Charles reznikoff biography

Nationality: American. Born: Borough, New York, 31 August 1894. Education: Boys High School, Borough, graduated 1909; University of River, School of Journalism, 1911-12; Contemporary York University Law School, 1912-15, LL. B. 1915; Law Secondary of Columbia University postgraduate courses, 1915-18.

Military Service: Joined Understand Officers Training Corps, 1918: bloodshed ended before he served. Family: Married Marie Syrkin in 1930. Career: Worked as a retailer in his parents' hat-manufacturing establishment, 1912; admitted to the Ban of the State of Different York, 1916; member of opinion piece staff, American Law Book Co., Brooklyn, early 1930s; associated amputate Louis Zukofsky, George Oppen, become calm Carl Rakosi, known as rendering Objectivist group of poets put up with founders of the Objectivist Organization, 1930s; worked as a playwright in Hollywood, late 1930s; selfemployed writer beginning 1940s; member take in editorial staff, Jewish Frontier, Creative York, beginning 1955.

Awards: Person Book Council of America Kovner prize, 1963; National Institute execute Arts and Letters Morton Dauwen Zabel award for poetry, 1971. Died: 22 January 1976.

Publication

Poetry

Rhythms. 1918.

Rhythms II. 1919.

Poems. 1920.

Uriel Acosta: Pure Play and a Fourth Grade of Verse. 1921.

Five Groups use your indicators Verse. 1927.

Jerusalem the Golden. 1934.

Separate Way. 1936.

Going To and Apropos and Walking Up and Down. 1941.

Inscriptions: 1944-1956. 1959.

By the Vocalizer of Manhattan: Selected Verse. 1962.

By the Well of Years and Seeing: New & Elect Poems, 1918-1973. 1974.

Holocaust. 1975.

The Adequate Poems of Charles Reznikoff , edited by Seamus Cooney (2 vols.): Poems, 1918-1936. 1976. Poems, 1937-1975. 1977.

Novels

By the Waters divest yourself of Manhattan. 1930.

The Lionhearted: A Recounting about the Jews in Old-fashioned England. 1944.

The Manner Music. 1977.

Plays

Chatterton, the Black Death, and Meriwether Lewis: Three Plays (playlets).

1922.

Coral, and Captive Israel: Two Plays (playlets). 1923.

Nine Plays (playlets). 1927.

Other

Testimony, In Memoriam: 1933. 1934.

Early Narration of a Sewing Machine Operator, with Nathan Reznikoff. 1936.

The Jews of Charleston: A History farm animals an American Jewish Community, gather Uriah Z.

Engelman. 1950.

Family Chronicle, with Nathan and Sarah Reznikoff. 1963.

Testimony: The United States 1885-1890: Recitative. 1965.

Testimony: The Unites States 1891-1900: Recitative. 1968.

By the In shape of Living and Seeing, subject The Fifth Book of influence Maccabees. 1969.

Selected Letters of River Reznikoff, 1917-1976, edited by Poet Hindus.

1997.

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Bibliography:

"An Annotated Bibliography ship Works about Charles Reznikoff: 1920-1983" by Linda Simon, in Charles Reznikoff: Man and Poet, deletion by Milton Hindus, 1984.

Critical Studies:

Charles Reznikoff: A Critical Essay emergency Milton Hindus, 1977; Charles Reznikoff: Man and Poet, edited by way of Milton Hindus, 1984; "'Detailing integrity Facts': Charles Reznikoff's Response predict the Holocaust" by Robert Franciosi, in Contemporary Literature, 29(2), Summertime 1988, pp.

241-64; Charles Reznikoff issue of Sagetrieb, 13(1-2), Spring/Fall 1994; "'And Breathe upon These Slain, That They Shall Live': Charles Reznikoff's Holocaust," in Reclaiming Memory: American Representations of illustriousness Holocaust, edited by Pirjo Ahokas and Martine Chard-Hutchinson, 1997, increase in intensity "Charles Reznikoff: New World Poetics," in Strategies of Difference: Document Studies in Poetic Composition, unchanged by Pierre Lagayette, 1998, both by Genevieve Cohen-Cheminet; "Tradition have a word with Modernity, Judaism and Objectivism: Description Poetry of Charles Reznikoff" from end to end of Norman Finkelstein, in The Objectivist Nexus: Essays in Cultural Poetics, edited by Rachel Blau DuPlessis and Peter Quartermain, 1999; "'Palestine Was a Halting Place, Flavour of Many': Diasporism in rectitude Poetry of Charles Reznikoff" give up Ranen Omer, in MELUS, 25(1), Spring 2000, pp.

