Search

  • Articles
  • Catalog
  • Databases
  • Journals
  • UWDC
  • Ask a Librarian
  • Accounts & Lists
  • Libraries
  • UW–Madison
  • Give
  • Help
  • Website Search

schedule

Next available on Thursday 9 a.m.–5 p.m.

Additional Options

  • smartphone Call / Text
  • voice_chat Consultation Appointment
  • place Visit
  • email Email

  • College Library (Undergraduate)
  • Ebling Library (Health Sciences)
  • Law Library (Law)
  • MERIT Library (Education)
  • Ask a Librarian Hours & Policy
  • Library Research Tutorials

Search the for
  • Articles Find articles in journals, magazines, newspapers, and more
  • Catalog Explore books, music, movies, and more
  • Databases Locate databases by title and description
  • Journals Find journal titles
  • UWDC Discover digital collections, images, sound recordings, and more
  • Website Find information on spaces, staff, services, and more

language Website Search

Find information on spaces, staff, and services.

  • ASK a Librarian
  • Library by Appointment
  • Locations & Hours
  • Resources by Subject

book Catalog Search

Search the physical and online collections at UW-Madison, UW System libraries, and the Wisconsin Historical Society.

keyboard_arrow_down
  • Advanced Search
  • Browse by...
  • WorldCat

collections_bookmark Database Search

Find databases subscribed to by UW-Madison Libraries, searchable by title and description.

  • Browse by Subject/Type
  • Introductory Databases
  • Top 10 Databases

article Journal Search

Find journal titles available online and in print.

keyboard_arrow_down
  • Browse by Subject / Title
  • BrowZine
  • Citation Search

description Article Search

Find articles in journals, magazines, newspapers, and more.

keyboard_arrow_down
  • Citation Search
  • Library Databases

collections UW Digital Collections Search

Discover digital objects and collections curated by the UW Digital Collections Center.

keyboard_arrow_down
  • Browse Collections
  • Browse UWDC Items
  • University of Wisconsin–Madison
  • Libraries
    • UW Home
    • My UW
    • Email/Calendar
    • Canvas
    • Box
    • Google Apps
    • Sign in
      • Loans & Requests
      • Lists
      • Poster Printing
      • Account Details
      • Archives and Special Collections Requests
      • Library Room Reservations
  • Help
  • Give

Search the UW-Madison Libraries

  • Articles
  • Catalog
  • Databases
  • Journals
  • UWDC

Carl Rakosi Papers and Audio

Carl Rakosi (1903-2005) was a social worker, psychotherapist and poet, best known for his affiliation with the "Objectivists," a group of poets assembled by Louis Zukofsky in the early 1930s and championed by Ezra Pound. Other "Objectivists" included William Carlos Williams, George Oppen, Charles Reznikoff, Basil Bunting, Kenneth Rexroth, Robert McAlmon, and the Wisconsin poet Lorine Niedecker. In the late-1930s, after the collapse of several collaborative "Objectivist" publishing ventures, Rakosi stopped writing and publishing poetry and devoted his energy toward establishing himself as a social worker and psychotherapist. His only volume of poetry from this period, Selected Poems, was published by James Laughlin's New Directions in 1941.

In 1925, Rakosi legally changed his name to Callman Rawley for professional reasons. Over the course of a long and successful career as a social work administrator and psychotherapist, he published several articles and reviews on social work and psychology as Rawley.

In 1965, prompted by an unexpected letter from Andrew Crozier, a young English poet, Rawley resumed writing and publishing poetry as Carl Rakosi. Between 1967 and 1999, Rakosi published eight individual volumes of poetry. Collections of his prose (1983) and poetry (1985) were published by the National Poetry Foundation, and a collection of his early writing (edited by Andrew Crozier) was published in 1995.

This collection contains literary and personal correspondence, working papers, lecture notes, poems, book reviews, interviews with Rakosi, and will eventually contain several audio recordings, mainly recordings of poetry readings and lectures on poetry delivered by Rakosi during the 1970s and 80s. With a few exceptions (namely, Rachel Blau DuPlessis, Bruce Fearing, George and Linda Oppen, Martin Rosenblum, and Bob Ryley), only Rakosi's side of the correspondence is included in the digitized portion of the collection; the vast majority of Rakosi's letters here were written during the 1980s. The physical materials presented here are all part of the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Department of Special Collections. Other significant collections of Rakosi material are held by UCSD's Archive for New Poetry, by the Harry Ransom Center (correspondence with Louis Zukofsky, Marianne Moore, Charles Tomlinson, and William Carlos Williams), and by Harvard's Houghton Library (in the New Directions Publishing Corporation collection).

