Rosmarie Waldrop (born Rosmarie Sebald; August 24, 1935) is an

American poet The poets listed below were either born in the United States or else published much of their poetry while living in that country. A B C D E F G H I–J K L M N O P Q *George Quasha (born 1942 in poetry, 1942) R ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

translator Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...

essay An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...

ist and

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

. Born in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, she has lived in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

since 1958 and has settled in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...

since the late 1960s. Waldrop is a co-editor and publisher of Burning Deck Press.

Early life in Germany

Waldrop was born in

Kitzingen Kitzingen () is a town in the Germany, German state of Bavaria, capital of the Kitzingen (district), district Kitzingen. It is part of the Franconia geographical region and has around 21,000 inhabitants. Surrounded by vineyards, Kitzingen County i ...

am Main on August 24, 1935. Her father, Joseph Sebald, taught physical education at the town's high school. Towards the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, she joined a travelling theatre, but returned to school in early 1946. At school, she studied piano and flute and played in a youth orchestra. During Christmas in 1954, the orchestra gave a concert for American soldiers stationed at Kitzingen. After the performance,

Keith Waldrop Keith Waldrop (born December 11, 1932, in Emporia, Kansas) is an American poet, translator, and academic. He has authored numerous books of poetry and prose and translated the work of Claude Royet-Journoud, Anne-Marie Albiach, and Edmond Jabès ...

, a member of the audience, invited members of the orchestra to listen to his records. He and Rosmarie became friendly and worked together over the next few months, translating

German poetry German literature () comprises those literary texts written in the German language. This includes literature written in Germany, Austria, the German parts of Switzerland and Belgium, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, South Tyrol in Italy and to a les ...

into

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

University years

That same year, she entered the

University of Würzburg The Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg (also referred to as the University of Würzburg, in German ''Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg'') is a public research university in Würzburg, Germany. The University of Würzburg is one of ...

, where she studied

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

art history Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...

and

musicology Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some mu ...

. In 1955, she transferred to the

University of Freiburg The University of Freiburg (colloquially german: Uni Freiburg), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (german: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), is a public university, public research university located in Freiburg im Breisg ...

, where she discovered the writings of Robert Musil and participated in a protest against a lecture given by

Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; ; 26 September 188926 May 1976) was a German philosopher who is best known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. He is among the most important and influential philosophers of the 20th centur ...

. She then moved to the

University of Aix-Marseille Aix-Marseille University (AMU; french: Aix-Marseille Université; formally incorporated as ''Université d'Aix-Marseille'') is a public research university located in the Provence region of southern France. It was founded in 1409 when Louis II of ...

, where Keith spent 1956–57 on his

GI Bill The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, bu ...

. At the end of the year, he returned to the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

. In 1958, he won a Major Hopwood Prize, sending most of the money to Rosmarie to pay for her passage to the United States.

In the United States

The couple married and Rosmarie enrolled at the University of Michigan, where she received a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

in 1966. She also became active in literary, musical and artistic circles around the university and the wider

Ann Arbor Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna (name), Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah (given name), Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie (given name), ...

community. She began serious translation of French and

. In

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba ( Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 ...

, the Waldrops bought a second-hand printing press and started ''Burning Deck Magazine''. This was the beginning of Burning Deck, which was to become one of the most influential small press publishers of innovative poetry in the United States. As such, she is sometimes closely associated with the

Language poets The Language poets (or ''L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E'' poets, after the magazine of that name) are an avant-garde group or tendency in United States poetry that emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The poets included: Bernadette Mayer, Leslie Scal ...

Poetry and translations

Rosmarie Waldrop started publishing her own poetry in English in the late 1960s. Since then, she has published over three dozen books of poetry, prose and translation. Today her work is variously characterized as verse experiment, philosophical statement and personal narrative. Of the many formative influences on her mature style, a crucial influence was a year spent in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

in the early 1970s, where she came into contact with leading ''avant garde'' French poets, including

Claude Royet-Journoud Claude Royet-Journoud (born 8 September 1941 in Lyon, France) is a contemporary French poet and artist living in Paris . Overview Royet-Journoud's publications in French include his tetralogy, published between 1972 and 1997: ''Le Renversement'' ...

