquired 1995-2011. Access Materials contained in Box 5, Folders 9-11 are restricted until the year 2070 according to federal and state laws. Media is restricted. Researchers may request user copies be produced. Subjects and Indexing Terms Auxeméry, Jean-Paul -- Correspondence Biggs, Mary -- Correspondence Codrescu, Andrei, 1946- -- Correspondence Corman, Cid -- Correspondence Dawson, Fielding, 1930-2002 -- Correspondence DuPlessis, Rachel Blau -- Correspondence George, Kathi -- Correspondence Heller, Michael, 1937- -- Correspondence Oppen, George Prynne, J. H., 1936- -- Correspondence Rakosi, Carl, 1903-2004 -- Archives Steiner, Flora -- Correspondence American poetry -- 20th century Accession Processed in 1996 Carl Rakosi Papers MSS 0355 3 Accession Processed in 1996 BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS Scope and Contents of Series Series 1) BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS. Arranged in two subseries: A) Miscellaneous and B) Interviews. A) Miscellaneous: Materials related to Rakosi's education and business, including transcripts, business cards and curriculum vitae. B) Interviews: Drafts and printed copies of interviews and writings about Rakosi, including some which are focused on the larger groups with which Rakosi is often associated, such as the Objectivists and Jewish writers. This subseries is arranged alphabetically by the author's (or interviewer's) last name. Miscellaneous Oversize FB-126-01 Birth certificate 1903 Box 1, Folder 2 Certificates and academic transcripts 1910 - 1953 Box 1, Folder 3 Poetry lecture flyers Box 1, Folder 4 Professional profile of Callman Rawley 1968 - 1990 General note Includes newspaper clippings. Interviews Box 1, Folder 5 Cohn, Jim. "A conversation with Carl Rakosi" General note Published in BOMBAY GIN, Summer 1988. Box 1, Folder 6 Conversation with Carl Rakosi 1994 General note "Some of the questions put to me at Poet's House." Contains only the questions asked. Box 1, Folder 7 Evans, George and August Kleinzahler - "An interview with Carl Rakosi" 1986 General note Correspondence and proofs of interview published in CONJUNCTIONS 11. Box 1, Folder 8 Rosenblum, Martin J. "Carl Rakosi: An Interview" General note Published in MARGINS, no.17, 1975. Published copy, annotated by Rakosi. Box 1, Folder 9 Shaw, Mary Ellen General note "We're not supposed to be guides to the world: A conversation with Carl Rakosi." Published in PREVIEW, June 1975. Photocopy. Box 1, Folder 10 Shoemaker, Steve 1981 General note Correspondence and typescript. Box 1, Folder 11 Sommers, Piotr General note Typescript, annotated by Rakosi. Carl Rakosi Papers MSS 0355 4 Accession Processed in 1996 CORRESPONDENCE CORRESPONDENCE Scope and Contents of Series Series 2) CORRESPONDENCE: Literary and professional correspondence, including carbon copies of Rakosi's replies. Notable correspondents include Jean-Paul Auxemery, who translated many of Rakosi's poems into French, Cid Corman, Andrew Crozier, Kathi George and Michael Heller. Also represented are exchanges with the editors of numerous poetry magazines. Finally, Rakosi's early life is reflected in the letters of his first girlfriend, Mary Biggs, and his mother, Flora Steiner. Arranged alphabetically by correspondent. Box 1, Folder 12 Unidentified correspondents Box 1, Folder 13 A - miscellaneous Box 1, Folder 14 AMERICAN POETRY REVIEW 1992 Box 1, Folder
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