For Further Reading
Books
Simon, Marc.
Samuel Greenberg, Hart Crane, and the Lost
Manuscripts. Humanities Press. 1978. (
May still be available.)
Simon uses four chapters to provide a fairly detailed biography
of Greenberg, four to present an analysis of his influence on
Crane, and one to unravel the history of
how Greenberg's manuscripts weathered the years before they
were deposited in the Fales Collection at New York University
in 1964. He includes an appendix that reproduces the typescript
copy that Crane made of forty-one poems from Greenberg's
original manuscripts.
Holden, Harold and Jack McManis, editors.
Poems by Samuel Greenberg: A Selection from the
Manuscripts. Henry Holt. 1947.
Holden and McManis selected and edited 150 poems for this
edition, the most comprehensive collection. It likely
represents the best of Greenberg's work. His prose
autobiography, "
Between Historical Life", a facsimile
of his handwritten poem "
Spirituality", and
a frontpiece self-portrait are also included.
Their introduction contains biographical information and some
details about the history of the manuscripts.
Marc Simon has expanded on the work they did
in both areas.
Allen Tate, in his short preface, is not
entirely appreciative: he judges Greenberg's Sonnets of
Apology to be, on the whole, "turgid and
bathetic."
Laughlin, James, editor.
Poems from the Greenberg Manuscripts. New Directions.
1939.
Laughlin includes about twenty poems, a
facsimile of
Greenberg's handwritten poem "Conduct", a short sketch for a
play, and a
comparison of Crane's "Emblems of
Conduct" to Greenberg's original lines. The book also contains
a striking poem, "
The Pale Impromptu" ,
that isn't in any of the other sources.
Articles and Essays
Murrel, William [William Murrell Fisher].
"Fragments of a Broken Lyre: A Note on a Dead and Unpublished
Poet: With Ten Selected Poems Following." The
Plowshare. Woodstock. January 1920. pages
4-21.
Fisher (as mentioned in this site's
biography page) knew Greenberg personally
and encouraged him to write. He was the first to see
Greenberg's poetry into print, and it was he who introduced
Hart Crane to Greenberg's work.
Along with 10 poems, he offers some anecdotal reminiscences of
Greenberg.
McManis, Jack and Harold Holden.
"Poet From Oblivion." Mademoiselle. November
1946. pages 62-163, 268-270.
The authors describe how they tracked down the manuscripts that
were the source for their
book. They also included a self-portrait
(shown on this site's
home page), and biographical sketches of
Greenberg and
Hart Crane.
Horton, Philip.
"The Greenberg Manuscript and Hart Crane's Poetry."
The Southern Review. Summer 1936.
pages 148-159.
"Identity of S. B. Greenberg." The Southern
Review. Autumn 1936. pages 422-424.
In these articles, which appeared just after Crane's typescript
copy of forty-one Greenberg poems turned up, Horton attempts to
assess Greenberg's influence on Crane. (For a more insightful
assessment, see
Marc Simon's meticulous study.) One article
includes the following disappointing evaluation of Greenberg's
poetry:
"The Greenberg MS is on the whole, and in spite of rifts of
pure illumination, very bad poetry, impossible and tortuous
jungles of language where little or no meaning shines."
Rosemont, Franklin.
"An Introduction to the Poetry of Samuel Greenberg."
Arsenal/Surrealist Subversion 4. Black Swan. 1989. pages
149-154.
Rosemont includes a selection of three short prose pieces, some
excerpts from a long list of poem ideas (words and phrases)
that Greenberg kept in one of his notebooks, and several poems
(including "
The Tusks of Blood"
and a few previously unpublished short poems). The appreciative
and insightful introduction ends with these words:
"All too typically, the few critics who have written on
Greenberg have been eager to absolve him of any suspicion that
he might have been, in any sense, a surrealist. The
fact remains that today it is only the surrealists who are
prepared to salute his vital and admirably subversive
presence.
"For many of us, indeed, Sam Greenberg is, in the 'American
Language,' the most decisive of the forerunners on the
very path that later selected us to advance upon it."
Web Sites
Lucas's site contains a bibliography, links to Web renditions
of Crane's poetry, and a variety of other links. Hishikawa's
page is a part of his
Twentieth-century Poetry in
English site, which has a links page
<http://www.lit.kobe-u.ac.jp/~hishika/otherpoet.htm>
listing more than 140 sites devoted to individual poets.
Page's site contains a biography and bibliography.
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From the Web site Samuel Greenberg: American
Poet at
http://www.logopoeia.com/greenberg/
Copyright © 2000 by Michael Smith
aka Logopoeia.
Address questions and comments to mike@w3.org
The banner quote at the top of the page ("the poet seeks an
earth in himself") is from Greenberg's poem "Fred".
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