L. W. Rosenfield, University of New Hampshire
Abstract of a Paper to Be Presented at the 1999 Triennial Conference of the Kenneth Burke Society
The death of Malcolm Cowley in 1989 brought to an end one of the more remarkable and longlived literary correspondences in the history of American letters, and likely one of the last. It was the seventy-six-year, near-weekly exchange of letters between Cowley and Kenneth Burke, lifelong friends from the time they were toddlers in Pittsburgh. This epistolary cascade affords a real-time profile of their lives, adventures, struggles, companions, friendship, and of course the community of Twentieth-Century American letters in which they dwelt.
Technology almost guarantees that this treasure trove will be among the last of its type. The close of this century is witnessing the decline of the epistolary art form ("snail mail") in favor of more instantaneous and ephemeral forms (fax, telephone, e-mail) which emphasize instant detached reaction at the expense of nuanced, reflective verbal contact.
In addition, Burke and Cowley's generation is among the last to write for the record safely assuming that their letters would be saved, collected, and archived--Burke's in Penn State University's Pattee Library, Cowley's in Chicago's Newberry Library. Hence we have documents written with a calculated pose rather than notes hastily dashed off. Even the mundane details of daily life are recycled as art.
Students of rhetoric, literature, or intellectual or cultural history will find this correspondence of interest, although it is not "about" any of these topics. Indeed there are several curious lacunae--the Great Depression, World War II, Vietnam (at least here), and both men's divorces (especially Burke's, which today might qualify for the Jerry Springer Show)-which only serve to remind us of how deliberately both authors were editing their comments for posterity. Not so, thankfully, their incisive comments regarding several literary figures and academics of their acquaintance.
Nonetheless, their voluminous exchange* sheds light on an enduring friendship of two confidants living at the vortex of modem American literature. And because they confide in each other (and indeed sometimes conspire together), we are afforded a better understanding of their lives, works, associates, and aspirations.
I intend to sift this material with a particular view to illuminating the persona Burke constructs for himself. While what emerges is generally familiar to his friends and acolytes--their anecdotal evidence confirms the broader strokes of the letters-closer examination of the interstices of this single enduring relationship provokes some intriguing reflections on the man who sometimes signed his letters, "Ignatz de Burp."
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