Archives
Series fills a publishing niche
By JESSICA KELTZ
Reporter Contributor
The Center Working Papers series, which has published Bruce Jackson's most recent book, "Late Friends," was started as a way to make accessible materials that weren't quite traditional books. Jackson, SUNY Distinguished Professor in the departments of American Studies and English, and a member of the series' editorial board, said that in addition to 10 books since 2003, four more are planned for the next year. (See story in this issue for more details about "Late Friends")
Other editorial board members are sociologist Howard Becker; Diane Christian, SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor in the UB Department of English; David Felder, professor of music; and John Mohawk, associate professor of American studies.
"We thought we needed a publication base for works in progress that deserved some light at this point, or for works that didn't fit other publication categories," Jackson said.
For example, he said, some written work is longer than an article but shorter than a book, but that doesn't mean there's no market for it. In other cases, a topic might be of interest to those studying a certain subject, but there aren't enough of those people to make a book about it commercially viable for a large publishing company.
Jackson himself has done a lot of writing on the Peace Bridge, and often would receive requests for copies of his articles. In response, the series published "Bruce Jackson: The Peace Bridge Chronicles."
"When I first came here (to UB), there was a series called Buffalo Series of Language and Literature, and I always liked the idea of it—of there being a regular series reflecting the things that we're doing and the kind of interesting people we have here," Jackson said.
Upcoming works from the Center Working Papers series, which is affiliated with UB's Center for Studies in American Culture, may lend new insight into important literary figures.
"Coney Island," by photographer Jerry Thompson, is scheduled for release this fall. Thompson, Jackson explained, primarily photographs objects, but he once worked with famed documentary photographer Walker Evans. In "Coney Island," Thompson features photos of young people at the Brooklyn amusement park, as well as written commentary.
"Photograph books are very expensive to print, and I don't think a commercial publisher was willing to take it on," Jackson said. "But for us, it was interesting because it combined photographs with the essay."
Two more new publications, "Robert Creeley: Poets Work" and "Leslie A. Fiedler: Starting in Newark," offer never-before-seen conversations with UB luminaries Robert Creeley and Leslie Fiedler.
In 2001, filmmakers shot footage of Jackson and Creeley talking about poetry. They used about 15 minutes of the conversation in a DVD they were producing at the time, but the rest never saw the light of day, Jackson said. "Poets Work" will contain a transcript of the entire conversation, as well as a bibliography of Creeley's work and a few of his poems, Jackson said.
The idea for "Starting in Newark" came from videotape Jackson and Christian took of Fiedler telling stories about his life and talking about writing and literature. The book is a transcript of 15 or 20 hours of tape, Jackson said.
"It was about things he had always wanted to write about, but was never quite able to," Jackson said.
The Creeley book is scheduled to be released this summer, with the Fiedler book following in summer 2006.
Center Working Papers also plans to publish a book this fall by noted philosopher Newton Garver, SUNY Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus, entitled "Limits of Power: Some Friendly Reminders." The book contains essays Garver has written on political developments in Bolivia, as well as on major moral issues, Jackson said.
While the Center Working Papers publishes mainly the work of UB faculty members, it will consider other material as well, such as the book by Jerry Thompson, Jackson said.
He also pointed out that the series publishes on the Web, as well as in print. A piece by UB law professor John Henry Schlegel, "Like Crabs in a Barrel: Economy, History and Development in Buffalo," recently was published online at http://www. centerworkingpapers.com. The online pieces "are free publications that we think it useful to make available via the site," Jackson said.