In a delightful series of events, just after I talked about Walt Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass” two weeks ago, Whitman has been recently thrown into the literary spotlight. A PHD student, Zachary Turpin, has discovered that an anonymous story published in the New York Times in 1852 was written by Walt Whitman. The novel is called “The Life and Adventures of Jack Engle,” described in an article by Constance Grady of Vox as “A quasi-Dickensian tale of an orphan’s adventures, it features a villainous lawyer, virtuous Quakers, glad-handing politicians, a sultry Spanish dancer and more than a few unlikely plot twists and jarring narrative shifts.” 2
Here’s the original ad that appeared in the New York Times, 1852:
By looking at old manuscripts and notebooks that Whitman kept, Turpin found “notes” on the anonymous “Jack Engle” book that linked Whitman and the novel.
(Library of Congress)
Unfortunately, the story was a flop and was never published past its appearance in the Times. Ed Folsom, the editor of The Walt Whitman Quarterly review, sees this failed novel as a step in Whitman’s self-discovery as a writer. Published three years prior to the 1855 edition of “Leaves of Grass,” this gives us insight to “how a workaday journalist and mostly conventional poet transformed himself into the author of the sensuous, philosophical, wildly experimental and altogether unclassifiable free verse of “Leaves of Grass” (Jennifer Schuessler, In a Walt Whitman Novel, Lost for 165 Years, Clues to ‘Leaves of Grass’). 1
Despite lack of popularity when it was published, Turpin, Folsom, and other Whitman fans are quite taken with the novel. Turpin describes it as a “rollicking, interesting, beautiful, beautiful and bizarre,” with antic twists, goofy names and suddenly revealed conspiracies.”
Here’s an excerpt from the novel:
I know few more melancholy sights than these old men present, whom you see here and there about New York; apparently without chick or child, very poor, their lips caved in upon toothless gums, dressed in seedy and greasy clothes, and ending their lives on that just debatable ground between honorable starvation and the poor house. Old Wigglesworth had been well off once. The key to his losses, and his old age of penury, was nothing more nor less than intemperance. He did not get drunk, out and out, but he was never perfectly sober. Covert now employed him at a salary of four dollars a week.
I have yet to read the novel in its entirety, but the snippets I have read are intriguing and hold a similar mastery of language and imagery that continually draws me to “Leaves of Grass.”
However, despite my own and other’s praise, Whitman himself seemed to have quite decisively not taken credit for “Jack Engle” back in 1852. Here’s a piece from an article Jessica Shuessler wrote on the matter:
“My serious wish,” he wrote in 1882, “were to have all those crude and boyish pieces quietly dropp’d in oblivion.” In 1891, when a critic was planning on republishing some of his early tales, he was blunt: “I should almost be tempted to shoot him if I had an opportunity.”
Fortunately for Zachary Turpin, Whitman is no longer around to give into his temptations. And while this might not be his best or most celebrated work, it gives the literary community a peek into Whitman’s growth as a writer, his experimentation with genre and form, and 36,000 new words from Walt Whitman.
Check out “The Life and Adventures of Jack Engle” here.
Best,
Merav
Sources:
1. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/20/arts/in-a-walt-whitman-novel-lost-for-165-years-clues-to-leaves-of-grass.html
2. http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2017/02/25/houston-academic-finds-uncredited-novel-written-by-walt-whitman/
If “He Will Not Divide Us” Then What Does?
Shia LaBeouf: actor, artist, activist or all three? On January 20th, Shia LaBeouf, Luke Turner, and Nastja Säde Rönkkö presented their exhibit titled “He Will Not Divide Us” at the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens, New York. On February 10th, the Museum of the Moving Image abruptly let it go, citing it as an “ongoing safety hazard.” The artists then relocated their piece to Albuquerque, New Mexico, at the El Ray Theatre. Early Thursday morning, February 23rd, gunshots broke loose near the exhibit and the artists shut down “He Will Not Divide Us” for good.
“He Will Not Divide Us” was an anti-Trump, audience-activated, live-stream centered exhibit that invited its passerby’s to recite the following phrase into a lone camera: “He will not divide us.” In their desire to inspire indivisibility, LaBeouf, Turner, and Rönkkö incited a bit of chaos along the way.
In late January, LaBeouf himself was arrested during the project’s brief stint in Queens for assaulting a young man who did not share LaBeouf’s anti-Trump opinions.
On Februrary 23rd, Thursday morning, at 6 A.M., Shia LaBeouf tweeted the following:
We must ask: Is it inevitable that violence follows controversy? “He Will Not Divide Us” was originally intended by its artists to remain for at least four years—the duration of Trump’s expected presidency. The briefness of “He Will Not Divide Us” leads us to wonder whether the intricate web of safety, free speech, and political activism it twists will forever be ridden with violence. Where do we find ourselves, as individuals in a society distorted by conflict, able to speak out? What is our medium and how is it compromised by the possibility of violence? Marcel Duchamp once said, “A painting that doesn’t shock isn’t worth painting.” But what if the shock of violence takes hold and the artist is forced to take down the painting? What we have then is the story of a painting and its disappearance—which is sometimes even more memorable than the painting itself.
–Camille Dourmashkin-Cagol
When Will the Trumpness Stop?
On February 7th, Muhammad Ali Jr. and his mother, Khalilah Camacho Ali were stopped and separated at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport’s immigration checkpoint while were returning from a Black History Month event held in Montego Bay, Jamaica.
Chris Mancini, their lawyer and family friend says that The Alis were questioned about their ancestry and religion, which is a form of profiling.
He explained, “From the way they were treated, from what was said to them, they can come up with no other rational explanation except they fell into a profiling program run by customs, which is designed to obtain information from anyone who says they’re a Muslim.”
Ms. Ali was released after showing a photo of herself and her ex-husband, Muhammad Ali Sr. Her son didn’t have a photo of his famous, prolific father with him at the time.
He was detained for approximately two hours, though he explained who he was, was in possession of a U. S. passport, and was born in Philadelphia making him a native-born US citizen.
A law enforcement official claimed that Mr. Ali was held for fifty-seven minutes.
Mr Ali. and his mom are frequent travelers, however this was their first time being questioned about their religion while returning to the United States. They also haven’t traveled since this incident.
The Ali family and Mr. Mancini couldn’t help but notice the timing of such detention and have deemed President Trump’s travel ban responsible for such treatment. Trump signed an executive order on January 27th, days before their flight.
Mr. Mancini said, “They’re asked specifically about their Arabic names. Where they got their names from and whether they’re Muslims. It doesn’t take much to connect those dots to what Trump is doing.”
He also said that the Ali family were considering filing a federal suit.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection commented, “Due to the restrictions of the Privacy Act, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection cannot discuss individual travelers; however, all international travelers arriving in the U.S. are subject to CBP inspection.” The spokesperson relegated further questions to Customs and Border Protection officials.
There seems to be no limits on the madness or as I like to call it Trumpness going in the world caused by his presidency. Why can’t people be of different religions and travel? When will there be a time when profiling of any form doesn’t exist? Unfortunately with this current presidency, it doesn’t seem like it will ever happen.
For more on this story, check here, here and here!
Discouraged,
Kayla Nathaniel
The Junction Journal 