The Midwest Quarterly: A Journal of Contemporary Thought
Contents
Articles
Are the New Conservatives Irresponsible? Yes.
Walter Lippman, Critic of American Foreign Policy
NATO: Lobby to the Western World
Geopolitics and the Ideological Conflict
In Roethkeland
This Side of Paradise: The Pageantry of Disillusion
Verse
Jalisco (lunas dobles, campos, juego de bolas)
Fox Furs in Church
Mill River at Sunset (New Haven)
Poet in Reserve
Elm
In Autumn's Weather
Ulysses
Seeds
The Worth of Wood
Advice to Some High School Teachers Who Asked Me How to Teach Poetry
A Will (rhymeless villanelle)
You Ask Me Why
Abstract
in this issue. . .
ACKNOWLEDGING the fact of last month's outer-space rendezvous of Gemini 6 and 7 is one thing; realization of its meaning and ultimate significance is quite another. To groundlings in Southeast Kansas, the whole magnificent but virtually incredible achievement is too far out rationally as well as spatially. Moreover, there seems to us to be a more than ample supply of earthbound (even earthy) problems which cry for attention, questions which require fuller discussion, matters more immediate than moon-shots. The contents of this winter issue demonstrate our prior involvement in matters more humane and, to us at least, germaine than any contest for domination of other planets.
ILLUSTRATIVE of editorial predispositions in favor of mundane considerations is our unanimous enthusiasm for a manuscript which arrived here in early September just days ahead of the largest enrollment in the history of the College. It came from ARCHIE J. BAHM, professor of philosophy at the University of New Mexico, and dealt with a major question facing Americans: "Are the New Conservatives Irresponsible?'' We found the author's affirmative answer good-natured, stimulating, and thoughtful. Professor Bahm's prior publications have, understandably enough, been chiefly in the area of philosophy and religion. His range is impressively broad: from Philosophy, an Introduction (1953) through Philosophy of the Buddah and Tao Teh King by Lao Tsu (1958) to Logic for Beginners (1960), The World: s Living Religions (1964), and Yoga for Business Executives and Professional People (1965). He has also published the Directory of American Philosophers, Volumes I, II, and III.
IRRESPONSIBLE is a word which no one has successfully applied to the critical work of Walter Lippmann. Our second article, examining the role Lippmann has played in the area of American foreign policy, is the product of a rather unusual scholarly team: twin brothers FREDERICK H. and EDWARD L. SCHAPSMEIER both now on the history faculty of Wisconsin State University, Oshkosh, both of whom did their undergraduate study at Concordia College in Seward, Nebraska, and their master's work at the University of Omaha. Thereafter, both worked for and received their doctorates at the University of Southern California and are probably the only two Ph. D.'s to have taken their final orals together. The brothers Schapsmeier specialize in twentieth century history and are currently working on a number of books in that area including further analysis of Lippmann's political philosophy and an ambitious study of Henry A. Wallace who died last fall. At the April meeting of the Organization of American Historians in Cincinnati, they will present a paper dealing with Wallace and the New Deal, one supposes antiphonally.
LIVING two years in Europe and teaching at NATO and SAC bases in the University of Maryland's European Division inspired the author of our third article. ERNEST F. DIBBLE, associate professor at American University, Fort Benning Branch, was a professor of history at Rocky Mountain College in Billings, Montana, a year ago this spring when he first sent us his manuscript (impressively studded with fifty-six delightful foot notes, which had to go!). At that time Professor Dibble was also editor of the Rocky Mountain Review (published by Rocky Mountain College) which he continues to serve as advisory editor. His article is an expanded, completely re-oriented, and more deeply researched version of a paper he presented to the Colorado Peace Research Conference in 1963.
UNDERLYING thorough consideration of any international question involving the sovereignty of a particular piece of real estate is the relatively esoteric subject of geopolitics. To our spring issue back in 1964 EDMOND P. ODESCALCHI of Poughkeepsie, New York, contributed a discussion of the Medieval Papacy as "The First Supranational World Government." His discussion here published was written so close to actual events that last fall's short war between India and Pakistan required some revisions in it; the truce in that war negotiated this month came too late to be included but does not alter the validity of his argument in any substantive way. A native of Hungary, Mr. Odescalchi studied political science in post-war Germany and holds a master of arts degree from St. Andrews University; he is now an editor for International Business Machines and the author of numerous articles treating the rather disparate areas of science and international relations. RARELY do the editors of this journal reach unanimous and enthusiastic agreement on literary discussions, but the manuscript RICHARD GUSTAFSON of Iowa State University sent us nearly a year ago upset the statistics completely. Theodore Roethke, who died something over a year ago, is a minor American poet who deserves far better critical acclaim than he received during his Iifetime. We welcome this opportunity to call him to our readers' attention. Professor Gustafson is editor of Poet & Critic and has published his own poetry in The Beloit Poetry Journal, The Colorado Quarterly, The New Mexico Quarterly, and elsewhere; his critical articles have appeared in College English and Twentieth Century Literature.
