Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2025
Abstract
Original typewritten three-page letter, undated, of Muriel Rukeyser to Louise Kertesz, answering sixteen questions. Rukeyser's answers are wide-ranging. She mentions a poem "On Face," which may have been inspired by a Paul Eluard poem: "On Face was turned in part into Breaking Open. The rest of it is not yet written or not yet published." In answer to a question about her involvement in the publication of Erika Mann's book School for Barbarians: Education Under The Nazis, she clarifies that "I rewrote the rough English version ... The published version was mine. It was a job for which I got 200 dollars." She also addresses the Partisan Review debacle and suggests that Kertesz ask the editors directly "why it [her poem "Wake Island"] was singled out for abusive criticism." In another answer, she mentions a "wonderful teacher of science who was also the teacher of Frank Oppenheimer, with whom I am working at the Exploratorium ...The Exploratorium is a museum of perception. I have looked on the political questions and the scientific questions you ask, as matters of perception, the way one reaches the world, and the way one reaches onself." Rukeyser ends her letter by responding to question 16 with the following words: "I'll be willing to discuss with you almost anything you ask."
EMU Archives Collection Identifier
018.LK, Louise Kertesz papers
Recommended Citation
Rukeyser, Muriel, "Letter from Rukeyser to Kertesz with responses to Kertesz's questions" (2025). Archival Materials. 67.
https://commons.emich.edu/rukeyser_archives/67