A Louis Zukofsky Chronology (1904-1978)
Thanks to
Mark Scroggins for help with the following.
1904
January 23: LZ born on the Lower East Side of
Manhattan, NYC; the youngest child of Pinchos (c.1860-1950) and Chana Pruss
(c.1962-1927), married 1887, Yiddish speaking immigrants from what is now
Lithuania, then part of Russia. Pinchos immigrated alone in 1898 and then
brought the rest of his family in 1903. LZ was the only child born in the US,
and there were five older siblings: two died in infancy, two sisters, Dora
(1888-1913) and Fanny (1890-1972), and a brother, Morris Ephraim (1892-196).
During the time LZ was growing up, the Zukofsky family lived on Chrystie
Street, a block east of the Bowery.
1916
June: LZ graduates from primary school.
1920
January: LZ graduates from Stuyvesant High
School, which specializes in math and science, then located on East 15th
Street.
February: Enters Columbia University. Among LZ’s
classmates, several of whom would remain life-long friends, were Irving Kaplan,
Whittaker Chambers, S. Theodore Hecht, John Waldhorn Gassner, Clifton Fadiman,
Meyer Shapiro, Mortimer J. Adler and Lionel Trilling.
November: First poetic publications in Columbia
student journals and will continue to publish frequently during his university
years.
1924
June: Graduates from Columbia with an M.A. in
English, thesis on Henry Adams.
1927
January 29: LZ’s mother dies (mentioned in “A”-5 and -6).
October: Works for the National Industrial
Conference Board, NYC (until March 1928).
1928
Spring: “Poem beginning ‘The’” (written 1926)
published by Ezra Pound in The Exile.
April: LZ first meets William Carlos Williams at
Pound’s instigation.
April 5: LZ attends performance of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion at Carnegie Hall,
which becomes the setting for “A”-1
written the same year.
Composes “A”
1-4.
October: Begins composition of “A”-7 (finished Aug. 1930).
1929
January 29: Death of LZ’s mother (mentioned in “A”-5, -6 and Arise, arise).
Meets Jerry Reisman (1913-2000), one of his
students when teaching part-time at Stuyvesant High School. They will remain
close friends until 1947, collaborating on various literary works, although
Reisman’s primary interests are in science and engineering, which will have
their impact on LZ’s work as well.
1930
July: meets Basil Bunting when the latter is in
NYC during the latter half of the year.
July-September: Travels west via the Mid-West
and Nevada to spend part of summer in Berkeley with Columbia classmate Irving
Kaplan (details appear in “A”-6.32-35).
September: Instructor in English and Comparative
Literature at University of Wisconsin, Madison (until May 1931).
Composes “A”-5
and -6, finishes “A”-7.
1931
February: Publication of the “Objectivists”
issue of Poetry edited by LZ. In
response to the “Objectivists” issue, Lorine Niedecker begins correspondence
with LZ.
August 19: LZ gives talk at the Gotham Book
Mart, NYC, “‘Recencies’ in Poetry,” which will become introduction to An “Objectivists” Anthology (1932).
September: LZ draws a stipend as editor of To
Publishers, owned and paid for by George Oppen (until Aug. 1932).
1932
An
“Objectivists” Anthology
edited by LZ published by To, Publishers based in France.
April 21-June 21: Trip West with Jerry Reisman
via Mexico to San Francisco where he stays with Irving Kaplan.
1933
June 30-September 15: Trip to Europe. In Paris
in July, travels to Budapest and then visits Pound and Bunting in Rapallo,
Italy in August, where he meets James Laughlin.
Fall: Meets Celia Thaew (1913-1980).
Late in the year Niedecker visits LZ in NYC.
1934
January: Works for Works Projects Administration
(WPA), Columbia University projects until March 1935.
Le
Style Apollinaire,
written in collaboration with and translated by René Taupin, is published in
Paris.
1935
March: Works for WPA, WNYC Radio (until Jan.
1936).
August: Begins “A”-8 (finished July 1937).
1936
January: Works for WPA, Federal Arts project, Index of American Design (until July
1939; research essays dated August 27, 1938 to April 28, 1939).
September: Visits Niedecker at Black Hawk
Island, Wisconsin with Jerry Reisman.
1938
August: Begins first half of “A”-9 (finished April 1940).
October 24: Gives 15 minute reading on WQXR
radio, NYC.
1939
August 20: LZ and CZ marry in Wilmington,
Delaware.
September: Works for WPA, NYC Arts project, WNYC
Radio scripts (until Jan. 1941; radio scripts dated November 16, 1939 to April
4, 1940).
1940
June-July: Composes “A”-10.