Anne-Marie Albiach Anne-Marie Albiach (9 August 1937 – 4 November 2012) was a contemporary French poet and translator. Overview Anne-Marie Albiach's was a renowned French poet and writer born in Saint -Nazaire, France on 9 August 1937. Anne- Marie Albiach ...

, and

Edmond Jabès Edmond Jabès (; ar, إدمون جابيس; Cairo, April 14, 1912Edmond Jabès, ''From the Book to the Book: An Edmond Jabès Reader'' (Wesleyan University Press, 1991) p xxi – Paris, January 2, 1991) was a French writer and poet of Egy ...

. These writers influenced her own work, while at the same time she and Keith became some of the main translators of their work into English, with Burning Deck one of the main vehicles for introducing their work to an English-language readership.

Awards and honors

Rosmarie Waldrop has given readings and published in many parts of Europe as well as the United States. She has received numerous awards and fellowships and was made a

Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and Letters) is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is ...

by the French government. In 2003 she was awarded a grant from the

Foundation for Contemporary Arts The Foundation for Contemporary Arts (FCA), is a nonprofit based foundation in New York City that offers financial support and recognition to contemporary performing and visual artists through awards for artistic innovation and potential. It was ...

' Grants to Artists Award. She was elected to the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

in 2006. She received the 2008

PEN Award for Poetry in Translation The PEN Award for Poetry in Translation is given by PEN America (formerly PEN American Center) to honor a poetry translation published in the preceding year. The award should not be confused with the PEN Translation Prize. The award is one of many ...

for her translation of

Ulf Stolterfoht Ulf Stolterfoht (born 8 June 1963 in Stuttgart) is a German writer. Life and work Ulf Stolterfoht opted out of military service and performed civilian service instead, after which he studied German and Linguistics in Bochum und Tübingen. Sto ...

's book ''Lingos I - IX''. Her translation of ''Almost 1 Book / Almost 1 Life'' by

Elfriede Czurda Elfriede Czurda (born 25 April 1946) is an Austrian poet, writer and translator. Life Czurda was born in Wels in 1946. She studied archaeology and Art History at the University of Saltzburg. She completed her education at the University Paris in ...

was nominated for the

Best Translated Book Award The Best Translated Book Award is an American literary award that recognizes the previous year's best original translation into English, one book of poetry and one of fiction. It was inaugurated in 2008 and is conferred by Three Percent, the onlin ...

in 2013. She was given the

America Award in Literature The America Award is a lifetime achievement literary award for international writers. It describes itself as a modest attempt at providing alternatives to the Nobel Prize in Literature. It was first presented in 1994. The award does not entail a ...

for a lifetime contribution to international writing in 2021.

Selected publications

Poetry

* ''The Aggressive Ways of the Casual Stranger'', NY: Random House,

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

* ''The Road Is Everywhere or Stop This Body'', Columbia, MO: Open Places, 1978 * ''When They Have Senses'', Providence: Burning Deck, 1980 * ''Nothing Has Changed'', Windsor, VT: Awede Press,

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

* ''Differences for Four Hands'', Philadelphia: Singing Horse, 1984; repr. Providence: Paradigm Press, 1999 * ''Streets Enough to Welcome Snow'', Barrytown, NY: Station Hill,

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

* ''The Reproduction of Profiles'', NY: New Directions,

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

* ''Shorter American Memory'', Providence: Paradigm Press,

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

* ''Peculiar Motions, Berkeley'', CA: Kelsey Street Press,

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

* ''Lawn of Excluded Middle'', NY: Tender Buttons, 1993 * '' A Key Into the Language of America'', NY: New Directions,

