Parnassus: poetry in review.

Parnassus: Poetry in Review, a journal devoted to long reviews of new books of poetry and in depth retrospective essays covering the careers of particular poets, was founded in 1972 by Herbert Leibowitz (Editor) and Stanley Lewis (Publisher).

In 1975 Leibowitz purchased the magazine from Lewis and set up the non-profit Poetry in Review Foundation whose only function was to publish Parnassus. Leibowitz assumed the duties of publisher in addition to his duties as editor.

Parnassus: Poetry in Review was founded in 1972 by Herbert Leibowitz (Editor) and Stanley Lewis (Publisher). They felt that books of poetry were rarely reviewed seriously or given enough notice; they were published and soon forgotten. The founders wanted their magazine to serve the poetry community. In order to do this effectively, they believed that their journal should consist primarily of long reviews of new books of poetry and in depth retrospective essays covering the work of a single poet; contain prose that was lively, witty, controversial, and non-academic, accompanied by original art and photography; and reflect the sensibility, curiosity, and vision of its editor, Herbert Leibowitz, by being eclectic in taste while rigorous in analysis.

From the beginning, Leibowitz worked very closely with his writers, providing intense editorial scrutiny and guidance even to the work of unknown writers in whom he perceived some potential. He has edited every issue (except for Volume 13 #1, which was guest-edited by William Harmon, and the Women and Poetry Issue which he co-edited with Diane Ackerman) and has always challenged his writers to break free of the limited and sometimes lifeless language found in Sunday supplements and the jargon of many academic reviews. In "The Poetry of Reviewing" Leibowitz writes. "Our editorial policy has been to seek out reviews which possess the density, clarity, and incandescence of works of art. A review should be a literary tour of ideas and poems, some masterpieces, the majority not, and the critic a guide who should be articulate, quirky, companionable; entertain while instructing….sometimes in the éclat and erudition of their commentary, gifted reviewers eclipse the book of poems they are assessing. But that is a normal hazard of the genre…"

In 1975 Leibowitz purchased the magazine from Lewis and set up the non-profit Poetry in Review Foundation whose only function was to publish Parnassus. Leibowitz assumed the duties of publisher in addition to his duties as editor. From 1975 through 1980, he labored almost completely alone out of his apartment for no salary. He handled mailings, subscriptions, advertising, and distribution. Despite the conditions under which it was produced, the journal thrived editorially during this period. In its first 5 years the journal grew from an average of 150 to over 300 pages an issue, and its reputation began to spread, especially among poets.

Parnassus's fifth year also brought its only major change in editorial content: the fifth anniversary issue was the first to contain poetry. Leibowitz, who had previously made it a policy not to publish poems, allowed poets who were submitting reviews to submit poems as well. The journal already had a steady cast of contributors, many of whom were poets. The practice was a success, and most later issues of the magazine contained at least some poetry, either published for the first time, newly translated, or reprinted to accompany an essay. Some special issues, such as the Women and Poetry issue or the Emerging Voices issue, featured poetry.

By the early eighties Leibowitz was able to secure some tolerably regular funding from organizations, such as The National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, and the Research Foundation at the City University of New York, and take on some part-time help, usually students hired through internship programs (See Appendix C). By 1986 Parnassus moved out of Leibowitz's apartment and into its own offices in 41 Union Square West. Parnassus had not reached complete financial stability: as in all independent literary endeavors, money remained a perpetual problem; finding it was as much part of publishing the journal as soliciting and editing its contents. Nevertheless, Parnassus has managed to appear regularly (the magazine has appeared twice a year on an irregular schedule (sometimes when there was a special double issue, the magazine appeared only once in a year) and continues to be an important source and outlet for its primary audience: those who write, read, and study poetry.

Besides anniversary issues every five years, Leibowitz has published special issues of Parnassus on the themes of Words and Music, Women and Poetry, Multicultural and New Voices, the Long Poem, as well as special supplements on Charles Ives, Charles Olson, and Virgil Thomson. (See Appendix A. Issue Listing)

Poets and critics who have contributed regularly to the journal include Adrienne Rich, Joseph Brodsky, Seamus Heaney, Donald Davie, John Ashbery, Charles Rowan Beye, Hayden Carruth, Turner Cassity, Guy Davenport, Helene J. F. de Aguilar, Ross Feld, R. W. Flint, W. M. Spackman, Judith Gleason, Rachel Hadas, Paul West, Colette Inez, Ronald Johnson, William Logan, Alicia Ostriker, Jonathan Williams, Vernon Young, Helen Vendler, Marjorie Perloff, Donald Sutherland, Calvin Bedient, and Richard Howard.

Alice Neel, R. B. Kitaj, Philip Pearlstein, Romare Bearden, Nina Yankowitz, John Furnival, Cynthia MacDonald, Susan Elias, Oriole Farb Feshbach, Maurice Grosser, Mari Lyons, Bruno Schulz, Reuben Tam and Red Grooms are among the notable artists whose work has appeared in Parnassus.

Herbert Leibowitz (1935- ) Herbert Leibowitz was born in 1935 on Staten Island. He attended Brooklyn College and received his BA in 1956. He earned a Ph.D. from Columbia in 1966. He has taught at Brooklyn College and Columbia and has been a professor of Humanities and English at City University of New York, Staten Island since 1971, and at the CUNY Graduate Center since 1986.

His books include: Hart Crane: An introduction to the poetry, 1968; and Fabricating Lives: explorations of American biography, 1989. Before founding Parnusses he served as editor and member of the editorial board at Salmagundi.

He married Susan Yankowitz in 1978. They have one son, Gabriel.

Sources: Leibowitz, Herbert. "The poetry of reviewing." Parnassus: Poetry in review. Vol. 7, No. 1,p.5-6.

Issues of Parnassus Vol./No. Season Year 1.1 F/W 1972 1.2 S/SU 1973 2.1 F/W 1973 2.2 S/SU 1974 3.1 F/W 1974 3.2 S/SU 1975 [CHARLES IVES SUPPLEMENT] 4.1 F/W 1975 4.2 S/SU 1976 [CHARLES OLSON SUPPLEMENT] 5.1 F/W 1976 [BICENTENNIAL ISSUE] 5.2 S/SU 1977 [5TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE] [VIRGIL THOMSON TRIBUTE] 6.1 F/W 1977 6.2 S/SU 1978 7.1 F/W 1978 7.2 S/SU 1979 8.1 F/W 1979 8.2 S/SU/F/W 1980 9.1 S/SU 1981 9.2 F/W 1981 10.1 S/SU 1982 [10TH ANNNIVERSARY ISSUE] 10.2 F/W 1982 [WORDS AND MUSIC ISSUE] 11.1 S/SU 1983 11.2 F/W S/SU 1983-1984 [INTERNATIONAL ISSUE] 12.1 F/W 1984 12.2/13.1 S/SU/F/W 1985 [WOMEN & POETRY ISSUE] 13.2 S/SU 1986 14.1 1987 14.2 1988 15.1 1989 [15TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE] 15.2 1990 16.1 1990 16.2 1991 17.1 1992 [MULTICULTURAL/NEW VOICES] 17.2/18.1 1993 [LONG POEM ISSUE] 18.2/19.1 1993 19.2 1994 20 1995 [20TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE] 21 1996