Jack Hirschman

Jack Hirschman (December 13, 1933 – August 22, 2021)

Early life and education

Hirschman was born on December 13, 1933, in New York City, into a Russian Jewish family.

Career At 19 years old, Hirschman sent a story to Ernest Hemingway, who responded: "I can't help you, kid. You write better than I did when I was 19. But the hell of it is, you write like me. That is no sin. But you won't get anywhere with it."

In the 1950s and 1960s, Hirschman taught at Dartmouth College and the University of California, Los Angeles. During his tenure at UCLA, one of the students enrolled in his class was Jim Morrison, later to be a cofounder and lead vocalist of the American band The Doors. His marriage disintegrated, and he moved to San Francisco in 1973. where he was a regular patron), and readings, becoming an active street poet and a peripatetic activist. Hirschman was also a painter and collagist.

Death Hirschman died from coronavirus-related causes at his home in San Francisco, on August 22, 2021, at the age of 87. He was remembered by the San Francisco Chronicle as, "a scholar and translator in nine languages who threw over a career as a college professor for the life of a proletarian North Beach poet."

Poetry

His first volume of poetry, A Correspondence of Americans, published in 1960 by Indiana University Press, included an introduction Among his many volumes of poetry are A Correspondence of Americans (Indiana University Press, 1960), Black Alephs (Trigram Press, 1969), Lyripol (City Lights, 1976), The Bottom Line (Curbstone, 1988), and Endless Threshold (Curbstone, 1992). He also translated over two dozen books into English from languages including Hebrew, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Persian, Russian, Albanian, and Greek. In his Poet Laureate inaugural address, Hirschman envisioned creating an International Poetry Festival in San Francisco, reprising a great tradition from the city's literary past.

In July 2007, Friends of the San Francisco Public Library, Mayor Gavin Newsom, Hirschman, and the San Francisco Public Library presented their first San Francisco International Poetry Festival.

Hirschman was named Poet-in-Residence with Friends of the San Francisco Public Library in 2009.

Hirschman was a long time mentor to author and actress Amber Tamblyn.

Political views

Hirschman supported the anti-war movement, the Black Panther Party, and advocated for the rights of homeless people. Hirschman translated the youthful poems of Joseph Stalin into English in which he identifies as a Marxist-Leninist. He stated in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, “The most important thing as a poet is that I worked for the Communist movement for 45 years, and the new class of impoverished and homeless people.” Following graduation, Ruth became a program director for KPFK and eventually general manager of Santa Monica public radio station KCRW. The couple had two children, David and Celia, before divorcing in 1973. His son, David, died of lymphoma in 1982, at age 25. His daughter Celia Hirschman is a music business consultant and is the host of the "On the Beat" program on KCRW.

Selected works Collections A Correspondence of Americans Indiana University Press, 1960 (With Franz Kline) Kline Sky, The Zora Gallery, 1965 Yod, Trigram Press, 1966 Black Alephs: Poems, 1960-1968, Phoenix Bookshop, 1969 HNYC, R. Tamblyn Skyline Press, 1971 The Burning of Los Angeles, J'Ose Press, 1971 Endless Threshold, Curbstone Press, 1992 Front Lines, City Lights Publishers, 2002 Only Dreaming Sky, Manic D Press, 2007 All That's Left, City Lights Publishers, 2008 The Ulitsea Arcane, Nicola Viviani Edizioni, 2012 Talking Leaves, Sore Dove Press, 2013 Passion, Provocation and Prophecy, Swimming with Elephants Publications, 2015 The Arcanes : 2006-2016 Multimedia Edizioni, 2016

Editor Revolutionary Poets Brigade (Volume 1) Caza de Poesía, 2010 Poets 11 Anthology 2012 Friends of the San Francisco Public Library, 2016 (with Falk, Agneta) Heartfire: 2nd Revolutionary Poets Brigade anthology Kallatumba Press, 2013 (with Curl, John) Overthrowing capitalism : a symposium of poets Kallatumba Press, 2014 (with Curl, John) Overthrowing capitalism. Volume two, Beyond endless war, racist police, sexist elites Kallatumba Press, 2015 (with Curl, John) Overthrowing capitalism. Volume three, Reclaiming community Kallatumba Press, 2016 Poets 11 Anthology 2016 Friends of the San Francisco Public Library, 2016 (with Curl, John and Falk, Agneta) Overthrowing capitalism. Volume four Kallatumba Press, 2017 (with Curl, John) Building Socialism: World Multilingual Poetry from the Revolutionary Poets Brigade Homeward Press, 2020 (with Curl, John) Building Socialism, Volume 2 - Fighting Fascism Homeward Press, 2021

Translator Artaud, Antonin Antonin Artaud anthology City Lights Publishers, 1965 (with Victor Erlich) Mayakovsky, Vladimir Electric Iron Maya Books, 1971 Dalton, Roque, Poemas Clandestinos Clandestine Poems Solidarity Publications, 1984 (with Mark Eisner, John Felstiner, Forrest Gander, Robert Hass, Stephen Kessler, Stephen Mitchell, and Alastair Reid) Neruda, Pablo, The Essential Neruda City Lights Publishers, 2004 Pasolini, Pier Pablo, In Danger : a Pasolini anthology City Lights Publishers, 2010 Sénac, Jean, Citizens of Beauty : Poems of Jean Sénac Michigan State University Press, 2016