The Midwest Quarterly; Vol. 33 No. 3

Authors

• Walter Cummins
• Sonia Kovitz
• Walter Poznar
• Susanne Carter
• Anne Shifrer
• Eugene L. Huddleston
• Marcia Arrieta
• baloian baloian
• Alan Britt
• Michael Cadnum
• Karen Connelly
• James Griffin
• Fritz Hamilton
• Jo Mariner
• Sally Allen McNall
• Larissa Szporluk
• Harold Witt
• Eve E. M. Wood
• Anne Ohman Youngs
• Donald F. Kerle
• Calvin H. Merrifield
• Midwest Quarterly Editors

Contents

ARTICLES 

What We Can Know: Truth in Science and Truth in the Arts  

Simone Weil’s Dark Night of the Soul  

The Kiss of Christ in The Brothers Karamazov  

Creating a Landscape That Never Was: Women's Fictional Interpretations of the Vietnam War Experience  

Beleaguered Privacies  

Literary Nonfiction: Extending Its Definition 

POEMS 

Stepping into Trees  

For the moment  

All Day Long I Don't Know If I'm Coming Or Going  

The Optimist  

Abundance  

Acacias 

The Word is Absurd 

Interstate  

Cow's Bones!  

After a Bad Night of Sleep and Hurricane 

Warnings  

The Dinosaur We Didn't See  

Wandering Ice 

A Bird of Morning 

The Largess 

A Reason for Distance  

REVIEWS 

Paul M. Green and Melvin G. Holli, eds.; Restoration 1989: Chicago Elects a New Daley  

J. Dennis Freund; A Psychiatrist Speaks Out: Psychiatry, Sexuality, Maturity  

Abstract

How closely do science and art approach truth, or approach each other? More nearly than one might think concludes WALTER CUMMINS. Professor of English at Fairleigh Dickinson University, Cummins has published many short stories and articles dealing with writing and communication.

SONIA KOVITZ looks into the ordeal of Simone Weil to find value in herself, a struggle in which she would never admit success, in order to consider the meaning of this universal passion. Formerly a teacher of Russian language and literature at Lawrence University and author of articles on Chekhov's fiction and drama, Kovitz is now Program Review Administrator at Ohio State University.

What compassion, what bond should link one soul with another, should bridge the chasm of separateness? These questions Dostoevsky asks and WALTER POZNAR elaborates in the light of modem American fiction. Author of articles on higher education, the modern American novel, and many individual writers, Poznar is Professor of Humanities at Saint Leo College in Florida.

SUSANNE CARTER examines the Vietnam War experience through the eyes of women writers. She suggests the differences between this fiction and that written by women of wars earlier in this century, and she shows how this perspective may help us find a way to come to terms with peace and war. Microforms Supervisor at Southwest Missouri State University, she has published several previous studies of women's writings on Vietnam and is producing an annotated bibliography on American women's fictional interpretations of twentieth-century warfare.

MARCIA ARRIETA is a teacher of high school English and creative writing in Pasadena, California. Her poems have appeared in Bitterroot, Psychopoetica, Amaranta Review, and other journals.

BALOIAN lives and writes in Fresno, California. His poems have appeared previously in The Midwest Quarterly.

ALAN BRITT lives and writes in Reisterstown, Maryland.

MICHAEL CADNUM has published two novels, Calling Home (Viking) and Saint Peter's Wolf (Carroll & Graf). His next book of poems, The Cities We Will Never See, will be published by Singular Speech Press. His poems have appeared previously in The Midwest Quarterly.

KAREN CONNELLY, of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, has published stories and poems in several journals, including Fiddlehead, Antigonish Review, and Grain. Her first book of poems, The Small Words in My Body won the Kalamalka New Writers Competition and was selected also as the recipient of the Pat Lowther Award for the best book of poetry by a Canadian woman in 1990. Her non-fiction book on living in northern Thailand, Touch the Dragon, has recently been accepted by Turnstone Press for publication in 1992.

JAMES GRIFFIN, of Bowie, Maryland, a journalist most of his life, has returned to writing poetry only in the last few years.

FRITZ HAMILTON lives and writes in San Francisco, California. His poems have appeared previously in The Midwest Quarterly.

JO MARINER has published poetry in American Writing, The Contemporary Review, The Gopherwood Review, and other journals. She lives in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania.

SALLY ALLEN MCNALL, formerly of Lawrence, Kansas, now teaches literature and writing at the University of Toledo. Her work has appeared in numerous journals, including New Letters, Cottonwood, Kansas Quarterly, and Prairie Schooner.

LARISSA SZPORLUK, of Ann Arbor, Michigan, has published her poems in Poet Lore, Passages North, Fine Madness, and other journals.

