Tribute To Katharine Newman

Katharine Newman was passionately devoted to the inclusion of multi-ethnic literature in MLA. She was the founder and the heart and soul of the journal MELUS. Her commitment to the organization and the journal made possible their present achievements. Katharine's commitment to excellence in MELUS is exemplified in her letter of 4 November 1977 to its Editorial Advisory Board, which 1 joined in fall of that year: "This is a letter of unquiet desperation. We simply do not yet have enough good articles to send the first issue to press. We need your help in getting material that is up-to-date, pithy, scholarly--a real contribution to American literature." With her typical no-nonsense style, she complained that "the great game of collecting publication credits for tenure and promotion has stymied us." The news was better when she wrote the Editorial Advisory Board on 17 March 1978: "This is a letter of Thanksgiving on St. Patrick's Day. Not only do we have a good first issue now in production, but we are nearly ready to start work on a good second one as well.... At any rate, I am delighted to report that almost all of the articles have come through or by members of the Board. You responded well to my call for assistance in November and now I truly believe that there will be no problem getting the kind (and quality) of articles that we want." Thanks to her efforts, MELUS is now a highly respected journal with a considerable number of accepted articles waiting to be published. On 13 December 1979, Katharine asked me to continue to serve on the Editorial Advisory Board until 1982. Her letter reveals her kindness to her board members and dedication to the journal: I never realized what an important thing a name is until now. Two years ago I asked you to lend me yours, as a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of an unpublished journal. There was no prospectus: no guarantee about the quality of the product with which you were willing to let your name be associated. Now I truly appreciate what you did. You also supported the Journal, during these years, with your critical evaluations of articles that have come to us. I have come to rely more and more on the collective wisdom of our readers. Time and again writers have thanked me for the suggestions that were made, even when the manuscript was not yet in publishable condition. Time and again the readers made l-he turn down an article I was tempted to use (sometimes for personal/political reasons). Now we are getting a great deal of praise for the caliber of the scholarship that we do publish--thanks to you on the Editorial Advisory Board. Getting down to business, she reminded me, as she did other board members, that we would need to read six to eight manuscripts a year, and she asked for help in obtaining patrons of MELUS and institutional memberships. Naturally, I agreed to serve another term. Her letter dated 25 January 1981 also reveals her warmth: "It was comforting to see you even for a wave of the hand at MLA. I wish I could tell you how much your support has been to me in these last three years of MELUS." Katharine was always willing to learn about new authors, although they sometimes bewildered her. When one contributor submitted an interview with Gerald Vizenor, which she asked me to evaluate, she telephoned me that she realized that he was gaining increasing stature as an author. However, she had trouble figuring out his work. I replied that Vizenor, a very dear and old friend, was a trickster author who delighted in confounding his audiences while educating them. She published the interview and my later article surveying Vizenor's work. On 7 March 1981, Katharine wrote, "I have talked to Vizenor (what a nice careful person)...." Many people may not realize that Katharine was also active in the MLA's Division of Ethnic Studies in Language and Literature, serving as secretary in 1978 and chairperson in 1980. …