1988
1988 115 31 january 1988 My dear friend Isty, [ … ] The Suite for orchestra from The Confidence Man which I had to let “hang-fire” through Dec.–Jan. is now completed. And before I gear up for some chamber music I must write, I want to settle a few details in the sketches for the 2nd Suite (from the same) for soloists, chorus & orch[estra], put them aside ’til I’m ready to sit down & write out another 200 pages of score. Neither of the suites is for anyone; so for the present there are no perf[ormance]s in sight, but when the spirit moves me, perhaps I will be able to interest someone in doing the orchestral one. The second immediate project which Gene & I began [ … ] is preparing a volume of all of Paul’s poetry & his four stories. We’re working with a young book designer on one end; on another, a young poet friend John Matthias1 [ … ] is trying to interest publishers of poetry in taking on the volume. If we can bring the two ends together, Paul’s work will finally see the light of day. [ … ] The last 4 days were spent in my writing a “Preface” for the volume in which I tried to weave together some biographical matters of import, comments on the design of the contents (four parts, the first three, the poetry, the last, Paul’s stories), posthumous statements by writers, some of whom were friends of Paul’s, and a final section where I try to “locate” Paul’s work in the human/spiritual spectrum of things. Gene is typing it now & when we have Xeroxes made I’ll send you a copy & would appreciate your reaction to the feel & tone of it (which I’ve tried to keep simple, direct, unselfconscious & unsentimental —yet loving). [ … ]| 205 It fascinates me that you are so deeply involved with the Kabbalah (I’ve read only Gershom Scholem [when] I was involved so heavily a year ago now with the possible meanings of the IInd commandment). In today’s N[ew] Y[ork] Times B[oo]k Rev[iew] a piece by Harold Bloom on new anthologies of Yiddish poetry—& I suddenly feel a strong urge to read them.2 Going back to my IInd com[man]d[men]t thoughts: were the early Hebrews (& subsequently the Jews of Europe & America) “alienated” or “self-alienated”? To me the question, probably unanswerable in the end, is of the greatest importance because Jews, as early Hebrews, are obviously fascinated by, drawn to, unable to resist ultimately pagan/Gentile culture. Yet they either refuse outright or are unable (for less consciously overt reasons) to merge with, be an unidentifiable part of non-Jewish culture. If we look at the present hell that has overtaken Israel, & add to that its internal discussions between secularism & fanatic orthodoxy, what in fact are we “looking” at? Merely nationalist or religious ideologies or something deeper? Something that wants, needs, demands to be separate from, different in kind & degree from everything & everyone else? I have felt this war in myself since I was 15–17. Once at a party I met a French-Jewish couple recently emigrated to the States. The wife looked at me with amazement as I dropped a Yiddish word to salt a phrase: “What, you’re one of us??!” And I thought in my usual ironic/sardonic way about such things: you mean, lady, I don’t “look” Jewish? Then comes the curious question: why do (most) Jews automatically assume they know instinctively what another Jew will “look like”? Or that out of any crowd of human faces they can pick out the “Jewish” ones? That can hardly be what being “Jewish” is or means. Then of course I read Hindu & Christian theology & end up thinking: and neither can I subscribe to your tenets even though here & there are gems of thought, experience, even wisdom. The quandary is hardly lessened when I remind myself of what Sartre said: a Jew is anyone others call a Jew. I’ve gone too far afield but I needed a little talk with you. Pity of it is, you’re not here to enlarge the dimensions of it & add your thoughts & warmth to the heavy question. Whatever the human answer to “Muss es sein,” historically , the “Es muss sein” can’t be pushed away. [ … ] George PS: A last thought: I have a young poet friend, Stephen Berg—wellpublished by now & very gifted, who lives & writes in an agony of selfdoubt : About being “alive” here & now, about “who” he is...
OR
