This donation from Louise Kertesz comprises materials related to the composition and publication of The Poetic Vision of Muriel Rukeyser. It includes correspondence, research notes, photocopies of reviews and critical studies of Rukeyser’s works, programs, photographs, and recordings of conversations between Rukeyser and Kertesz.

This collection of documents sheds new light on Rukeyser’s life and work. In her correspondence and wide-ranging conversations with Kertesz, Rukeyser offers detailed responses to questions about specific works and references and addresses struggles with depression and professional disappointments. The collection includes letters from influential authors like Kenneth Rexroth and Denise Levertov responding to Kertesz’s inquiries and her book on Rukeyser.

The testimonials from former students detail Rukeyser’s idiosyncratic pedagogy. The collection also chronicles Kertesz’s protracted struggle to find reviewers for her book on Rukeyser, a sign of the continued indifference, even hostility to Rukeyser in the 1980s. Lastly, it documents the difficulty of a scholar, writer, and teacher to secure permanent employment in the academy at a time when women authors were rarely, if ever, included in the literary canon and considered worthy subjects for scholarly study.

The collection includes file level and item level descriptions, an effort supported by the Department of English and Professor Elisabeth Däumer to facilitate greater access to the items in the collection.