Notes

Notes The Dan De Quille Journal, new from Falcon Hill Press of Sparks, Ne­ vada, is an irregular serial devoted to the works of early Comstock literary journalist Dan De Quille. The journal will feature reprints of De Quille’s obscure works and first-time publication of some heretofore unpublished manu­ scripts. The first issue includes two pieces of De Quille’s political satire, an 1874 account of an emigrant family rescued from the Nevada desert, an anno­ tated bibliography, and a review of a recent De Quille book. Free copies of the first issue of the Dan De Quille Journal are available while supplies last. Publisher Dave Basso is seeking reviews and literary analyses of De Quille’s works for possible publication in future issues. For more information, contact Falcon Hill Press, Box 1431, Sparks, Nevada 89432. * * * Studies in American Humor has announced a special issue, scheduled for fall .1990, dealing with “Humor in American Poetry.” Papers are solicited on any topic dealing with humor in American poetry. Essays on any chronological period (17th through 20th centuries), individual poets, regional surveys, generic analyses, thematic concerns, bibliographical surveys, or general topics are requested. Papers should be approximately 10-15 typed, double-spaced pages (3,000-5,000 words) and should conform to the MLA Handbook. A short biographical sketch and a stamped, self-addressed return envelope should accompany each manuscript. Two copies of the manuscript should be sub­ mitted. Contributors should keep copies of all manuscripts submitted. Deadline for receipt of manuscripts is 1 June 1990. Address manuscripts and inquiries to James T. F. Tanner, Guest Editor, Studies in American Humor, Dept, of English, University of North Texas, P.O. Box 13827 NT Sta., Denton, TX 76203-3827. * * * CALL FOR M ANUSCRIPTS. Manuscripts wanted for a collection of essays on the influence of space and landscape on fictions and films set in the West. Of special interest are essays focusing on landscape imagery as problem­ atic in the depiction of character and theme, e.g., how landscape affects narra­ tive, a character’s identity, relations between men and women, etc. Manu­ scripts should be 10-15 pages, double-spaced, and typed, and should follow MLA guidelines for footnoting. Send to Leonard Engel, English Dept., Quinnipiac College, Hamden, Connecticut 06518; 1-page proposals as soon as possible; manuscripts—by February 1, 1990. 368 Western American Literature LETTERS July 17,1989 Greetings: In his review of my book, The Excesses of God: Robinson Jeffers as a Religious Figure, Patrick D. Murphy makes an interesting observation: “The extended meditation works much like one of Jeffers’s narratives, drawing the reader in and making one believe the vision, even as one might resist the argument.” Then, just like the early Jeffers critics, who, spooked by his “inhu­ manism” and “nihilism,” misconceived his religion and misstated his philoso­ phy, so Murphy attributes to me ideas I do not hold and values I do not share: “But the real failure of this book lies in the male chauvinism of Part Three. There Everson posits that the mantles of poet, mystic and prophet can only be placed on male shoulders, not only ignoring but rationalizing away the strong female characters of Jeffers’s poems.” I posit no such thing. I took the mascu­ line point of view not because it is the only one, for of course it is not, but for the obvious reason that I was writing about a male poet. The chauvinism is there but it is satirized in its adolescent form, not celebrated. For even the greatest poet, as puer aeternus, in adolescence plays the fool, especially about women. As adolescent, naturally homophiliac but nervously effeminate, he is ostentatiously macho. I zeroed in on that phase of masculinity to expose the poet’s initial ambiguity viz a viz his Muse. In doing so I accented my own rural background not “to use Jeffers to inscribe [my] own self-image of the religious poet,” but to silently shift the burden of reproof from him to myself, while sustaining, by implication, his deep involvement in the stripling’s sexual Rite of Passage. When Murphy accuses me of “rationalizing away the strong female characters of Jeffers...