Irving L. Fiske (born Irving Louis Fishman; March 5, 1908 – April 25, 1990) was an American
playwright
A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays.
Etymology
The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...
, writer, and public speaker. He worked for the
Federal Writer's Project
The Federal Writers' Project (FWP) was a federal government project in the United States created to provide jobs for out-of-work writers during the Great Depression. It was part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a New Deal program. It ...
of the
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...
(WPA) in the 1930s, where he was a writer and rewrite man on The WPA Guide to New York City, in print today. He corresponded with
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...
, wrote an article now considered a classic, "Bernard Shaw's Debt to William Blake," and translated
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
's ''
Hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
'' into
Modern English.
He and his wife
Barbara Fiske Calhoun
Barbara Fiske Calhoun (born Isabelle Daniel Hall; September 9, 1919 – April 28, 2014) was an American cartoonist and painter, one of the few female creators from the Golden Age of Comic Books. She co-founded Quarry Hill Creative Center, one of ...
co-founded the artist's retreat and "
hippie
A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...
commune
A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to:
Administrative-territorial entities
* Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township
** Communes of ...
"
Quarry Hill Creative Center
Quarry Hill Creative Center, in Rochester, Vermont, is Vermont's oldest alternative living group or community. It was founded in 1946 by Irving Fiske, a playwright, writer, and public speaker; and his wife, Barbara Hall Fiske, an artist and one ...
, on the Fiske family property, in
Rochester, Vermont
Rochester is a town in Windsor County, Vermont, United States. The population was 1,099 at the 2020 census. The central village is delineated as the Rochester census-designated place.
Set on the edge of the Green Mountain National Forest, th ...
.
Biography
Fiske was born in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
, to an immigrant
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
family from
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
,
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
, and
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
. He graduated from
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
in 1928.
He had two brothers, Milton and Robert, and a sister, Miriam.
Milton was a
Bohemian
Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to:
*Anything of or relating to Bohemia
Beer
* National Bohemian, a brand brewed by Pabst
* Bohemian, a brand of beer brewed by Molson Coors
Culture and arts
* Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, origin ...
, like Irving, and a classical composer, like his hero,
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...
, with whom he shared a birthday.
Fiske wrote for
H. L. Mencken
Henry Louis Mencken (September 12, 1880 – January 29, 1956) was an American journalist, essayist, satirist, cultural critic, and scholar of American English. He commented widely on the social scene, literature, music, prominent politicians, ...
's ''
American Mercury
''The American Mercury'' was an American magazine published from 1924Staff (Dec. 31, 1923)"Bichloride of Mercury."''Time''. to 1981. It was founded as the brainchild of H. L. Mencken and drama critic George Jean Nathan. The magazine featured wri ...
''.
On January 8, 1946, Fiske married artist and cartoonist Barbara Hall, later
Barbara Fiske Calhoun
Barbara Fiske Calhoun (born Isabelle Daniel Hall; September 9, 1919 – April 28, 2014) was an American cartoonist and painter, one of the few female creators from the Golden Age of Comic Books. She co-founded Quarry Hill Creative Center, one of ...
. In 1946, he and his wife, both profoundly unconventional
bohemian
Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to:
*Anything of or relating to Bohemia
Beer
* National Bohemian, a brand brewed by Pabst
* Bohemian, a brand of beer brewed by Molson Coors
Culture and arts
* Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, origin ...
intellectuals, used wedding money to buy the Loren Spencer hill farm in Rochester that later became
Quarry Hill Creative Center
Quarry Hill Creative Center, in Rochester, Vermont, is Vermont's oldest alternative living group or community. It was founded in 1946 by Irving Fiske, a playwright, writer, and public speaker; and his wife, Barbara Hall Fiske, an artist and one ...
, in
Rochester, Vermont
Rochester is a town in Windsor County, Vermont, United States. The population was 1,099 at the 2020 census. The central village is delineated as the Rochester census-designated place.
Set on the edge of the Green Mountain National Forest, th ...
.
[“Irving L. Fiske, 82: Created Community for Workers in Arts,”]
''The New York Times'' (May 1, 1990)
Fiske joined
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...
and
Peter Orlovsky
Peter Anton Orlovsky (July 8, 1933 – May 30, 2010) was an American poet and actor. He was the long-time partner of Allen Ginsberg.
Early life and career
Orlovsky was born in the Lower East Side of New York City, the son of Katherine (née ...
in a
First Amendment
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
-based defense of the
Beat Generation
The Beat Generation was a literary subculture movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-war era. The bulk of their work was published and popularized by Silent Generatio ...
coffee houses along
Second Avenue in the
East Village in 1964. Some business owners objected to the use of "obscenity" in the Beat poetry being read by poets like Ginsberg and many others. Ginsberg, Orlovsky, Fiske, and others won the case. The right of poets to use any language they choose is considered a part of their art, as well as a constitutional right.
