Letter to Julius E. Thompson, August 1991 (page 3 of 3)

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Questionnaire on Dudley Randall and Broadside Press Emanuel - 2 literary judgments for some time to come. As for the press and the works that emanated from it, their force is massive within the African American tradition in terms of numbers; and with re— gard to quality, Broadside press will be rivaled only by the later Lotus Press among Black publishers. When the literary history of the United States in the Sixties and Seventies isfairly recorded, Broadside Press and its poets will be given a firm qualitative place in the national tradition. 5. The question of "equal treatment" for both Black men and Black women among the poets represented introduces an anachronistic problem, for Broadside Press could hardly be expected to institutionalize a concept that became political and controversial after the crown— ing point in its publishing history under Dudley's management. How— ever, it is altogether probable that Dudley, from the time of his early praise of young Stephany, whose Moving Deep he published gladly to the final years of his presiding over operations, when he contin- used to present the works of Gwendolyn Brooks, Sonia Sanches, and Margaret Walker, he was even-handed in his appreciation and prac- tical support of African American women poets. It may be meaning- ful to note that in his late poem "A Litany of Friends," saluting those home he respected for their humanity (and pub1ished, in many instances), he pays tribute to more women than men. Unequal treat— ment, in short, was not Dudley's style of life or practice in let— ters. 6. The lasting contributions of Dudley Randall and Broadside Press to African American life after 1965 were not measurable in scores of books on library shelves under his imprint. A contribution has, to be sure, body and mass and an important span of existence, long or short, like foundation stones inscribed with the donors' names, posthumous medals revered as heirlooms, or, more ethereal, risks taken in the name of science. Dudley's contributions had physical reality as their most palpable, but probably least essential charac— teristic. One can well admire the line—up of books that came to life under his aegis. Perhaps just as feelingly, one can reawaken the image of the founder of Broadside Press straining to push the wheelbarrow loaded with books to be crowded into narrow spaces des— tined to become the historic premises of an institution beloved by bis African American fellow poets. Whether one sees the books or remembers the man, one is contemplating (in the words of Robert E. Hayden in his poem "Frederick Douglass") "the lives grown out of his life, the lives / fleshing his dream of the beautiful, needful thing." Regarding Dudley's influence on my life and career. I know that he has evidenced qualities that I respect: integrity, industry, intel— ligence, good—heartedness, and high purpose. For that reason, he is one of the two publishers who, as I say in the dedication of my recent Whole Grain: Collected Poems, 1958-1989, "kept me going as a poet." 7. Under "comments," I add that these two pages read, perhaps, more like an essay (incompletely organized, of course) than answers to a questionnaire because in my admiration of Dudley Randell I wish what I say about him to be carefully thought out and expressed in my own prose style--to the extent that a first draft can do that.

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  • type
    Image
  • created on
  • file format
    jpg
  • file size
    13 MB
  • container title
    James A. Emanuel Papers
  • issue
    Box 13 Folder 26 Thompson, Juilius E., 1991-1998, 2000
  • rights
    James A. Emanuel Estate
  • rights holder
    James A. Emanuel Estate
  • version
    26-Aug-91