Jack Gilbert
Encyclopedia
Life and career
Born and raised in the PittsburghPittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
neighborhood of East Liberty
East Liberty (Pittsburgh)
East Liberty is a culturally diverse neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's East End. It is bordered by Highland Park, Morningside, Stanton Heights, Garfield, Friendship, Shadyside and Larimer, and is represented on by Patrick Dowd...
,Profile at Poets.org he attended Peabody High School
Peabody High School
Peabody High School is a public school in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, in the neighborhood of East Liberty, The school opened in 1911 after the renovations of a former elementary school and was rededicated after Highland Park doctor Benjamin Peabody. After 100 years in operation the school...
then worked as a door-to-door salesman, an exterminator, and a steelworker. He graduated from the University of Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of...
, where he and his classmate Gerald Stern
Gerald Stern
Gerald Stern is an American poet. His work became widely recognized after the 1977 publication of Lucky Life, which was that year's Lamont Poetry Selection, and of a series of essays on writing poetry in American Poetry Review. He has subsequently been given many prestigious awards for his...
developed a serious interest in poetry and writing.
His work is distinguished by simple lyricism and straightforward clarity of tone. His first book of poetry Views of Jeopardy, (1962) was quickly recognized and Gilbert himself made into something of a media darling. He then retreated from his earlier activity in the San Francisco poetry scene, where he had participated in Jack Spicer
Jack Spicer
Jack Spicer was an American poet often identified with the San Francisco Renaissance. In 2009, My Vocabulary Did This to Me: The Collected Poetry of Jack Spicer won the American Book Award for poetry.-Life and work:...
's Poetry as Magic workshop, and moved to Europe. Living on a Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
he toured 15 countries as a lecturer on American Literature for the U.S. State Department and lived in England, Denmark and Greece. Nearly the whole of his career after the publication of his first book of poetry is marked by what he has described as a self-imposed isolation. Some have considered this to be a spiritual quest to describe his alienation from mainstream American culture, and others have dismissed as little more than an extended period as a "professional houseguest" living off of wealthy American literary admirers. His books of poetry have been few and far between, however he has continuously maintained his writing and contributed to The American Poetry Review, Genesis West, The Quarterly
The Quarterly
Gordon Lish founded and edited the avant garde literary magazine, The Quarterly in 1987. The Quarterly showcased the work of contemporary authors.Volume 1 of The Quarterly was published in the Spring of 1987...
, Poetry, Ironwood, The Kenyon Review, and The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
.
Gilbert is a close friend of the poet Linda Gregg
Linda Gregg
Linda Alouise Gregg is an American poet.-Biography:Although born just miles northwest of New York City, Ms. Gregg grew up on the other side of the country, in Marin County, California. She received both her Bachelor of Arts, in 1967, and her Master of Arts, in 1972, from San Francisco State College...
who was once his student and to whom he was married for six years. He was also married to Michiko Nogami, a language instructor based in San Francisco, now deceased, about whom he has written many of his poems. He was also in a significant long term relationship with the Beat poet Laura Ulewicz
Laura Ulewicz
Laura Ulewicz was an American Poet.Born in Detroit, Michigan to Polish-American auto workers with strong union ties, she lived in Chicago and New York before moving to San Francisco in 1950...
during the fifties in San Francisco. Gilbert currently lives in Berkeley, California
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
.
Awards
- 1962 Yale Series of Younger Poets CompetitionYale Series of Younger Poets CompetitionThe Yale Series of Younger Poets Competition is an annual event of Yale University Press aiming to publish the first collection of a promising American poet...
for 'Views of Jeopardy Poetry Foundation profile - 1962 nomination for the Pulitzer Prize for PoetryPulitzer Prize for PoetryThe Pulitzer Prize in Poetry has been presented since 1922 for a distinguished volume of original verse by an American author. However, special citations for poetry were presented in 1918 and 1919.-Winners:...
for 'Views of Jeopardy - Guggenheim Fellowship
- Lannan Literary Award for Poetry
- Fellowship from the National Endowment for the ArtsNational Endowment for the ArtsThe National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
. - 1982 American Book AwardAmerican Book AwardThe American Book Award was established in 1978 by the Before Columbus Foundation. It seeks to recognize outstanding literary achievement by contemporary American authors, without restriction to race, sex, ethnic background, or genre...
