Twenty Years with Yankev Glatshteyn

In 1980, my book, Yankev Glatshteyn, had just come out. But four events, central to my thoughts, feelings, and intellectual development, had not yet occurred: my marriage, my father's sudden death, my training in psychoanalysis, and my absorption with biography. During the course of my adjustment to these changes, the figure to whom I have turned, again and again, that is, to whose creations I have turned, is Glatshteyn. Indeed, as I look back over the twenty years since Prooftexts was launched, I am amazed to discover that Glatshteyn's creative presence has hovered around me the entire time. How I have reread and rethought him during the last two decades is the subject of my reflections. In the work of this poetic genius, I have found a consistent yet flexible companion and egvayzer (guide) over the years.