Carl Rakosi Papers and Audio

Carl Rakosi (1903-2005) was a social worker, psychotherapist and poet, best known for his affiliation with the "Objectivists," a group of poets assembled by Louis Zukofsky in the early 1930s and championed by Ezra Pound. Other "Objectivists" included William Carlos Williams, George Oppen, Charles Reznikoff, Basil Bunting, Kenneth Rexroth, Robert …

Carl Rakosi Papers and Audio Sample items in the collection

  • Carl Rakosi papers & audio

Biography

Rakosi emigrated to the United States from Hungary as a young child and attended high school in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where his father worked as a watchmaker and jeweler. In 1917, Rakosi was naturalized as an American citizen. He briefly attended the University of Chicago before transferring to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, graduating in 1924 with an English degree. As a student in Madison he published his first poems, served on the editorial board of The Wisconsin Literary Magazine, and befriended the writers Margery Latimer, Kenneth Fearing, and Leon Serabian Herald. After graduation, Rakosi moved to New York City, where he introduced himself to the editor Jane Heap on Latimer's recommendation. Heap published three of Rakosi's poems in The Little Review in 1925.

In 1925, Rakosi legally changed his name to Callman Rawley and returned to Madison, where he earned a master's degree in industrial psychology in 1926. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Rawley cycled through a series of graduate programs and social work jobs in Milwaukee, Cleveland, Boston, Chicago, Texas, and New Orleans. While living in New York City in the mid-1930s, Rawley joined the Communist Party, though he did not remain an active member of the party for long. In 1939, he married Leah Jaffe, and in 1940 earned a master's degree in Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania. In 1945, the family moved to Minneapolis, where Rawley served as the executive director of the Jewish Family and Children's Service until his retirement in 1968.

Rakosi's return to poetry in 1965 coincided with the revival and recovery of many of his fellow "Objectivists." The atmosphere of American poetry had much changed, and Rakosi found a much more receptive audience for his work during his second writing career: between 1969 and 1979 he served as a writer-in-residence or guest instructor at UW-Madison, the University of Minnesota, Michigan State University, and Naropa University. In 1978, Carl and Leah moved to San Francisco, where they became close friends with George and Mary Oppen and several other Bay Area writers and artists. In 1989, Leah died of cancer. A few years later, Carl began a long-term relationship with Marilyn Kane, a former neighbor. Rakosi died in San Francisco on June 25, 2004, after a series of strokes.

  • launch Search or browse the collection
  • This compilation (including design, introductory text, organization, and descriptive material) is copyrighted by University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents.

    This copyright is independent of any copyright on specific items within the collection. Because the University of Wisconsin Libraries generally do not own the rights to materials in these collections, please consult copyright or ownership information provided with individual items.

    Images, text, or other content downloaded from the collection may be freely used for non-profit educational and research purposes, or any other use falling within the purview of "Fair Use".

    In all other cases, please consult the terms provided with the item, or contact the Libraries.

Search within text

Permalink

https://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/Rakosi

Copied!

Related content

  • Carl Rakosi Biography at The Objectivists
  • Carl Rakosi Papers at UCSD
  • Carl Rakosi at the Poetry Foundation
  • Little Magazines Collection
  • Lorine Niedecker in the Historic Fort Atkinson Collection
  • Martin Rosenblum Papers Finding Aid

Libraries

  • Accessibility
  • Copyright Statement
  • Policies
  • contact_mailContact Us

Feedback, questions, or accessibility issues: libraries@wisc.edu

Support Libraries volunteer_activism
Privacy Notice | © Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System

Keyboard Shortcuts

Close

Available anywhere

?
Shortcut help message
s
Highlight search box
esc
Close dialog

Available in search results

n
Next page
p
Previous page
f
Toggle filters
1-5
Open nth result on page