Jack Hirschman (December 13, 1933 – August 22, 2021)
Early life and education
Hirschman was born on December 13, 1933, in New York City, into a
Russian Jewish family.
He received a Bachelor of Arts from the City College of New York in 1955, a Master of Arts in 1957, and Doctor of Philosophy in 1960 from Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana.
While attending City College, he worked as a copy boy for the
Associated Press.
Career
At 19 years old, Hirschman sent a story to
Ernest Hemingway, who responded: "I can't help you, kid. You write better than I did when I was 19. But the hell of it is, you write like me. That is no sin. But you won't get anywhere with it."
Hirschman left a copy of the letter with the
Associated Press, and when Hemingway killed himself in 1961, the "Letter to a Young Writer" was distributed by the wire service and published all over the world.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Hirschman taught at Dartmouth College and the University of California, Los Angeles. During his tenure at UCLA, one of the students enrolled in his class was Jim Morrison, later to be a cofounder and lead vocalist of the American band The Doors.
For a quarter century, Hirschman roamed San Francisco
Death
Hirschman died from
coronavirus-related causes at his home in San Francisco, on August 22, 2021, at the age of 87.
He was remembered by the
San Francisco Chronicle as, "a scholar and translator in nine languages who threw over a career as a college professor for the life of a proletarian North Beach poet."
Poetry
His first volume of poetry,
A Correspondence of Americans, published in 1960 by Indiana University Press, included an introduction
by
Karl Shapiro: "What a relief to find a poet who is not afraid of the vulgar or the sentimental, who can burst out laughing or cry his head off in poetry – who can make love to language, or kick it in the pants."
Among his many volumes of poetry are
A Correspondence of Americans (Indiana University Press, 1960),
Black Alephs (Trigram Press, 1969),
Lyripol (City Lights, 1976),
The Bottom Line (Curbstone, 1988), and
Endless Threshold (Curbstone, 1992).
He also translated over two dozen books into English from languages including Hebrew, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Persian, Russian, Albanian, and Greek.
In 2006, Hirschman released his most extensive collection of poems yet, The Arcanes.
Also in 2006, Hirschman was appointed Poet Laureate of San Francisco by Mayor Gavin Newsom.[ SFGate.com]
In July 2007, Friends of the San Francisco Public Library, Mayor Gavin Newsom, Hirschman, and the San Francisco Public Library presented their first San Francisco International Poetry Festival.
Hirschman was named Poet-in-Residence with Friends of the San Francisco Public Library in 2009.
From 2007 Festival on, Hirschman, in partnership with Friends of the San Francisco Public Library and the San Francisco Public Library, have presented smaller poetry festivals in a variety of languages, including the Latino Poetry Festival, the Vietnamese Poetry Festival, and the Iranian Arts Poetry Festival.
Hirschman curated the Poets 11 Anthology, which collected poetry from each of the city's 11 districts.
Hirschman was a long time mentor to author and actress Amber Tamblyn.
Political views
Hirschman supported the anti-war movement, the Black Panther Party,
and advocated for the rights of homeless people.
According to a 2006 book review, Hirschman was a Stalinist.[Kaufman, Alan. "Superb landscapes full of horrible glory", San Francisco Chronicle (November 12, 2006): "A die-hard Stalinist Communist, he is also a virtuoso kabbalah scholar who, as a Yiddish-inflected Jew and artist, would probably have been executed – alongside such figures as Isaac Babel and Osip Mandelstam – in the Soviet Union about which he so fervently rhapsodizes."] Hirschman translated the youthful poems of Joseph Stalin into English
Personal life
In 1954, Hirschman married
Ruth Seymour,
whom he'd met and dated when they were students at CCNY.
Following graduation, Ruth became a program director for
KPFK and eventually general manager of Santa Monica
public radio station
KCRW. The couple had two children, David and Celia.
Selected works
Collections
-
A Correspondence of Americans Indiana University Press, 1960
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(With Franz Kline) Kline Sky, The Zora Gallery, 1965
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Yod, Trigram Press, 1966
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Black Alephs: Poems, 1960-1968, Phoenix Bookshop, 1969
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HNYC, R. Tamblyn Skyline Press, 1971
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The Burning of Los Angeles, J'Ose Press, 1971
-
Endless Threshold, Curbstone Press, 1992
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Front Lines, City Lights Publishers, 2002
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Only Dreaming Sky, Manic D Press, 2007
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All That's Left, City Lights Publishers, 2008
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The Ulitsea Arcane, Nicola Viviani Edizioni, 2012
-
Talking Leaves, Sore Dove Press, 2013
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Passion, Provocation and Prophecy, Swimming with Elephants Publications, 2015
-
The Arcanes : 2006-2016 Multimedia Edizioni, 2016
Editor
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Revolutionary Poets Brigade (Volume 1) Caza de Poesía, 2010
-
Poets 11 Anthology 2012 Friends of the San Francisco Public Library, 2016
-
(with Falk, Agneta) Heartfire: 2nd Revolutionary Poets Brigade anthology Kallatumba Press, 2013
-
(with Curl, John) Overthrowing capitalism : a symposium of poets Kallatumba Press, 2014
-
(with Curl, John) Overthrowing capitalism. Volume two, Beyond endless war, racist police, sexist elites Kallatumba Press, 2015
-
(with Curl, John) Overthrowing capitalism. Volume three, Reclaiming community Kallatumba Press, 2016
-
Poets 11 Anthology 2016 Friends of the San Francisco Public Library, 2016
-
(with Curl, John and Falk, Agneta) Overthrowing capitalism. Volume four Kallatumba Press, 2017
-
(with Curl, John) Building Socialism: World Multilingual Poetry from the Revolutionary Poets Brigade Homeward Press, 2020
-
(with Curl, John) Building Socialism, Volume 2 - Fighting Fascism Homeward Press, 2021
Translator
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Artaud, Antonin Antonin Artaud anthology City Lights Publishers, 1965
-
(with Victor Erlich) Mayakovsky, Vladimir Electric Iron Maya Books, 1971
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Dalton, Roque, Poemas Clandestinos Clandestine Poems Solidarity Publications, 1984
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(with Mark Eisner, John Felstiner, Forrest Gander, Robert Hass, Stephen Kessler, Stephen Mitchell, and Alastair Reid) Neruda, Pablo, The Essential Neruda City Lights Publishers, 2004
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Pasolini, Pier Pablo, In Danger : a Pasolini anthology City Lights Publishers, 2010
-
Sénac, Jean, Citizens of Beauty : Poems of Jean Sénac Michigan State University Press, 2016
External links