In the mid-1960s, Barbara opened a storefront, The Gallery Gwen, in New York's
East Village. There, Barbara showed her paintings, along with those of others, and Irving began to give public talks on
Tantra
Tantra (; sa, तन्त्र, lit=loom, weave, warp) are the esoteric traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism that developed on the Indian subcontinent from the middle of the 1st millennium CE onwards. The term ''tantra'', in the Indian ...
,
Zen
Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...
,
Sufism
Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, r ...
,
Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
,
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
,
Judaism
Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...
, and
atheism
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no d ...
, among many other things. Irving became well known around the Village, and was soon speaking to standing-room-only audiences. Many associated him with
R. Crumb
Robert Dennis Crumb (; born August 30, 1943) is an American cartoonist and musician who often signs his work R. Crumb. His work displays a nostalgia for American folk culture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and satire of contem ...
's character
Mr. Natural. Irving spoke out in favor of people finding their own creative path in life, enjoying themselves, being free of guilt and shame, and children's rights. He wrote letters for young men who were
conscientious objectors
A conscientious objector (often shortened to conchie) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to object ...
to the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
. Irving was known in the Village as "The Forest Wizard," (someone had given him a card on the street one day and he made it a part of his persona); and in
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
, where he had a cabin on a lake, he was known as "The Socrates of the
Ocala National Forest
The Ocala National Forest ls the second largest nationally protected forest in the U.S. State of Florida. It covers of northern Florida. It is located three miles (5 km) east of Ocala and southeast of Gainesville. The Ocala National For ...
." Fiske also spoke at colleges and churches on the East Coast, such as
Goddard College
Goddard College is a progressive education private liberal arts low-residency college with three locations in the United States: Plainfield, Vermont; Port Townsend, Washington; and Seattle, Washington. The college offers undergraduate and gra ...
in
Plainfield, Vermont
Plainfield, a town in Washington County, Vermont, United States was incorporated in 1867. The population was 1,236 at the 2020 census. Plainfield is the location of Goddard College.
Geography
Plainfield is located at .
According to the United ...
.
Hundreds of young people, including many who became well-known, such as
Art Spiegelman
Art Spiegelman (; born Itzhak Avraham ben Zeev Spiegelman on February 15, 1948) is an American cartoonist, editor, and comics advocate best known for his graphic novel ''Maus''. His work as co-editor on the comics magazines ''Arcade (comics maga ...
(who dated, and lived with, Fiske's daughter Isabella) and
Stephen Huneck
Stephen Huneck ( ; October 8, 1948 – January 7, 2010) was an American wood carving folk artist, furniture maker, painter, and author. Much of his artwork focused on dogs, including The Dog Chapel at his Dog Mountain (dog park), Dog Mountain far ...
, began to visit
Quarry Hill Creative Center
Quarry Hill Creative Center, in Rochester, Vermont, is Vermont's oldest alternative living group or community. It was founded in 1946 by Irving Fiske, a playwright, writer, and public speaker; and his wife, Barbara Hall Fiske, an artist and one ...
. Many stayed to build houses; Quarry Hill is now the oldest and largest alternative lifestyle group in
Vermont
Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...
, and one of the largest in
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
.
A controversial figure, in the 1970s, when his cabin in the Ocala Forest was burnt by arsonists, and the authorities did not give him a permit to rebuild, he launched a legal and media battle, claiming that the authorities were prejudiced against the young people he brought there as his friends, most of whom had long hair. He eventually got the permit and rebuilt the cabin.
Fiske and his wife divorced in 1976. After a period of some tension, he and Barbara reached a state of friendliness and mutual support, with the shared desire to see Quarry Hill continue. With the assistance of her son, William, and others, Barbara created a corporation to own the land.
Fiske — who went on with all the activities that entertained him and promoted a more sane future for humanity—became well known in the counterculture both in the United States and elsewhere. He died of a stroke in
Ocala
Ocala ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Marion County within the northern region of Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city's population was 63,591, making it the 54th most populated city in Florida.
Home to ...
,
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
, on April 25, 1990.
Irving Fiske's centennial was celebrated in Vermont and in Florida in 2008.
''Hamlet in Modern English''
Fiske's translation of ''
Hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
'' into modern English was never published, but was performed in public several times, once at Rollins College in Winter Park,Florida.
