Hirschman, Jack

KS ("Kabbalah Surrealism")

Venice, CA: Beyond Baroque, 1972. First Printing. Stapled Wrappers. Efforts to trace the influence of Jewish mysticism on writing associated with the First and Second San Francisco Renaissance will direct your readerly — (or literary-historical) — attention to the following two people: Jack Hirschman (1933-2021), & Wallace Berman (1926-1976). Hirschman was a presence at Berman’s soirees, and these epoch-altering soirees played a role in the birth of the latter’s pioneering multimedia small press mail-art magazine, Semina. Those interested in Berman (i.e., those desirous of understanding Berman’s own relationship to Jewish mysticism, & the way that relationship influenced the art and thought of his friends) should check out Tosh Berman’s [Son of Wallace; b. 1954] 2018 memoir on Wallace & the scene surrounding Semina. What the record suggests is that Wallace’s interest in Jewish mysticism (including, but not limited to the Kabbalah) influenced several important acolytes — of which Jack Hirschman is one. This influence of Wallace Berman acknowledged; the record also fulsomely suggests that Jack Hirschman was a top-flight scholar & veritable library unto himself. Furthermore—in Your Devoted VP-of-Operations here at TMB’s opinion—Hirschman took this study to another level in his poetry and translation work (because his trade was words; and Berman’s, pictures). As the rarest and most voluminous testament formally published that addresses these interests, this essay — titled KS (or “Kabbalah Surrealism”) — is the defining document regarding Jack’s then-ongoing scholastic devotion to such works. We at TMB would go so far as to say it is THE key work to all meaningful scholarship (which remains to be done, by the way) to be done on Hirschman regarding all such works. It’s a prose ‘skeleton key,’ if you will, to decoding Jack’s (at times) hard-to-penetrate poetry touching tangentially (or directly) about Judaism, Jewish Mysticism, and the role of both in his own Frantz Fanonian- “intellectual formation” (as FF put it on Ch. 10 [“On National Art”] of his masterwork, The Wretched of the Earth). While at a comparably higher price point than our other Hirschman offerings, the price is structured to reflect this item’s objective rarity and scholastic potential. For example, no one has written about Hirschman in the context of his work’s relation to that of canonical Lebanese poet, Ameen Rihani (1876-1940), — one of the most important poets in the Arab world. All told, we encourage interested scholars to make the investment — because there is simply stuff here that has never been written about in the field of Beat Studies, Judaica, and Mid-Century American Literature, writ large. From the archive of Thomas Rain Crowe, the legendary American poet and co-authorial founder of the Second San Francisco Renaissance. For more information on the Thomas Rain Crowe archive (assembled & curated by Third Mind Books), see our book, Starting from San Francisco: Thomas Rain Crowe in Conversation with Third Mind Books (Item No. 3071) & the catalog for the Crowe archive (Item No. 1010), which contains several excerpts and quotations from the book as well as a full listing of the archive’s contents, which are now being offered for sale individually on the Third Mind Books site. Small-format pamphlet in stapled wrappers: the first and only printing of KS currently available. In strong near fine condition with only minor-to-moderate shelf-wear to fine-edges & corners of front, back covers & spine-edge; some age-toning, rubbing, light bumping, rusting & fleck-like bleeding to staples at interior & exterior & light-to-moderate age-toning throughout; otherwise, clean. Near Fine. [Item #7632]

Price: $175.00