Levertov Denise - A poets revolution : the life of Denise Levertov

S I M P S O N

IMPRINT IN HUMANITIES

The humanities endowment

by Sharon Hanley Simpson and

Barclay Simpson honors

MURIEL CARTER HANLEY

whose intellect and sensitivity

have enriched the many lives

that she has touched.

The publisher gratefully acknowledges the generous support of

the Simpson Humanities Endowment Fund of the University of

California Press Foundation, which was established by a major

gift from Barclay and Sharon Simpson.

A Poets Revolution

A Poets Revolution

The Life of Denise Levertov

Donna Krolik Hollenberg

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS

BerkeleyLos AngelesLondon

University of California Press, one of the most distinguished university presses in the United States, enriches lives around the world by advancing scholarship in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Its activities are supported by the UC Press Foundation and by philanthropic contributions from individuals and institutions. For more information, visit www.ucpress.edu.

University of California Press

Berkeley and Los Angeles, California

University of California Press, Ltd.

London, England

2013 by The Regents of the University of California

Grateful acknowledgment for permission to reproduce material is made to the Denise Levertov Literary Trust and co-trustees Paul A. Lacy and Valerie Trueblood Rapport.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hollenberg, Donna Krolik.

A poets revolution : the life of Denise Levertov / Donna Krolik Hollenberg.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-520-27246-0 (cloth : alk. paper)

eISBN 9780520954786

1. Levertov, Denise, 19231997. 2. Poets, American20th centuryBiography. 3. Jewish ChristiansBiography. 4. Levertov, Denise, 19231997.Political and social views. I. Title.

PS3562.E8876Z674 2013

811.54dc23

[B]2012025828

Manufactured in the United States of America

22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

In keeping with a commitment to support environmentally responsible and sustainable printing practices, UC Press has printed this book on Rolland Enviro100, a 100% post-consumer fiber paper that is FSC certified, deinked, processed chlorine-free, and manufactured with renewable biogas energy. It is acid-free and EcoLogo certified.

To the memory of Howard Fussiner

What is the revolution Im driven

to name, to live in?

Denise Levertov, from Staying Alive

CONTENTS

ILLUSTRATIONS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

A great many people have contributed to this book. I could not have written it without the generosity and trust of members of Denise Levertovs family: Nikolai Goodman and his partner, Emily Cartwright; Nefertiti; Howard Goodman; the late Sandra Gregor; Richard Strudwick; Iris Granville-Levers; and Julia and Francesca Levertoff. They graciously shared their memories and granted unlimited access to family papers.

I am also deeply grateful to Denise Levertovs many friends, who shared memories, letters, interviews, photos, and conversation. In Australia, Ian Reid. In Canada, the late Margaret Avison and David Bromige. In England, David Mitchell, David Hass, Dannie Abse, Sally Potter, the late Stephen Peet, Stanley Robertson, and the late Herbert H. Lockwood. In France, Jean Joubert and Maureen Smith. In Ireland, Catherine Boylan. In Italy, Jehanne Marchesi. In Mexico, Maria del Carman Abascal de Perea and Dr. Alfredo Jimenez Orozco. In the United States, Steven Guttman, Stanley Karnow, Mark Linenthal, Barbara Fussiner, the late Howard Fussiner, Saul Fussiner, Albert Kresch, the late Robert Creeley, Eavan Boland, Seymour Gresser, Galway Kinnell, Adrienne Rich, Eugene Smithberg, the late John Bicknell, the late Ted Enslin, Albert Gelpi, Barbara C. Gelpi, the late Grace Paley, Estelle Leontieff, Kathryn Maldonado, Kathleen Fraser, Paul Lacey, Jerome and Diane Rothenberg, Mark Pawlak, Phyllis Kutt, Richard Edelman, Richard Lourie, Paul Lauter, Henry Braun, Elizabeth Kuhlman, David Shaddock, Toby Furash, Isak Lindenaur, Judy Katz-Levine, Linda Falstein, Jean Stewart, Suzy Groden, Marge Piercy, X. J. Kennedy, Mike True, Sam Hammil, the late Jon Lipsky, Liebe Coolidge, Sam Green, Virginia Barrett, Carlene Carrasco Laughlin, Emily Warn, Jan Wallace, Mark Jenkins, Mary Randlett, Lou Oma Durand, Sister Jane Comerford, Valerie Trueblood, Karen Henry, David Ferry, Beth Frost, the late Michael Mazur, and Colleen McEllroy. Still others offered hospitality and moral support. They include Michele Sullivan, Barbara Celone, Gerry Wilkie, and Dr. Jerome Gans.

I am fortunate to have had excellent research assistance at Stanford University from Christy Smith, Lauren Caldwell, Maia Goodman, Amanda Thaete, Elspeth Olson, and Megan Rowe. This assistance was supported by a series of grants from the University of Connecticut Research Foundation. I am also grateful to my colleagues Lynn Bloom, Ann Charters, and Jonathan Hufstader, for reading parts of the book along the way, and to my children, Ilana Hollenberg and David Hollenberg, who helped with both research and reading. My husband, Leonard M. Rubin, accompanied me to many interviews, read drafts of the manuscript, was my interpreter in Mexico, and provided constant, invaluable perspective and support.

I have benefited from the guidance of curators and librarians in the United States, Canada, England, and Australia. I would like to thank, in particular, Maggie Kimball and Polly Armstrong at Stanford University, as well as all the good-humored staff in Special Collections there. I have also drawn on the manuscript collections of the Henry and Albert W. Berg Collection at the New York Public Library; the Washington University Libraries; the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas; the Thomas Dodd Research Center at the University of Connecticut; the Trustees of Lambeth Palace Library; the archives of the Young Mens and Young Womens Hebrew Association of New York City; the Poetry Collection of the University of Buffalo Libraries; Special Collections at the University of Victoria Library; the Young Research Library at University of California, Los Angeles; the Houghton and Schlesinger Libraries at Harvard University; the Center for Archival Collections at Bowling Green State University; Special Collections at the University of Vermont; Special Collections at the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley; the University of California, San Diego Libraries; Special Collections at the University of Kentucky Libraries; the Beinecke Library at Yale University; Special Collections at the University of Toronto Library; Special Collections at Flinders University Library; and the Swarthmore Peace Collection.

Finally, at the University of California Press, I would like to thank my editor, Rachel Berchten, for her steady encouragement, and Kim Hogeland, who helped me with the manuscripts final preparation. This book also benefited from the careful work of my copyeditor, Emily Park, to whom I am very grateful.

Permission to quote from published works and unpublished material is granted by the Denise Levertov Literary Trust, Paul A. Lacy and Valerie True-blood Rapport, Co-trustees.

PROLOGUE

Take responsibility for your words, Denise Levertov admonished her students in the late 1970s. She sat in her office in the erect posture of a ballet dancer, brown eyes sparkling, curly hair unruly, speaking to her graduate poetry seminar about Hopkins or Williams, or perhaps H. D. She chose her own words very carefully, often pausing between them, sometimes even calling our attention to their sounds: M eea sure, she said, mischievously drawing out the vowel sound in the first syllable, it rhymes with pl eea sure. Once, after class, when I showed her a poem of my own that anticipated future changes in my life, she turned to me and repeated the word revolution, trilling the r and flashing her gap-toothed smile in conspiracy. Its from the Latin, revolvere, she said, offering historical validation.