Keith Waldrop (born December 11,

1932 Events January * January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel. * January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort to assassinate Emperor Hiro ...

, in Emporia, Kansas) 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) R S T U–V ...

, translator, and academic. He has authored numerous books of poetry and prose and translated the work of

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, among others. One such translation is

Charles Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticism inherited ...

's ''

Les Fleurs du Mal ''Les Fleurs du mal'' (; en, The Flowers of Evil, italic=yes) is a volume of French poetry by Charles Baudelaire. ''Les Fleurs du mal'' includes nearly all Baudelaire's poetry, written from 1840 until his death in August 1867. First publish ...

'' (2006). He won the

National Book Award for Poetry The National Book Award for Poetry is one of five annual National Book Awards, which are given by the National Book Foundation to recognize outstanding literary work by US citizens. They are awards "by writers to writers".

for his 2009 collection ''Transcendental Studies: A Trilogy''.

Personal life

Waldrop started his education at Kansas State Teachers College, studying to be a doctor. However, in 1953, he was drafted into the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

and stationed in West Germany, where he met his wife

Rosmarie Waldrop Rosmarie Waldrop (born Rosmarie Sebald; August 24, 1935) is an American poet, novelist, translator, essayist and publisher. Born in Germany, she has lived in the United States since 1958 and has settled in Providence, Rhode Island since the lat ...

Career

Waldrop received his Ph.D. in comparative literature from 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 1964 and four years later began teaching at Brown University (1968). With Rosmarie Waldrop, he co-edits Burning Deck Press. He lives 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 ...

, and became a professor emeritus at Brown in 2011. The French government has named him ''

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 ...

''.

Awards and honors

*''

'' by the French government. *2009

for ''Transcendental Studies: A Trilogy''. *2014

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 ...

, Poetry, one of two runners-up for ''Four Elemental Bodies'' by

, translated from the French.

Selected works

Poetry

* ''A Windmill Near Calvary'' (University of Michigan Press, 1968) * ''The Garden of Effort'' (Burning Deck, 1975) * ''Shipwreck In Haven'' (Awede, 1989) * ''The Opposite of Letting the Mind Wander'' (Lost Roads, 1990) * ''The Locality Principle'' (Avec, 1995) * ''Analogies of Escape'' (Burning Deck, 1997) * ''The Silhouette of the Bridge'' (Memory Stand-Ins) (Avec, 1997) * ''Stone Angels'' (Instress, 1997) * ''Well Well Reality'' (Collaborations with Rosmarie Waldrop) (The Post-Apollo Press, 1998) * ''Haunt'' (Instance, 2000) * ''Semiramis If I Remember'' (Avec, 2001) * ''The House Seen from Nowhere'' (Litmus Press, 2003) * ''The Real Subject: queries and Conjectures of Jacob Delafon, with Sample Poems'' ( Omnidawn Publishing, 2005) * ''Several Gravities'' (Siglio, 2009) * ''Transcendental Studies: A Trilogy'' (University of California Press, 2009) —winner of the

National Book Award The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. The Nat ...

"National Book Awards – 2009"

National Book Foundation The National Book Foundation (NBF) is an American nonprofit organization established, "to raise the cultural appreciation of great writing in America". Established in 1989 by National Book Awards, Inc.,Edwin McDowell. "Book Notes: 'The Joy Luc ...

. Retrieved 2012-04-08.
(With acceptance speech, interview, and other material; and essay by Ross Gay from the Awards 60-year anniversary blog.) * ''The Space of Half an Hour'' (Burning Deck, 1983) * ''The Not Forever nventions' (Omnidawn, 2013) * ''Selected Poems'' (Omnidawn, 2016)

Prose

* ''Hegel's Family'' (Station Hill, 1989) * ''Light While There is Light'' (Sun & Moon, 1993)

Visual Art

* ''Several Gravities'' (Siglio Press, 2009)

Translations

*''The Flowers of Evil'' by

(Wesleyan, 2006) * ''Figured Image'' by

(The Post-Apollo Press, 2006) * ''The Form of a City Changes Faster, Alas, Than the Human Heart'' 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 ...

(tr. with

) (Dalkey Archive, 2006) * ''Theory of Prepositions'' by

(Fence, 2006) * ''L’état des métamorphoses'' by Tita Reut with Patricia Erbelding (Art inprogress, 2005) * ''Another Kind of Tenderness'' by Xue Di with

Forrest Gander Forrest Gander (born 1956) is an American poet, translator, essayist, and novelist. The A.K. Seaver Professor Emeritus of Literary Arts & Comparative Literature at Brown University, Gander won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 2019 for ''Be With' ...

(Litmus, 2004) * ''Close Quote'' by Marie Borel ( Burning Deck, 2003) * ''Mental Ground'' by Esther Tellermann (Burning Deck, 2002) * ''The Selected Poems of Edmond Jabes'' (Station Hill Press, 1988) * ''The notion of obstacle'' by Claude Royet-Journoud (Awede, 1985)

References

External links

Exhibit at the Academy of American Poets
includes links to some poems by Keith Waldrop including "Invitation to the Voyage", "Light Travels", "Posthumous Remorse Whir"

extensive links to bibliography, biography, essays, reviews, etc.

conducted by Peter Gizzi
On the Art of Keith Waldrop
by Robert Seydel (excerpt)

by poet and novelist

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 ...

The National Book Foundation interview with Keith Waldrop
conducted by Craig Morgan Teicher {{DEFAULTSORT:Waldrop, Keith Living people 1932 births Poets from Kansas American book publishers (people) University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts alumni People from Emporia, Kansas National Book Award winners Brown University alumni