November: First
Half of “A”-9 privately published.
1941
Zukofskys living at 1088 East 180th Street,
Bronx, NYC (until end of June 1942; details mentioned in “It Was”).
January-February: Editor with René Taupin of La France en Liberté, a journal of free
French writing that never materialized.
March: Final period of work for WPA, NYC Arts
Project (until April 1942).
October: 55
Poems published by James A. Decker (Prairie City, Illinois).
1942
Summer: At Diamond Point, Lake George, NY where
LZ revises first seven movements of “A”.
October 1: Zukofskys move to 202 Columbia
Heights, Brooklyn (until Sept. 1, 1944).
November: LZ does substitute teaching in NYC
high schools (until June 1943).
1943
June: LZ works for Hazeltine Electronics Corp.,
Little Neck, NY editing instruction manuals (until Oct.
1944).
October 22: PZ born.
1944
Zukofskys living at 163rd Street,
Flushing, NY.
October: LZ works for Jordanoff Aviation Corp.,
NYC editing instruction manuals (until March 1946).
1946
May 1: Zukofskys move to 30 Willow Street,
Brooklyn (until June 1957).
March: Anew
published by James A. Decker (Prairie City, Illinois).
March: LZ works for Techlit Consultants, NYC
(Jerry Reisman’s company) editing instruction manuals (until Jan. 1947).
1947
January-February: LZ does substitute teaching at
Brooklyn Technical High School.
February: LZ begins teaching at Polytechnic
Institute of Brooklyn as instructor, where he will remain until his retirement
as an Associate Professor in 1966.
Summer: Teaches summer courses on Shakespeare
and Renaissance Literature at Colgate University, Hamilton, NY; begins writing
essay on Shakespeare that will evolve into Bottom
(finished 1960).
September: Teaches evening course in creative
writing at Queens College, Flushing, NY (until June 1948).
Winter: Reading performance of Arise, arise by the Dramatic Workshop
directed by Erwin Piscator, at the New School for Social Research.
1948
Begins second half of “A”-9 (finished 1950).
September: A
Test of Poetry (compiled 1935-40) published by The Objectivist Press.
1949
Summer: Zukofskys begin spending summers at Old
Lyme, Conneticut where they buy a cottage (see Little).
September 1: Promoted to Assistant Professor at
Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn.
1950
April 11: Death of LZ’s father, Pinchos
(mentioned in “A”-12).
Summer: Composes “A”-11.
Begins “A”-12
(finished Oct. 1951).
December 29: Receives Lola Ridge Memorial Award
from the Poetry Society of America.
1952
Summer: Zukofskys begin spending summers in
upstate NY at Elizabethtown near Lake Champlain while PZ attends summer program
at nearby Meadowmount School of Music (see Little).
1953
Christmas: Niedecker visits the Zukofskys in
NYC.
1954
July 11: Visits Pound at St. Elizabeths; PZ
plays at Pound’s request (mentioned in “A”-13).
Summer: Zukofskys take a trip to the West: visit
Mexico and Canada (?), visit Niedecker at Black Hawk Island, Wisconsin; LZ
records reading for KPFA in San Francisco on Aug. 6.
1955
September 25: LZ promoted to Associate Professor
at Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn.
1956
September: Some
Time published by Jonathan Williams.
November 30: PZ’s first solo concert at Carnegie
Hall (an account appears in Little).
1957
June: Zukofskys move to 135 Willow Street,
Brooklyn Heights.
June-September: Zukofskys travel to Europe,
visiting England, France, Italy and Switzerland (recorded in “4 Others
Countries”); stay with Basil Bunting in Northumbria and meet Cid Corman in
Florence.
1958
CZ and LZ begin “translating” Catullus (finished
1966).
Summer: At Robert Duncan’s invitation, poet in
residence at San Francisco State College from 23 June-1 Aug.; the Zukofskys
travel back through Canada (details mentioned in “A”-13).
June 25: 5
Statements for Poetry published by San Francisco State College.
September: Barely
and widely published by Celia Zukofsky.
November: Oppens visit in NYC.
1959
February 30: PZ’s second Carnegie Hall concert
(an account appears in Little).
June 29-July 16: Trip to Mexico driving
cross-country with the Oppens, visit pyramids at Teotihuacán near Mexico City
and return by airplane (see “Jaunt”)
September: “A”
1-12 published by Cid Corman’s Origin Press in Japan.
1960
May: LZ finishes Bottom.
July-September: Composes “A”-13.
December: Longview Foundation Award from Poetry magazine for section of Bottom.
1961
Summer: Two months spent at Yaddo in Saratoga
Springs, NY.
