Michael Cuddihy Papers and
Ironwood Press records,
Inclusive Dates:
1932-2000
Bulk Dates:
(bulk 1949-1988)
Physical Description:
11.25 linear
ft.
Abstract:
This collection consists of the personal papers,
correspondence, drafts of his unpublished manuscript entitled Man on a Seesaw, photographs and poems of Michael Cuddihy 1932-2000.
The records of the Ironwood Press and Ironwood magazine consists of contributor’s
draft manuscripts of poetry, correspondence, chapbooks and select office
files.
Collection Number:
MS 358
Repository:
University of Arizona Libraries, Special Collections
University of Arizona
PO Box 210055
Tucson, AZ 85721-0055
Phone: 520-621-6423
Fax: 520-621-9733
URL: http://www.library.arizona.edu/speccoll
Biographical Note
Michael Cuddihy was born in 1932 in New York City. His family was steeped in
literature and publishing; his grandfather and father headed the publishing firm
Funk and Wagnalls.
Cuddihy was 19 and a student at Notre Dame University when he was stricken with
respiratory polio on Labor Day 1951. For nine months, he lived in an iron lung,
after which he shifted to a rocking bed. Eventually, he used a wheelchair and was
able to walk with assistance. .
Cuddihy resumed his education in the fall of 1953 at Columbia University. In 1956 he
moved to Tucson, Arizona, and continued his studies at the University of Arizona.
Cuddihy graduated in 1959 with a B.A. degree in History. Throughout the 1960s,
Cuddihy worked as a translator and attended graduate classes in American and
European history at the University of Arizona. In 1966 he dropped out of graduate
school to devote himself to his translating work and published an English version of
Jacques Maritain’s The Peasant of Garonne (1967).
While in Tucson, Cuddihy discovered his love for poetry, and wrote: “I was hungry
for personal experience, anxious to get close to my feelings. Poetry might be a way.
I began writings, spending hours with poetry, or alone in the desert or along dry
riverbeds listening...” He began reading poetry journals and submitting work to
journals; six poems were accepted by Kayak, a
magazine known to publish new poets.
In 1971, Cuddihy attended a summer workshop at Cornell given by his second cousin’s
husband, poet William Mathews, and it was there the idea for his poetry magazine
Ironwood was born. The name for the magazine was
chosen both for the symbolic and physical qualities of the ironwood tree. In Try Ironwood he wrote that while reading over his poems,
he ”… came to realize, rooted as he was in a wheelchair, how deeply he felt drawn to
trees, themselves deeply rooted yet reaching well into the sky.” It seemed an apt
metaphor for a poet. Ironwood magazine was published
from 1972-1988, and the Ironwood Press published 14 chapbooks.
In 1979, Cuddihy married Mary Cusick, the sister of his college roommate at Norte
Dame University. Mary, a poet, had flown to Tucson to assist with the magazine and
became the business manager for Ironwood. Mary and Michael spent their summers in
northern California where they were able to mingle with poets, and developed close
relationships with George and Mary Oppen and Czelaw Milosz, among others. In 1983,
Cuddihy was one of the founders of the ongoing Tucson Poetry Festival. On July 13,
2000 Michael Cuddihy died at his home in Tucson from complications of pneumonia.
Historical Note
Ironwood magazine was founded in Tucson, Arizona, in
1972 by Michael Cuddihy. It was projected as a bi-annual collection of poetry with
occasional reviews and essays, although the number of prose works increased as the
magazine became more established.IronwoodI magazine
quickly became known in the poetry world and attracted such names as Diane Wakoski,
Philip Booth and Alberto Rios, and received numerous state and federal grants. Many
of the poems that were printed in Ironwood magazine
were unsolicited. Poets eagerly submitted work for the final issue of Ironwood(no. 32/33, Spring/Fall 1988). Michael Cuddihy
was proud of his accomplishments and the influence of his magazine in the literary
world.
Ironwood published a number of special issues devoted
to the work of a single poet. Issues of note highlighted the works of George Oppen
(no. 5 and no. 26), James Wright (no.10), Czelaw Milosz (no.18, which was published
prior to his winning the Nobel Prize), and Tomas Transtromer (no.13). Ironwood (no.
5), the first special issue, included seven of George Oppen’s poems, including the
long poem "The Book of Job", and an interview with
him by David Gitin. These were complemented by a memoir from Oppen’s wife, Mary, and
appreciations by Charles Tomilinson, Diane Wakoski, Bruce Andrews, Rachel Blau
DuPlessis and Theodore Enslin. Memoirs and essays from Oppen’s fellow
“objectivists,” Carl Rakosi and Charles Reznikoff, rounded out the issue.
The diverse range of Ironwood’s special issues focused
on aspects of poetry or literary criticism, including (no. 7/8), with a section on
Ten Young Tucson Poets; (no. 17), Chinese Poetry Symposium; (no. 20) Language Poets;
and (no. 24) Poetics. Ironwood (no. 17), titled "Chinese
Poetry and the American Imagination" featured essays and criticism by
Robert Bly, Gary Snyder, Jonathan Chavez, Stanly Kunitz, James Wright, Kenneth
Rexroth and others in a "symposium” format along with translations of selected
Chinese poets. Ironwood (no. 20) was a dual issue featuring the works of Hilda
Morley and a section titled “Realism and Anthology of Language Poets,” edited by Ron
Silliman. The issue provided an introduction to the influential West Coast-based
movement and its strong national participants.
