A Midrash for Louise Rosenblatt

Abstract

For what purpose is this midrash presented? As parable, paraphrase, prophecy, and dramatic monologue, midrash offers an illuminating perspective on Louise Rosenblatt's Literature as Exploration. Deeply influenced by libertarian ideals of her family, Rosenblatt crafted a unique philosophy in which the process of reading literature was intertwined with the aims of democratic citizenry. Working to understand her insistence on the need for imaginative extension helps us to recall a vanished ideal of democratic culture and the role that literature was to play within it.

Notes

¹I thank RR reviewers Duane Roen and Rex Veeder for their careful reading of the manuscript. At NJIT, Robert Friedman, Burt Kimmelman, and Robert Lynch provided, as always, discerning comment. Jonathan Rather, Louise Rosenblatt's son, took the time to schedule interviews and manuscript review at all stages of the writing process for this essay. “The signal feature of her last years was that the same energy and passionate concerns and pleasure in small things manifest in her twenties and thirties,” Dr. Rather wrote to me, “persisted into her late nineties and really to the last week of her life.” He reminded me, time and again, that his mother's great vision was always centered on a particular present, especially while watching the cartwheels of her granddaughter..

Rather, Jonathan. Annotation of “A Midrash for Louise Rosenblatt.” 7 Nov. 2007.

Rather, Jonathan. Annotation of Louise Rosenblatt e-mail interview. 13 June 2005.

Rather, Jonathan. Annotation of Louise Rosenblatt telephone interview. 5 June 2005.

Rather, Jonathan. Annotation of “Six Stones for a Mosaic: Louise and Teaching from Her Son's Perspective.” Beers 6–8.

Rev. of Literature as Exploration, by Louise Rosenblatt. The Nation 6 Aug. 1938: 134.

Rev. of Literature as Exploration, by Louise Rosenblatt. The New Republic 28 June 1938: 231.

Rosenblatt, Louise. The Reminiscences of Louise Michelle Rosenblatt. 2 vols. Interview with Ed Edwin. New York: Columbia University Oral History Research Office. 22, 24 June and 13 and 15 July 1982.