HAROLD WITT, of Orinda, California, has been publishing poetry in magazines and journals for fifty years. He has published eleven books of poetry, including Beasts in Clothes (Macmillan), Now, Swim (Ashland Poetry Press), and Winesburg by the Sea (Thorp Spring Press). He is co-editor of the journal Blue Unicorn. His poems have appeared previously in The Midwest Quarterly.

EVE E. M. WOOD, of Los Angeles, California, has published poetry in Poet & Critic, The Windsor Review, and Yankee Magazine.

ANN OHMAN YOUNGS lives in Escanaba, Michigan, and teaches writing at Northern Michigan University. Her poems have appeared in numerous journals, including Mid-American Review and Tar River Poetry, and she has published a chapbook of poems, Markers. Her poems have appeared previously in The Midwest Quarterly.

ls privacy a necessary or a sentimental thing, a selfish or a beneficial pleasure? The meaning and purpose of privacy form the topic for ANNE SHIFRER, who explores privacy in the works of several poets and works of fiction. Shifrer is an Assistant Professor at Utah State University who studies the lyric and writes mainly about twentieth-century poetry.

EUGENE L. HUDDLESTON delineates the boundaries of contemporary writing which mingles fact and fiction, particularly focusing on the decision to identify actual names and places. Professor of American Thought and Language at Michigan State University, Huddleston has written several books, including a reference guide to Thomas Jefferson.

DONALD F. KERLE, professor of social science at Pittsburg State, teaches courses in political science and is fascinated by American political theory and practice.

CALVIN H. MERRIFIELD University counselor in the PSU counselling/ testing center, is a professor in the Department of Psychology and Counselling and a member of our Board of Editors.

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DECONSTRUCTION: Invitation to Interested Readers

The Midwest Quarterly recently invited Dr. Conor Cruise O'Brien to amplify an article critical of certain trends in academia, "Devaluing the University," which he contributed to The Times of London on March 5. Dr. Cruise O'Brien would like to do as we asked, but he feels he needs more information from people--whether for or against deconstruction--who are at present working in American or other universities and research institutes. He would be interested in hearing from any readers who might be willing to describe for him the state of affairs in relation to deconstruction (and allied tendencies) at the writer's university. Any replies would be treated as entirely confidential, in that neither the writer's name nor academic affiliation would be cited. The answers would be used as the bases for a general comment on the overall situation as regards the influence of deconstruction in academia. Extracts would be quoted for pertinent illustration, but care would be taken to see that no quotation could lead to the identification of the respondent or his or her university.

While Dr. Cruise O'Brien would certainly not wish to restrict the area within which any respondent might choose to frame his or her comments on deconstruction, the following is a non-exhaustive list of topics he would like to know about. In the institution at which you work: estimate the proportion of deconstructionists and allies in relevant departments, including English and comparative literature; estimate the relative influence of deconstructionists, anti-deconstructionists, and neutrals in academic policy, including appointments, tenure, and promotions. In the main the information that is requested would concern the particular institution in which the respondent works, but general observations about the perceived strength of these tendencies in, for example, The Modern Language Association and whether such tendencies are growing stronger or weaker would be appreciated.

Send responses to Dr. Cruise O'Brien to The Midwest Quarterly,  Pittsburg State University, Pittsburg, Kansas 66762, in care of the  Editor, and he will forward them unopened to Ireland in a timely  manner.

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ANNOUNCING THE ANNUAL VICTOR J. EMMETT, JR., MEMORIAL PRIZE AND LECTURE

The editors of The Midwest Quarterly invite submission of articles on any aspect of Victorian and Modern British literature to be considered for the annual Victor J. Emmett, Jr., Memorial Prize. The winning article will be published in The Midwest Quarterly, and the author will receive an honorarium and will be invited to Pittsburg State University to deliver the annual Victor J. Emmett, Jr., Memorial Lecture. The late Victor J. Emmett, Jr., was for many years Professor of English at Pittsburg State University and this journal's Editor-in-Chief.

Permissions to Use

In accordance with database agreements, the full text of the issue is not available for download. Pittsburg State Digital Commons has only provided the front matter for author and publication information.

Recommended Citation

Cummins, Walter; Kovitz, Sonia; Poznar, Walter; Carter, Susanne; Shifrer, Anne; Huddleston, Eugene L.; Arrieta, Marcia; baloian, baloian; Britt, Alan; Cadnum, Michael; Connelly, Karen; Griffin, James; Hamilton, Fritz; Mariner, Jo; McNall, Sally Allen; Szporluk, Larissa; Witt, Harold; Wood, Eve E. M.; Youngs, Anne Ohman; Kerle, Donald F.; Merrifield, Calvin H.; and Midwest Quarterly Editors (1992) "The Midwest Quarterly; Vol. 33 No. 3," The Midwest Quarterly: A Journal of Contemporary Thought: Vol. 33: Iss. 3, Article 1.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.pittstate.edu/mwq/vol33/iss3/1