Slight in appearance, Ironwood aimed to publish
younger and lesser-known poets, several of whom were published for the first time in
Ironwood. One of Michael Cuddihy's objectives as
editor was to provide a wider publications venue for women poets. In the first four
issues of the journal, only 23 of 138 contributors were women; it was not until
Ironwood 12 that women comprised half of the contributors. Another defining feature
of Ironwood was its regular inclusion of work in translation. Ironwood 1 had
inaugurated this feature by including poetry by Jean Follain in translations by
William Matthews and Mary Feeny. Other poets presented in translation included Pablo
Neruda, Antonio Muchado, Paul Eluard, Rainer Maria Rilke, Rene Char, and Rafael
Alberti.
Michal Cuddihy ceased publication of Ironwood magazine
in 1988 because, he said “…it had become increasingly difficult to handle the
endless flow of manuscripts with the kind of care and attention they deserve and
that good editing requires.”
Scope and Content Note
This collection consists of the personal papers and poems of Michael Cuddihy and the
records of the Ironwood Press, including office and production materials for the
literary magazine Ironwood. The bulk of the
collection consists of correspondence between Cuddihy and contributors to Ironwood. The contributors are 20th century poets,
including Kenneth Rexroth, Charles Simic, Czeslaw Milosz, Will Inman, Gary Snyder,
David Ignatow, George Oppen and Diane Wakoski. The Ironwood productions files
consist of typescripts, corrected typescripts, and when available, original cover
artwork. The last series of this collection contains the writings of Michael
Cuddihy, including seven drafts of his unpublished autobiographical manuscript
entitled "Man on a Seesaw".
The fellowship application material in Series V, box 23, folder 6 are restricted
until 2035.
Copyright
It is the responsibility of the user to obtain permission to publish from the owner
of the copyright (the institution, the creator of the record, the author or his/her
transferees, heirs, legates, or literary executors). The user agrees to indemnify
and hold harmless the Arizona Board of Regents for the University of Arizona, its
officers, employees, and agents from and against all claims made by any person
asserting that he or she is an owner of copyright.
Access Terms
Personal Name(s)
Cuddihy, Michael,
1932-2000.
DuPlessis, Rachel
Blau--Correspondence
Miłosz,
Czesław--Coreespondence.
Oppen,
George--Corespondence.
Rexroth, Kenneth,
1905-1982--Correspondence.
Simic, Charles,
1938- --Corespondence.
Snyder,
Gary--Correspondence.
Stanford, Frank,
1948-1978--Correspondence.
Wakoski,Diane--Correspondence.
Corporate Name(s)
Ironwood
Press--Archives.
Subject(s)
American poetry--20th
century.
Poetry -- Publishing -- United
States -- History -- 20th century.
This series contains mostly correspondence with contributors but there are
letters from publishers and the extended Cuhhidy family. He prepared several
standardized responses that would be sent to contributors whose work he did
not think merited a lengthy response. For contributors whose work he chose
to accept or whose work he admired Cuddihy would jot a few notes on the
contributor’s envelope for his assistants to type.
The series contains both incoming and outgoing mail. There is a modest amount
of outgoing correspondence. The majority of the series is arranged
alphabetically by name of sender. Only the last folder of outgoing
correspondence is arranged chronologically by year.
This series is arranged chronologically by issue. Some of the files consist
of published and unpublished typescripts, corrected typescripts, and when
available, original cover artwork. A complete set of additional production
material, such as bluelines and page proofs, exist only for Ironwood 31/32,
the final issue. The entire series of Ironwood is available in the Main
library, Special Collections and the Poetry Center at the call number PS1
.I7. Of particular interest to researchers may be those manuscripts
submitted for special issues such as Ironwood 18 Milosz, Ironwood 20 Hilda
Morley Language Poets, and Ironwood 26 Dickinson - Spicer. For the Dickinson
issue, Susan Howe, a recognized Dickinson scholar, submitted several
versions of her manuscript each version representative of the close
relationship of the poet and scholar to her material.
This series is arranged chronologically. It contains the manuscripts and
production materials for the chapbooks published by the Ironwood Press.
Although there were a total of fourteen Chapbooks published, only a few of
the manuscripts remain intact. One copy of each chapbook is contained in
these files, and additional copies are catalogued separately as part of the
Special Collections book collection.
box
folder
23
1
1972-1974
A mile called Timothy, G.E. Murray.
Footholds, Thomas Johnson.
Waiting out the rain, Tony Petrosky.
type="folder">2
1976-1984
Separate creatures, Steven Orlen.
Chicago, Nils Nelson.
Executioner, Bruce Weigl.
Breaking free, Del Marie Rogers.
A Hacksaw brightness, Lynn Strongin. Cover only.
Crib death, Frank Stanford.
I want to say listen, Tom Crawford.
None, river, Michael Burkard.
L'Après-midi d'un faune : le cygne d'autrefois, by Stéphane
Mallarmé ; with a translation, prelude and postlude by Hayden
Carruth.
This series contains the remaining files of the Ironwood Press. Very little
routine office material was retained by Cuddihy, and most of the series is
comprised of grant applications, reference requests for fellowships and
Cuddihy’s letters of reference for other poets, and reviews of Ironwood.
This is series is a record of Michael Cuddihy’s writing career. There are
several poem collections, an alphabetical list of his poems and numerous
drafts of his unpublished memoir.