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

* ''Another Language: Selected Poems'', Jersey City: Talisman House,

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

* ''Split Infinites'', Philadelphia: Singing Horse Press, 1998 * ''Reluctant Gravities'', NY: New Directions, 1999 * (with Keith Waldrop) ''Well Well Reality'', Sausalito, CA: The Post-Apollo Press, 1998 * ''Love, Like Pronouns'', Omnidawn Publishing, 2003 * ''Blindsight'', New York: New Directions, 2004 * ''Splitting Image'', Zasterle,

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

* ''Curves to the Apple'',brings together three volumes: ''The Reproduction of Profiles'', ''Lawn of Excluded Middle'' , and ''Reluctant Gravities'' New Directions,

* ''Driven to Abstraction'', New Directions,

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

*''Gap Gardening: Selected Poems'', New Directions, 2016 *''The Nick of Time'', New Directions, 2021

Fiction

* ''The Hanky of Pippin's Daughter,'' Barrytown, NY: Station Hill, 1986 * ''A Form/of Taking/It All,'' Barrytown, NY: Station Hill, 1990

Essays and criticism

* ''Against Language?'', The Hague: Mouton/Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1971 *''The Ground Is the Only Figure: Notebook Spring 1996'', Providence: The Impercipient Lecture Series,Vol.1, No.3 (April 1997) *''Lavish Absence: Recalling and Rereading Edmond Jabès'', Wesleyan University Press, 2002 *''Dissonance (if you are interested)'', University Alabama Press, 2005

Translations

*'' The Book of Questions'' by Edmond Jabès, 7 vols. bound as 4, Wesleyan UP, 1976, 1977, 1983, 1984 *'' From a Reader's Notebook,'' by Alain Veinstein, Annex Press, Ithaca New York, 1983 *''Paul Celan: Collected Prose'', by

Paul Celan Paul Celan (; ; 23 November 1920 – c. 20 April 1970) was a Romanian-born German-language poet and translator. He was born as Paul Antschel to a Jewish family in Cernăuți (German: Czernowitz), in the then Kingdom of Romania (now Chernivtsi, U ...

, Manchester & NY: Carcanet & Sheep Meadow, 1986 *''The Book of Dialogue'' by Edmond Jabès, Wesleyan UP, 1987 *''Late Additions: Poems'' by

Emmanuel Hocquard Emmanuel Hocquard (11 April 1940 – 27 January 2019) was a French poet. Life He grew up in Tangier, Morocco. He served as the editor of the small press ''Orange Export Ltd.'' and, with Claude Royet-Journoud, edited two anthologies of new Amer ...

(with Connell McGrath), Peterborough, Cambs.: Spectacular Diseases, 1988 *''The Book of Shares'' by Edmond Jabès, Chicago UP, 1989 *''Some Thing Black'' by

Jacques Roubaud Jacques Roubaud (; born 5 December 1932 in Caluire-et-Cuire, Rhône) is a French poet, writer and mathematician Life and career Jacques Roubaud taught Mathematics at University of Paris X Nanterre and Poetry at EHESS. A member of the Oulipo gr ...

, Elmwood Park, IL: Dalkey Archive, 1990 *''The Book of Resemblances'' by Edmond Jabès, 3 vols., Wesleyan UP, 1990, 91, 92 *''From the Book to the Book'' by Edmond Jabès, Wesleyan UP, 1991 *''The Book of Margins'' by Edmond Jabès, Chicago UP, 1993 *''A Foreigner Carrying in the Crook of His Arm a Tiny Book'' by Edmond Jabès, Wesleyan UP, 1993 *''Heiligenanstalt'' by

Friederike Mayröcker Friederike Mayröcker (20 December 1924 – 4 June 2021) was an Austrian writer of poetry and prose, audio plays, children's books and dramatic texts. She experimented with language, and was regarded as an avantgarde poet, and as one of the lea ...

, Providence: Burning Deck, 1994 *''The Plurality of Worlds of Lewis'' by Jacques Roubaud, Normal, IL: Dalkey Archive Press, 1995 *''Mountains in Berlin: Selected Poems'' by

Elke Erb Elke Erb (born 18 February 1938) is a German author-poet based in Berlin. She has also worked as a literary editor and translator. Biography Family provenance and early years Elke Erb was born at Scherbach (today part of Rheinbach) in the hill ...