DISILLUSIONMENT appears frequently in American literature, and one of its best exemplars was the late F. Scott Fitzgerald. Some readers will find parallels between the first and the last articles in this issue, although it is dangerous to over-emphasize this point. SY KAHN, associate professor of English and humanities at Raymond College of the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, made his first appearance in THE MIDWEST QUARTERLY with his poem "Slender Arcs" in the fall of 1964.
TWO-THIRDS of the dozen poets whose work enhances this winter number need little if any introduction to our readers; the other four appearing in THE MIDWEST QUARTERLY for the first time include STANWOOD K. BOLTON, JR. of West Acton, Massachusetts, T. A. BROWNE of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, EDWARD LOCKE of Poughkeepsie, New York, and PETER WILD of Heidelberg, Germany. Mr. Bolton, an M. I. T. graduate, is an adjuster for an industrial fire insurance company who started writing at a Boston workshop under John Holmes. His previous publications include Audience, The Beloit Poetry Journal, The Fiddlehead, Poetry Dial, and The University Review (of Kansas City). . . . T. A. Browne teaches English at Wisconsin State University, Eau Claire. His A. B. is from the University of Minnesota in journalism, but after an interval of newspaper work he returned to Minneapolis for his A. M. and Ph.D. in English. "Fox Furs in Church" is his first published poem. . . . Edward Locke is assistant director of Mid-Hudson Libraries, a unit in the public library system of New York State, and his poetry has appeared in The Massachusetts Review, Perspective, The Saturday Review, The University Review, The Yale Review, and elsewhere. . . . When last we heard from Peter Wild, he was attached to Headquarters, United States Army, Europe, and was planning an extensive tour of Mexico for last summer. We trust he enjoyed it. A graduate of the University of Arizona, he was also planning work on his masters in English at either the University of California at Los Angeles or Arizona. His poems have been published in American Weave, The Green World, and Prairie Schooner, and he won first prize in the Writer's Digest poetry contest for 1964.
THE DOUBLE QUARTET of poets whose names are already familiar to us include LEONARD S. BERNSTEIN of New York, BURTON L. CARLSON and CHARLES EDWARD EATON of Connecticut, A. D. FREEMAN of Massachusetts, LEONARD GILLEY of Colorado, JOHN JUNSON of Iowa, Maine, and Wisconsin, MENKE KATZ of Brooklyn, and MICHAEL PAUL NOVAK of Kansas. Mr. Bernstein's previous work has been in the area of socio-political satire; his present contribution is in a far more serious vein. . . . Our first Carlson poem, "Olympia in Early Spring," appeared in our April issue last year; he is a Yale doctoral candidate in religious studies. . . . The work of Charles Edward Eaton (another Yale man) frequently appears in The Reporter, The Saturday Review, and The Sewanee Review; he is currently working on his fifth volume of poetry and a Brazilian novel. . . . Mrs. Freeman of Wellesley is a frequent and always welcome contributor to THE MIDWEST QUARTERLY. . . . Professor Gilley of the University of Denver has written several poems and articles for us in the past and bids fair to continue in that direction. . . . John Judson's poems seem to have become a regular New Year's feature in THE MIDWEST QUARTERLY; his "Cat in The Attic Window" appeared in our 1964 winter issue, and we ran "By Firelight" last January. . . . Menke Katz is widely known as the editor of Bitterroot and for substantial volumes of his own work in a variety of languages. His latest, Land of Manna, is reviewed by our poetry editor, REBECCA PATTERSON, on page 195 in this issue. . . . Our Mr. Novak, who teaches in Leavenworth, writes that since his first published poem appeared in THE MIDWEST QUARTERL Y (in July of 1964), his work has been published in or accepted by The Colorado Quarterly, Descant, Nimrod, and The Western Humanities Review.
Recommended Citation
Bahm, Archie J.; Schapsmeier, Frederick H.; Schapsmeier, Edward; Dibble, Ernest F.; Odescalchi, Edmond P.; Gustafson, Richard; Kahn, Sy; Wild, Peter; Browne, T. A.; Carlson, Burton L.; Eaton, Charles Edward; Freeman, A. D.; Locke, Edward; Gilley, Leonard; Bolton, Stanwood Jr.; Judson, John; Novak, Michael Paul; Katz, Menke; and Bernstein, Leonard S.
(1966)
"The Midwest Quarterly; Vol 7. No. 2,"
The Midwest Quarterly: A Journal of Contemporary Thought: Vol. 7:
Iss.
2, Article 1.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.pittstate.edu/mwq/vol7/iss2/1