- 1982 National Book Critics Circle AwardNational Book Critics Circle AwardThe National Book Critics Circle Award is an annual award given by the National Book Critics Circle to promote the finest books and reviews published in English....
- 1983 Stanley KunitzStanley KunitzStanley Jasspon Kunitz was an American poet. He was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress twice, first in 1974 and then again in 2000.-Biography:...
Prize for MonolithosMonolithosMonolithos, Poems 1962 and 1982 is the second book of poetry by American poet Jack Gilbert. It was nominated for all three major American book awards: the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, and the American Book Award. The same year Monolithos was published,...
- 1983 the American Poetry Review Prize for MonolithosMonolithosMonolithos, Poems 1962 and 1982 is the second book of poetry by American poet Jack Gilbert. It was nominated for all three major American book awards: the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, and the American Book Award. The same year Monolithos was published,...
- 1983 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for PoetryPulitzer Prize for PoetryThe Pulitzer Prize in Poetry has been presented since 1922 for a distinguished volume of original verse by an American author. However, special citations for poetry were presented in 1918 and 1919.-Winners:...
- 2005 National Book Critics Circle AwardNational Book Critics Circle AwardThe National Book Critics Circle Award is an annual award given by the National Book Critics Circle to promote the finest books and reviews published in English....
for Refusing Heaven
Poetry collections
- Views of Jeopardy (1962)
- MonolithosMonolithosMonolithos, Poems 1962 and 1982 is the second book of poetry by American poet Jack Gilbert. It was nominated for all three major American book awards: the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, and the American Book Award. The same year Monolithos was published,...
(1984) - Kochan (1984), A limited edition chapbookChapbookA chapbook is a pocket-sized booklet. The term chap-book was formalized by bibliophiles of the 19th century, as a variety of ephemera , popular or folk literature. It includes many kinds of printed material such as pamphlets, political and religious tracts, nursery rhymes, poetry, folk tales,...
of nine poems, two of which were later republished in The Great Fires: Poems 1982-1992; seven of the poems have not been otherwise published, including "Nights and Four Thousand Mornings," the longest poem Gilbert has published - The Great Fires: Poems 1982-1992 (1994)
- Refusing Heaven (2005)
- Tough Heaven: Poems of Pittsburgh (2006)
- Transgressions: Selected Poems (UK, 2006)
- The Dance Most of All (2009)
Novels
Published by Olympia PressOlympia Press
Olympia Press was a Paris-based publisher, launched in 1953 by Maurice Girodias as a rebranded version of the Obelisk Press he inherited from his father Jack Kahane...
under the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
Tor Kung
- My Mother Taught Me (1964)
- Forever Ecstasy (1968)
Further reading
- Genesis West volume one published in the Fall of 1962 is a celebration of Jack Gilbert's poetry. This volume includes poems by Jack and interview of Jack by Gordon LishGordon LishGordon Jay Lish is an American writer. As a literary editor, he championed many American authors, particularly Raymond Carver, Barry Hannah, Amy Hempel, and Richard Ford.-Early life and family:...
. - Allen Randolph, Jody. Interview with Jack Gilbert. Lannan Foundation: Readings and Conversations Series. VHS. Los Angeles: Lannan Foundation, 1997.
External links
- Profile and poems at the Academy of American Poets
- Profile and poetry at the Poetry Foundation
- "The Recluse: Rescuing the poet Jack Gilbert from oblivion." May 9, 2005 Slate magazine
- Poems and Biography of Jack Gilbert
- NPR:"Jack Gilbert: Notes from a Well-Observed Life" (Poems and audio Interview. April 30, 2006; "Jack Gilbert". NPR audio interview June 18, 1997
- Rejoicing With Jack Gilbert