In 1947, Fiske filed a lawsuit against
Cary Grant
Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904November 29, 1986) was an English-American actor. He was known for his Mid-Atlantic accent, debonair demeanor, light-hearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing. He was one o ...
and
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...
for infringing upon ''Hamlet in Modern English''. In 1945, Hitchcock had announced plans to make a modern-language version of ''Hamlet''. Although the project was dropped, Fiske claimed Hitchcock and Grant had plagiarized Fiske's concept, and sought damages of $1.25 million (later reduced to $750,000).
The case was eventually heard in October 1954 by New York Federal Court Judge
William Bondy. After 11 days of testimony, Judge Bondy halted the trial and directed the jury to find the case "not proven." Fiske was later ordered to pay $5,000 towards Hitchcock's legal costs.
Fiske's translation of ''Hamlet'' was considered controversial. In the 1960s,
John Ciardi
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second E ...
, who did not approve of the translation, reprinted excerpts in the ''
Saturday Review''. Most ''Saturday Review'' readers wrote in favor of the translation; as did such notable figures as
William Saroyan
William Saroyan (; August 31, 1908 – May 18, 1981) was an Armenian-American novelist, playwright, and short story writer. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1940, and in 1943 won the Academy Award for Best Story for the film ''The ...
,
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...
,
Henry Miller
Henry Valentine Miller (December 26, 1891 – June 7, 1980) was an American novelist. He broke with existing literary forms and developed a new type of semi-autobiographical novel that blended character study, social criticism, philosophical ref ...
,
Upton Sinclair
Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. (September 20, 1878 – November 25, 1968) was an American writer, muckraker, political activist and the 1934 Democratic Party nominee for governor of California who wrote nearly 100 books and other works in seve ...
,
Aldous Huxley
Aldous Leonard Huxley (26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. He wrote nearly 50 books, both novels and non-fiction works, as well as wide-ranging essays, narratives, and poems.
Born into the prominent Huxley ...
, and
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...
.
Bibliography
* "
Pecos Bill
Pecos Bill is a fictional cowboy and folk hero in stories set during American Expansionism, westward expansion into the Southwest of Texas, New Mexico, Southern California, and Arizona. These narratives were invented as short stories in a book b ...
, Cyclone Buster," ''American Mercury'' (Dec. 1939), pp. 403–407.
* "Where Does Television Belong?" ''
Harper's Magazine
''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. (''Scientific American'' is older, b ...
'' (February 1940).
* "Bernard Shaw's Debt to William Blake."
9-page pamphlet(London: The Shaw Society, 1951). Reprinted in ''G. B. Shaw: A Collection of Critical Essays'', ed. R. J. Kaufmann (Englewood Cliffs,. N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1965).
* "Letters to the Editor: Not a 'Hippy'," ''Ocala Star-Banner'' (May 25, 1971).
* (with
Allen Sherman -not the song writer) ''Brighter than the Sun'' (1987)
lay
Lay may refer to:
Places
*Lay Range, a subrange of mountains in British Columbia, Canada
*Lay, Loire, a French commune
*Lay (river), France
*Lay, Iran, a village
*Lay, Kansas, United States, an unincorporated community
People
* Lay (surname)
* ...
ref>"Quarry Hill Players stage play written by Vermonters," ''The Burlington'' (Vt.) ''Free Press'', (October 14, 1987). — produced in Vermont
References
Notes
Sources
* Braunstein, Peter and Michael W. Doyle, eds. ''Imagine Nation: The American Counterculture of the 1960s and 70s''. New York: Routledge, 2002. P. 330.
George Bernard Shaw archives at the University of Texas, including communication between Fiske and Shaw* Trausch, V. "Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?" ''Boston Globe'' Sunday Magazine (August 2, 1987)
* (See chapter on Wall Street for an example of Irving Fiske's style)
article on Hollywood screenwriter J. Kitchen, who studied playwriting with Irving Fiske
''La Boutique'': reference, in French, to I. Fiske's article, "Where Does Television Belong?"
*
Winchell, Walter. "On-Broadway," ''New York Daily Mirror'' (late 1940s–early 1950s) — about Shaw and Fiske
Obituaries
* Allen, Monica. ''The Rutland Herald'' (April 29, 1990).
* "Communal Living Pioneer Irving Fiske dead at 82," ''The Burlington (Vt.) Free Press'' (April 30, 1990).
* ''The International Herald Tribune'' (May 1990).
* "Quarry Hill Founder Dead at 82," ''The Herald of Randolph'' (Vt.) (May 3, 1990).
External links
Facebook page devoted to Fiske
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fiske, Irving
1908 births
1990 deaths
Cornell University alumni
People from Brooklyn
People from Rochester, Vermont
Federal Writers' Project people
20th-century American writers
Founders of utopian communities
20th-century American male writers
Jewish American writers
20th-century American Jews