, Providence: Burning Deck, 1995 *''The Little Book of Unsuspected Subversion'' by Edmond Jabès, Stanford UP, 1996 *''With Each Clouded Peak'' by Friederike Mayröcker (with Harriett Watts), Los Angeles, CA: Sun & Moon Press, 1998 *''A Test of Solitude'' by Emmanuel Hocquard, Providence: Burning Deck, 2000 *(with

Harry Mathews Harry Mathews (February 14, 1930 – January 25, 2017) was an American writer, the author of various novels, volumes of poetry and short fiction, and essays. Mathews was also a translator of the French language. Life Born in New York City to an ...

and Christopher Middleton) ''Many Glove Compartments'' by

Oskar Pastior Oskar Pastior (; 20 October 1927 – 4 October 2006) was a Romanian-born German poet and translator. He was the only German member of Oulipo. Biography Born into a Transylvanian Saxon family in Sibiu (Hermannstadt), he was deported in January 19 ...

, Providence: Burning Deck, 2001 *''Desire for a Beginning Dread of One Single End'' by Edmond Jabès (Images & Design by Ed Epping), New York, New York : Granary Books, 2001 *''The Form of a City Changes Faster, Alas, Than the Human Heart'' by Jacques Roubaud, Dalkey Archive Press; Translation edition, 2006 *''Almost 1 Book / Almost 1 Life'' by Elfriede Czurda, Providence, Burning Deck, 2012 *''Under the Dome: Walks with Paul Celan'' by

Jean Daive Jean Daive (born 13 May 1941) is a French poet and translator. He is the author of novels, collections of poetry and has translated work by Paul Celan and Robert Creeley among others. He has edited encyclopedias, worked as a radio journalist an ...

, San Francisco: City Lights Books, 2020

Notes

External links

;Exhibits, sites, and homepages
Rosmarie Waldrop at the Electronic Poetry Center (EPC)Rosmarie Waldrop Exhibit at the Academy of American PoetsBurning Deck
;Readings and talks (audiofiles)

;Others on Waldrop including reviews, criticism, and retrospectives

by poet by

Ben Lerner Benjamin S. Lerner (born February 4, 1979) is an American poet, novelist, essayist, and critic. He has been a Fulbright Scholar, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, a finalist for the National Book Award, a finalist for the National Bo ...

in '' Jacket'' upon the publication of Waldrop's ''Curves to the Apple'', which gathers her trilogy of prose poems into one volume
Rosmarie Waldrop: Dictionary of Literary Biography v.169 (1996)
includes "Bibliographical Information", "Biographical and Critical Essay", and "Further Readings about the Author". The piece's author notes: "Written in 1994–1995, the entry does not take into account Rosmarie Waldrop's substantial accomplishments since that time". ;Interviews

this interview first appeared on-line January 11, 2008 and includes many indispensable links

see

Joan Retallack Joan Retallack (born October 13, 1941) is an American poet, critic, biographer, and multi-disciplinary scholar. She is the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Professor of Humanities at Bard College where she teaches courses in poetics, poethic ...

for further information
Experimental Poetry Press Closes Shop: An Interview with Burning Deck’s Rosmarie Waldrop

Words Without Borders ''Words Without Borders'' (''WWB'') is an international magazine open to international exchange through translation, publication, and promotion of the world's best writing and authors who are not easily accessible to English-speaking readers. The ...

, 15 Dec. 2015. ;Work online including poems and essays
''Between Tongues'': An Interview / & ''5 Poems
on this page, scroll down to 17 Dec 2005 for links to her work {{DEFAULTSORT:Waldrop, Rosmarie 1935 births Living people People from Kitzingen English-language poets American book publishers (people) Writers from Rhode Island German women writers American women poets American editors American translators French–English translators University of Michigan alumni 21st-century American women