November: It
Was published by Origin Press in Japan (includes “It Was,” “A Keystone
Comedy” and Ferdinand, all written in
the 1940s, plus “Thanks to the Dictionary,” written in the 1930s).
1962
February: Zukofskys move to 160 Columbia
Heights.
September: 16
Once Published by The Wild Hawthorn Press (Edinburgh).
October 21-24: Attends 50th celebration of Poetry magazine at the Library of
Congress, Washington D.C., mentions meeting Mark Van Doren, Allen Tate, Delmore
Schwartz, Henry Rago.
1963
Receives Longview Foundation Award.
March: Composes “A”-17 in response to William Carlos Williams’ death on March 4.
May: I’s
(pronounced eyes) published by Trobar Press (NY).
May: Composes “A”-16.
September: Bottom:
On Shakespeare published by the Humanities Center of the University of
Texas, Austin.
October: Composes “A”-20 for PZ’s 20th birthday.
December 14: Gives reading at Harvard.
1964
Composes “A”-14
and -15; begins “A”-18 (finished
1966).
Receives the Union League Civic and Arts
Foundation Prize from Poetry
magazine.
Zukofskys living at 77 Seventh Avenue, NYC.
September: After
I’s published by Boxwood Press/Mother Press (Pittsburgh).
1965
Begins “A”-19
(finished 1966).
April: All:
The Collected Poems 1923-1958 published by W.W. Norton.
August: Performance of Arise, arise at the Cinémathèque Theatre in NYC.
September 27-30: gives reading and lectures at
the University of Kentucky a the invitation of Guy Davenport.
December: At Yaddo (until March 1, 1966) where
LZ and CZ finish work on Catullus.
1966
Begins “A”-21
(finished 1967).
Receives Oscar Blumenthal Prize from Poetry magazine.
August: Retires from Polytechnic Institute of
Brooklyn.
November: All:
The Collected Poems 1956-1964 published by W.W. Norton.
1967
June: Prepositions:
The Collected Critical Essays published by Rapp & Carroll (London);
American edition appears March 1968.
LZ returns to work on the novel Little, which he began in 1950 (finished
July 1969).
1968
January 23: CZ presents LZ with L.Z. Masque as birthday present, which
becomes “A”-24.
March: Attends Second Buffalo (NY) Festival of
the Arts Today, where he gives a reading broadcast live over radio on the 4th.
May: Attends Conference on Objectivists at the
University of Wisconsin, Madison with Oppen, Reznikoff, Rakosi and Niedecker
(the last time he sees the latter); gives reading and records interview with
L.S. Dembo.
1969
“A”
13-21
published by Jonathan Cape and Doubleday.
Catullus published by Cape Goliard and Grossman.
CZ’s A
Bibliography of Louis Zukofsky published by Black Sparrow Press.
May: Trip to London with CZ for two weeks; reads
at U.S. Embassy on May 21 (see “On the Gas Age”).
November 20-22: Attends International Poetry
Festival in Austin, Texas.
1970
February: Begins “A”-22 (finished April 1973).
Autobiography, a selection of short poems set to music by CZ,
published by Grossman.
Little published by Grossman.
1971
March 31: Autobiography
performed at the Lincoln Center Library and Museum of the Performing Arts, NYC.
April 29: Reading and lecture at the Eighth
Annual Wallace Stevens program, University of Connecticut, Storrs (lecture
transcribed and revised as “Wallace Stevens”).
October-November: Guest Professorship at the
University of Connecticut, Storrs.
1972
Zukofskys living at 240 Central Park South, NYC.
January: Family trip to Bermuda (details appear
at the end of “A”-22).
“A”-24 published by Grossman.
November 9-December 14: with CZ in Bellagio,
Italy on Lake Como at the Villa Serbelloni as a Rockefeller Foundation fellow
(details appear at the end of “A”-22).
1973
April: Begins “A”-23 (finished Sept. 1974).
June: Arise,
arise published by Grossman (written 1936). Performance of Arise, arise and “A”-24 at the Cubiculo in NYC and attended by LZ.
October: LZ and CZ move to 306 East Broadway,
Port Jefferson, Long Island, NY.
1974
December: Begins composing 80 Flowers (finished Jan. 1978).
1975
“A”
22 & 23
published by Grossman.
June 15-17: Attends and reads at Symposium on
Ezra Pound, University of Maine, Orono.
1977
June 4: LZ receives Honorary D.Litt, from Bard
College, NY.
1978
May 12: Death of LZ.
July: 80
Flowers published in limited edition by Stinehour Press, Vermont.
December: “A”
(complete edition) published by the University of California Press.
