Massachusetts Review Records

Background on Massachusetts Review

In 1958 University of Massachusetts Amherst professor Jules Chametzky issued a memo detailing his intention to start a literary magazine sponsored by the English Department. Soon faculty from Amherst, Mount Holyoke, and Smith answered the call and a year later the first issue of the Massachusetts Review was published. Chametzky, joined by UMass colleagues Sidney Kaplan and Ekwueme Michael Thelwell, focused the journal on social and political issues; the marginalized voices of Jewish, black, immigrant and working class Americans strongly informed the Review's mission. Kaplan's involvement in the project broadened the magazine's scope of racial discourse as the University's new Afro-Am department quickly expanded, attracting a number eminent scholars such as John H. Bracey, Jr., and Julius Lester. As the Civil Rights Movement gained momentum, the Review served as a venue for the literature and criticism that stemmed from it. In 1969, Chametzky and Kaplan compiled a volume of essays from the Review's first decade, called Black and White in American Culture, which featured works by Lucille Clifton, Howard Zinn, Stokely Carmichael, Sterling Stuckey, Jean-Paul Sartre, W. E. B. Du Bois and Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., among others.

When Jules Chametzky went abroad, Lee Edwards took over as the Massachusetts Review's chief editor. A longtime advocate for women's rights, Edwards' efforts to remedy gender inequalities at the University of Massachusetts included a groundbreaking financial review, which demonstrated the large disparity between the salaries of male and female professors. She was also pivotal in the creation of the Everywoman's Center, as well as the University's Women's Studies Department. Along with Mel Heath and Lisa Baskin, Edwards co-edited Woman: An Issue in 1972. The issue concerned itself with the literature of the Women's Movement, and the diverse experiences of women around the globe. It featured a range of voices from Johnetta B. Cole to Norman Mailler, as well as artistic contributions from Lisa Baskin. Another pivotal figure in the magazine's publication of women writers was poet and educator Anne Halley, married to Jules Chametzky, who was deeply involved in bringing the writings of local female authors, such as Holyoke's Mary Doyle Curran, into the pages of literary magazines. A poetry editor for twenty-five years, the Anne Halley Poetry Prize was established after her death in 2004 to honor her commitment to helping emerging to mid-career writers gain the recognition necessary to further their work and professional lives. The prize is co-sponsored by the University of Massachusetts English Department, and awards five hundred dollars and the opportunity to give a reading in the Amherst area. The recipient of the prize is voted upon by each editor, and is given to the poet whose piece receives the most votes. Past recipient have included Bob Hicok, Diane Wald, and Marilyn Hacker.

At the turn of the new millennium, the magazine shifted its focus once more toward the changing climate of American politics. The aftermath of the September 11 attacks introduced terrorism into America's vocabulary. The editorial staff curated the Egypt Issue, which brought the growing political unrest in the Middle East into discussion. In 2008, John Emil Vincent guest edited MRQ: An Especially Queer Issue, which featured some of the most exciting voices of queer studies, including an interview with Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick by Michael D Snediker, and an interview with Judith Butler by Thomas L. Dumm, along with visual contributions from Layla Ali and Lee Gordon. The issue was lauded for its varied display of queer literature and art.

In addition to publishing countless influential literary works, the Massachusetts Review's connection to the art world has long distinguished it from its contemporaries. Since Leonard Baskin's initial involvement, the visual arts have long held a central place within the magazine's pages. Art editors have included Lisa Baskin and Pam Glaven, whose solicitation of cover images and art features gave the magazine a distinct visual presence. As renown art critic Grace Gluek stated, "It isn't every literary magazine whose covers serve as visual appetizers for what's to be found inside. One rare example is the Massachusetts Review...Its stimulating covers, adorned by paintings, drawings, photographs and such, give salient visual clues to each issue's contents, suggesting the intellectual bounty within." (You Can't Tell a Book by Its Cover?) The art inserts not only lend beauty to the magazine, but further build upon the collective narrative offered by each issue. Sculptors, painters, printmakers and photographers alike have been highlighted in these pages.