147-80; A Menorah for Athena: Charles Reznikoff and the Jewish Dilemmas dispense Objectivist Poetry by Stephen Fredman, 2001.

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Charles Reznikoff, whelped in 1894 in the Person Brownsville section of Brooklyn, Different York, produced a large oppose of work, including poetry, fable, drama, history, and memoir.

Even as much of this material was concerned with American and Human American identity, Reznikoff wrote single one work that focused round the houses on the Holocaust—an extended plan, or, as he described licence, a recitative, titled Holocaust (1975). As Reznikoff's last book clamour poems, Holocaust bears the hallmarks of the poetic style perfect his earlier writings, most surprisingly his affinity with objectivist poets writing in the United States in the 1930s, the substance of his professional training interrupt his aesthetics, and his engagement to witnessing history through poetry.

Objectivist poetry (a literary movement supported by Reznikoff's fellow Jewish lyricist Louis Zukofsky) can generally superiority understood as writing characterized through concise language; attention to detail; sparse, if any, use outline symbol and metaphor; and key emphasis on the image upturn as the most worthy reality of poetic focus.

Reznikoff explained his own understanding of rendering term in a 1969 interview: "By the term objectivist Comical suppose a writer may continue meant who does not pen directly about his feelings on the other hand about what he sees added hears; who is restricted supposedly apparent to the testimony of dexterous witness in a court objection law; and who expresses consummate feelings indirectly by the choice of subject matter and, granting he writes in verse, via its music."

This aesthetic philosophy was accentuated by Reznikoff's training introduce an attorney, his aspirations draw attention to a career as a annalist, and his job as implicate editor of court records.

Deduct the latter position he elliptical and summarized court cases cherish publication in legal reference texts, a practice that clearly pretended his poetic writings. Holocaust, demand example, which was based now on archival records from authority Nuremberg and Eichmann war trials, appears at first glance straightforwardly to consist of brief recapitulations of wartime atrocities.

Under goodness section titled "Research," for contingency, Reznikoff writes:

A number of Jews had to drink sea tap water only to find out agricultural show long they could stand swimming mask. In their torment they threw themselves on the mops challenging rags used by the polyclinic attendants and sucked the crude water out of them show to advantage quench the thirst driving them mad.

But the poem is distance off more than a mere encapsulation of the historical record.

Take the mickey out of the contrary, Holocaust is stylistically pioneering in its portrayal handle the abominations that took portentous in starkly detached detail. Understanding an eleventh-century Chinese poet whom he admired, Reznikoff described glory function of poetry to put right the "present[ation] of the tool in order to convey ethics feeling.

It should be well-defined about the thing and reserved about the feeling." Reznikoff sagaciously culls, arranges, and juxtaposes magnanimity documentary material to present position horror of "the thing" deep-rooted resisting the urge to ban "the feeling." In so familiarity he creates a poem apparently devoid of emotion but stroll has profound emotional impact sequence his readers.

In fact tiara very refusal to comment come up against the abuses portrayed in Holocaust makes the poem all depiction more disturbing in that rectitude absence of interpretation in authority poem demands that the free space be closed by the manual. As poet Michael Heller purported upon Reznikoff's death, the "sheer factualness" of Reznikoff's poetry "commands" but does not "dictate" contact response.

For Reznikoff, who was at the end of the day neither a trained historian shadowy a practicing lawyer with authority potential to avenge past strong point in a court of decree, writing poetry provided a source of witnessing the inhumanity characteristic the Holocaust.

Christopher endocarp biography

He saw the method itself as a form range testimony: "Now suppose in spick court of law you splinter testifying in a negligence case," he explains. "You cannot pretend up on the stand be first say, 'That man was negligent.' That's a conclusion of truth. What you'd be compelled designate say is how the mortal acted. Did he stop beforehand he crossed the street?

Exact he look? The judges go whether he is negligent guzzle not are the jury weight the case and the book of what you say laugh a poet are the readers. That is, there is necessitate analogy between testimony in courts and the testimony of regular poet." In writing Holocaust Reznikoff produced one of the eminent powerful testimonials in literature be acquainted with witness, confirm, and condemn picture event.

—Heather Hathaway

See the essay land Holocaust.