Walt Whitman's Reconstruction: Poetry and Publishing between Memory and History

Acknowledgments

ix Acknowledgments This book would not have been possible without the generosity and support of a number of people who may not fully realize the debt of gratitude that I owe them, and I am happy to have a moment here to offer some slight recompense. First, I am grateful to my colleagues at Valparaiso University, who encouraged me throughout my work, reading drafts of materials and always lending a kind word when the going got rough. Stephanie Frederick and the rest of the Christopher Center Library staff have shown great patience with me as I tasked the interlibrary loan system to the limit, and I truly appreciate their help. I was also fortunate to be the recipient of a Valparaiso University Research Professorship early in the writing process, which allowed me to make much swifter headway than I would have otherwise . I am delighted to be a part of an institution that cares so much about teaching and scholarship. While working on the manuscript, I also had the great privilege to take part in Wayne Franklin’s History of the Book seminar at the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, MA. Much of the material that we read and discussed inspired my thinking on this project, and I was able to spend valuable time doing research in the incomparable archive. The staff at the AAS are truly wonderful professionals, and I value every opportunity that I find to work with them. Likewise, I was able to spend several productive days at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., and I appreciate the efforts made on my behalf by the staff to help me make use of the valuable materials held there. While I was in D.C., Martin Murray gave me a walking tour of the city, highlighting places where Whitman lived and worked, and he listened patiently as I discussed my project, then still in the very early stages. I am deeply grateful for the gift of his time and expertise. Likewise , my book has benefited from the wisdom of several Whitman scholars who have read some of this material in draft form, including M. Wynn Thomas, who gave valuable feedback on an early version of the “By the Roadside” chapter, and the anonymous reviewer of the completed manuscript. I also delivered early material from this Acknowledgments x work in a Midwest Modern Language conference panel chaired by the always generous and gracious Kathleen Diffley, who has gone out of her way to encourage me throughout my career. One of the true joys of my profession is being able to work with and learn from such a wonderful group of scholars. I am also very thankful to have had the opportunity to work with Holly Carver, Charlotte Wright, and the rest of the staff at the University of Iowa Press. They have helped tremendously through each step of the publication process. Jennifer Bennett ’s careful eye for detail has made this a much stronger book, and I am grateful to her as well. Much of what I know about Walt Whitman, and about being an academic , I learned from Ed Folsom. My participation in his Whitman seminar at the University of Iowa started a long-term fascination with the poet, and I knew that Whitman would be the subject of my second book long before the first was even completed. I am continually inspired by Ed’s passion, energy, and commitment, and I am deeply honored to have him as a mentor and a friend. Like the subject of this book, I oftentimes find myself straining against the limitations of the text, trying to make it do more than the marks on the page allow. Where Whitman often succeeds, however, I never feel my lack of the poet’s gift so acutely as when I turn to write of my family. My wife Andrea makes everything possible, and I sometimes think that I would keep writing books just to have the opportunity to keep thanking her, always knowing that it is never enough. My sons Will and Jack make every day an adventure, and they constantly remind me of the joys of reading, writing, and telling stories. I hope they will seek out their names here with eager fingertips, read them aloud, and feel some inkling of the pride that I feel in them. An earlier version of chapter 5 was published as “‘AverageRepresenting Grant’: Whitman’s General” in Walt Whitman Quar‑ terly Review 26.2 (2008). ...