A Poet’s Life and Work: Joel Oppenheimer
Leader: Don Melander
Mondays, July 5 – 26 10 AM – Noon
During the 1980s, Black Mountain poet Joel Oppenheimer taught at New England College and lived in Henniker (except for a year in Concord and another year in Rochester, NY, where he was a Fellow at RIT). Fortunately, he didn’t drive, so I drove him to most of his New England readings, where I much enjoyed his interactions with his audiences. All of Oppenheimer’s books are out of print, but I have edited an unpublished book of his poetry, and as I have rights to make his poems available, copies will be distributed at the first class.
Don Melander is a Senior Professor of Humanities, retired, at New England College where he has taught mostly literature and writing for 45 years. For the last decade he has served as dramaturge for the Open Door Theater. He holds a Ph.D. in American Literature from Syracuse University; his dissertation is on the 20th-century American poet, Wallace Stevens. This seminar on early 20th-century American poets is his twelfth for LINEC.